Do we wanna hold the Freddy Krueger Glove!? Um, shhhyeah!

That’s what we’re here for.

WD: You’re not here to see me? Here it is.

It is realistic.

WD: There you go. One Freddy Krueger glove.

Are those real blades?

WD: They’re steel. Actually raw steel. We made them ourselves.

Could you actually hurt somebody if you wanted?

WD: Oh absolutely, even though they’re not, we can sharpen them, but they are very pointy, so. We actually made another one, set out of rubber in case he were ever really close to the actors face we can, uh, we also made one out of aluminum, it’s lighter, uh, but for the most part we’ve gone with the-with the real glove. You see it? It’s all copper. We didn’t uh, we never, we didn’t paint it, we didn’t do anything just the heat transfer made the different colors, on the copper, when it heated up, it’s got that purple tint to it. It came out really well.

Is that home made welding on there?

WD: That’s just a regular gardening glove. You know, we had to put a glove under there first. We had to cut it out because

Oh, right right.

WD: Yeah we had to cut holes and take the palm out cause he couldn’t close his palm all the way.

Do we find out how Freddy makes this in the film?

WD: No.

We don’t see the origin of it?

WD: We don’t, we see remnants, I’ve made like fingertips and blades, you see them on a work table. You kind of get the idea that this was like his workshop. We did that. But we never actually see him making the glove.

How much does this weigh about?

WD: Uh, about, 3 or 4 pounds. I mean after awhile, it gets a little heavy. Yeah. But it fits his hand, it’s custom made. We made a mold of his hand, cause I got a chance to see him when we were designing and making it. So we had uh, of his hands, they made a mold, so we had something to work off of. And then we made some fine adjustments once he got here. That’s just a gardening glove. A regular leather gardening glove.

This plays a part the glove?

WD: Well yeah, he has to wear that underneath that.

Oh, underneath that.

WD: And we cut like I said, we cut the palms out cause otherwise it would bunch up and he couldn’t close his hands.

Did you go back and look at the original one to put this one together?

WD: I mean I, I watched it, cause you know it’s been 25 years, so I got a chance to watch it. But no actually, they wanted it similar, but I never really like studied it to make it. You know every one wants their own flare. You know, the pro-signer, the director, everybody gave it its own little input. We, we had, we must have spent four weeks on just concept drawings. Just drawings after drawings, and taking it- at one point it had a thumb on it, we had a thumb, and then they decided to take that off. But it was weeks and weeks of drawings, and about a month to make it.

In the film, does it, does it appear as all one piece, does it slide on?

WD: Yes. You never see him, well I don’t know if you don’t see, you always see him, when you see Freddy, you see him with the glove.

What functionality challenges did you run into?

WD: I’m sorry?

What functionality challenges did you-?

WD: Well for now, we had the joints. The joints were like a big deal, cause yah know, just like you move your hand, you want to be able to do that with, uh, with the glove, so you end up just yah know, molding it, made some, a lot of rivets. We riveted it together. And the joints are basically where your finger bends. It’s basically where we put it.

Have you worn it at all?

WD: I’m sorry.

Have you worn it at all, keep people in their place?

WD: Yeah right.

What are the major differences between this glove and the one that’s in the original?

WD: Um, I, uh, I really don’t know. I didn’t really study that one that much. We had our own, I know that the top part like, I think it was Sam’s idea, you know like how you have the veins in your hands, you know that veiny kind of look?

Yeah

WD: Well I think in the original one it was just one solid piece. I kind of like this better. I’m not, yah know, because I made it is probably why I like it better.

And I know you say you have the rubber version, but with that version did you have to make multiples before you got to-

WD: Yeah, we have a total of, uh, I think four gloves. You know. And then we have all the parts, aluminum blades, and we took one of the gloves and we made it, when Freddy walks along some pipes, and the shortage, you see some sparks, he’s going through some metal, we had one glove that really took a beating.

Who takes them home when you’re done?

WD: I do.

You do?

WD: No, I’m sure when it’s all over I will be getting a phone call, tell me, where did the gloves go? But actually, we’re gonna get a hat. We’re gunna put all your names in it. And we’re gunna pick the winner and you get the glove. One person here gets the glove. Sound like a good idea?

It looks a little different, like the blades are different sizes.

WD: They are different. Actually, when we first made the glove, I didn’t get a chance to see Freddy, I mean Jackie, so there were a lot longer, so we put it on yah know, it, it didn’t look right. And then we shortened them all and we said yah know, lets make some longer and shorter than others. But when we first made it it had to be four inches, five inches longer. And it just didn’t look scary it looked kinda comical. Now, with this and his make up and everything, it’s pretty, pretty scary looking.

You said it weighs three of four pounds, how long can you keep it on?

WD: He wears it all day.

Yeah.

WD: I mean, when he’s not shooting we take it off so he can drink some coffee or something. But he wears it basically, he’s only worn the rubber one once, and the aluminum one he’s never worn. He’s worn this one all the time.

Was this built here in Chicago, or did you bring that through security?

WD: Oh yeah, no no no, it was built here.

I can’t imagine going through an airport with that.

WD: And explaining it to them.

Well see…

WD: I was tellin’ a friend of mine, I said you know, I know next Halloween, I have small children and I’ll be taking them to the store to get a Halloween costume and some guy, some little kid is gunna buy that, and I’m gunna say, ‘hey buddy I made that’. Yeah right buddy, yeah right.

You could just be Freddy for Halloween.

WD: There you go. I’m sure they’ll be some great costumes.

What are some other cool props that you’re happy with?

WD: Over the years? Oh in this. Um, this is probably the biggest, you know there’s a lot of props, not just this, there’s Ipods, rings, watches. I mean there’s a lot of parts to making it, but as far as most intense prop, yah know, I’m right now working making, I got a dog out there, I got actually a skeleton that I’ve got to work on.

Chatter.

WD: They’re all fake, they’re fake. They look real, but they’re not real.

Are there any props or weapons that you’ve designed for the kids to fight with?

WD: Well nothing that’s yah know other than a baseball bat, which was made in rubber, other than that, yah know, nothing really, really different.

Does Freddy have any other weapons? Besides the glove?

WD: Uhhh, no. I don’t even know if I was supposed to tell yah. No that’s it, that’s what he wears.

What else have you done?

WD: Oh my god, it would take me, uh, I’ve done a lot of weapons work. I’ve done the, it’s just, it’s like after some, one person asked me what movies have you worked on, and I have to literally stop and think, but I’ve done 40. Now it’s like I just gotta, I just-

What’s comin’ up next for you?

WD: I don’t know you got sumthin? It’s a little slow. Usually something comes up. You know, it usually does.

Have you ever designed anything sort of customized?

WD: No this is actually probably the first prop, usually I, I’ll get drawings and they’ll say Billy, here we gotta make this, or they’ll find somebody and say you make it. This is the first one where I’ve ever actually started from the ground, where I’ve actually gave them drawings, and we changed it, and I gave them more drawings and more drawings and we kept, you know, and they didn’t want just, they wanted the concept drawings to change. They wanted the drawings to look at, and then make changes. It’s a really intense prop.

Is this drastically different than the original concept? Are there certain things about the original concept drawings that have-?

WD: No, actually, there some that are way out there, there’s some drawings that are way out there, but no, once we started to narrow it down it didn’t change to much, like I said a lot of drawings like a little bit here, a little bit there, at one point, I had a padlock here, but yah know, just started to tweak it, and once we got a drawing, we stuck to it. We stuck to the drawing.

Did you have to change anything to accommodate how it appears on screen? Like, picking the blades or anything?

WD: No it’s lighting. They light it, you know, they get the little glimpses, the blades only required a little touch up, if they rusted, we shined them up a bit so you could see them.

Have you had any on set mishaps with the gloves?

WD: No, no, no, no, no. Thank God no. We used rubber one time, the one time we did use it, it was done, cause he was running and things were going everywhere, we had blades going this way and this way, but other then that no, we haven’t had any problems. All good?

Yeah.

WD: Alright?

Good Job. Thanks so much

WD: You’re more than welcome.

Thank you very much.

WD: Let’s get the hat out and raffle off the glove. You can leave that here. You want it?

Of course.

WD: So do I.

yeah, I’m surprised you don’t have like handcuffs to the-

WD: I know isn’t that something? Yep. Well enjoy the rest of your day, hope you like the heat, cause it’s hot.