As a long-time fan of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series,  it was a not-so-awful dream to be informed I’d be talking to the original ‘Freddy’, Robert Englund for the site. The veteran actor, a thespian who – for better or worse – would be forever associated with the bad guy role in Wes Craven’s “Elm Street” (1984) and its sequels, Englund is one of the many participants in the sensational doco, “Never Sleep Again :  The Elm Street Legacy” – his stories, not surprisingly, are the best.

Robert!
Clint, I love your website! I love Moviehole!

Freddy reads Moviehole?
Yep! and I just like saying Movie.Hole. Another one I like, the man cave….”I’m going to go by Moviehole, then my man cave”.

When I came up with the name originally, all those years ago, folks were a little unsure what type of site it was.
It’s great though, I love it, yeah.

Now we float in the same circles, I guess you’d say – I’ve been friends with Patrick Lussier, who has worked on some of the “Elm Street” flicks – but never had the pleasure of meeting you personally..
Oh, I know Pat, yeah.. It’s funny, I did a strange film years ago in Spain, actually. The only culture in the world that picked up on it were the Australians. A film called “Killer Tongue”, which is, I think Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ first film and the wonderful sexy Melinda Clarke, is in it as well. And Doug Bradley, “Pinhead”. It’s a real kind of over the top horror spoof, early horror comedy experiments. And I remember it was Patrick telling me that it did well in Australia. [chuckle]

There you go! How long has it been since you’ve put on the Freddy makeup now?
Well the last time would have probably been spring of 2003, so that’s like nine years ago.
Almost nine years ago, yeah. That’s the last time I wore it. I could’ve probably done another Freddy or two, but I think that’s when Platinum Dunes acquired the rights along with Warner Brothers from Newline Cinema. That their idea was into in the future to reboot the franchise and they would want to start with somebody younger who could play, could be the same Freddy for years. I’m almost – even now, I’m almost too old to go out there and do the stunts and stuff. I can do a couple of takes, but then I wake up the next morning and feel like I’ve been playing football. I can barely get out of bed, so I’m having a lot more fun now doing these “suit and tie” roles.

I bet.
Let me just say, I just finished an episode of Criminal Minds last week, playing a good detective for a change. And it was kind of fun just to pitch some plot, and walk around with a tie loose around my neck, and a nice sport coat for a change.

Only so many times one can wear a dusty Christmas jumper, hey!?  
Yeah, nice not to having to be the bad guy.

Your days of Freddy are over, which is sad because I do remember there was a. – apparently it’s pretty terrific too – a prequel script, chronicling the origins of Fred Krueger that nearly happened…
Well the prequel story, some of that showed up in the Tobe Hooper pilot for the TV series. And some of it showed up, actually, in Freddy vs. Jason” and a little bit in “Freddy’s Dead : Number 6″ and actually in the remake too starring Jackie Earle Haley. But yes, there was a prequel idea for a movie too.

I’ve heard there was a great kind of “Portrait of a Serial Killer” kind of docudrama script around, where you see Freddy and his first kills and getting hot and the courtroom scenes and really horrible, terrible lawyers getting him off; great corrupt lawyers getting him off and then the vigilante parents. Finally in climax, burning him alive, and maybe you see him manifest, and show up on Elm Street at the very end, where his sort of revenge, reign of terror begins. But I think some of that might be discussed in “Never Sleep Again.”

Tell us about “Never Sleep Again”?

Sometimes you do projects out of love… for friends. So I went over and sat for Heather Langenkamp and Tommy Hudson and a group of researchers for “Never Sleep Again”. It’s a great documentary and I had no idea that it was going to be as thorough and as definitive as it was. I remember the first time my wife and I watched it – who knew that Peter Jackson had written one of the stories!?

Yeah, that’s right, yeah.
I love seeing all the home movies and all of the interviews with the early effects people and the cameramen. Some of our… Most of our cameramen now are shooting all of the top shows on television whether it’s 24, or whether it’s “The Sopranos” or whether it’s CSI, or any of the big hit shows on American television. Those are all the old cameramen from the late ’80s and the early ’90s, from the Nightmare films that we used and they’re all the number. They all sort of changed the look of American television. In the mid-late ’90s with all of the new sort of procedurals, like CSI and stuff, all those guys.

Do you have a favourite of the series?
I think my favourite is Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.

Yeah. Mine too.
I think it’s the first deconstructed horror movie. It still holds up real well.

It does. Its exquisitely ingenious and such a deep flick..
And you can watch it more than once. There’s a lot of hidden sort of gags and visual puns, especially in the first couple of reels. Going from the earthquake to Heather visiting the set… There are some little tricks that are going on there. If you watch Heather’s wardrobe very quickly, I mean very closely, you’ll see real a blend of reality and illusion – indicating when the nightmare begins.

But I love the idea of the reality of the earthquake and living in Los Angeles and the mixing of Hollywood and all of the, sort of, playing ourselves. Greedy, a kind of greedy avarice version of ourselves, and then we’ve sort of been infected by the true evil of this specter, Freddy Krueger, who may or may not have been based in reality and his evil now really wants to sort of free itself from this sort of Hollywood version of it. And I kind of like that as a kind of imaginative Wes Craven, Sam Raimi… almost David Cronenberg kind of take on it. And that was before the “Scream” movies so it’s really one of the very first smart, dark Valentines to the fans.

In later years I’ve done others like “Behind the Mask”, which is a great little film that I made a couple of years ago.

That is great, yeah.
And we’re working on a sequel script now, but I’m really proud of that one. I really love it when people can kind of play with the tropes of the horror movie and then also still come up with a horror movie and scare the audience at the same time, and sort of like, love the fans. Let them eat cake and then kill them.

Well on that topic, I mean…
Clint, I’m just loving being in the moviehole! [laughter]

Yeah, in the movie.hole [Laughs]. Were you ever asked to be a part of the “Scream” series at all?
No, you know, I think that Wes really required some fresh faces for that. We don’t think of Courtney Cox or Drew Barrymore being fresh now, but of course, they were back then, so was David Arquette. And I think he just wanted to do that. And I’m a big fan of those movies. I thought, I think I thought the second one spent a little much, too much time in the daylight for me, I think that that worked against it. But I do think those are strong films and smart films. Wes sort of changed the course of horror twice, not only with the “Nightmare on Elm Street” films but then again with the “Scream” films. People forget his contribution to a kind of, helping the audience along on its own sophistication and kind of complimenting the audience on their understanding of our manipulation and then also turning that back on the audience as an actual trope itself, whether it’s the monster upstairs or in the basement or with the babysitter alone or whatever it is, and then kind of admitting to it and then kind of flipping it on the fans.

And finally, Robert… er, Freddy… has a message for Moviehole readers!
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO “FREDDY’S” MESSAGE

“Never Sleep Again : The Elm Street Legacy” is available May 23 on DVD

Inspired by the perennial New York Times bestseller of the same name, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” is a hilarious and heartfelt big screen comedy about five couples whose intertwined lives are turned upside down by the challenges of impending parenthood.

Over the moon about starting a family, TV fitness guru Jules (Cameron Diaz) and dance show star Evan (Matthew Morrison) find that their high-octane celebrity lives don’t stand a chance against the surprise demands of pregnancy. Baby-crazy author and advocate Wendy gets a taste of her own militant mommy advice when pregnancy hormones ravage her body; while Wendy’s husband, Gary, struggles not to be outdone by his competitive alpha-Dad, who’s expecting twins with his much younger trophy wife, Skyler. Photographer Holly is prepared to travel the globe to adopt a child, but her husband Alex isn’t so sure, and tries to quiet his panic by attending a “dudes” support group, where new fathers get to tell it like it really is. And rival food truck chefs Rosie and Marco’s surprise hook-up results in an unexpected quandary: what to do when your first child comes before your first date?

Moviehole catches up with Diaz and Morrison, who play Jules and Evan in the picture.

John Hyams is on the action short-list of directors that can work within a modest budget, yet present a finely crafted action film that will be enjoyed even by the biggest of action aficionados. Hyams’s “Universal Soldier: Regeneration” was a break out hit that displayed excellently choreographed fights (owing a lot to the MMA sport) and a setting and mood, not unlike an old John Carpenter movie. Now, he returns to the franchise with not only an action fans’ wish list of action stars such as Van Damme, Adkins, Lundgren, but the movie is shot completely in 3D. Without a doubt, this hard-R movie is one to be on the lookout for this fall.

Jonathan Urban: John, thank you from taking time out of your busy schedule to answer some questions. Universal Soldier: Regeneration was a no-holds-barred action fest that many fans felt brought the Universal Soldier series back into relevance. How will “Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning” build upon that and is this a sequel or standalone film?

John Hyams: USDOR [Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning] works as both a sequel and a stand-alone — the idea was to follow the mythology where we thought it should go after the conclusion of Regeneration. It answers the question of what became of Luc Deveraux.

JU: At Action Fest 2012 in Asheville, NC, I was part of a large crowd that got to preview the first 5-8 minutes of Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning. It appeared to switch back and forth through first person (audience looking out through Scott Adkins’s character John’s eyes) and third person. Is this basically how the movie will function, with the 3D elements being in the first person shots?

JH: The scene that played at Action Fest was strictly first person — the only third person elements come as mirror reflections, letting the viewer know who’s POV we are occupying. However, the movie follows traditional third person storytelling, with certain first person elements that are there for a reason. And it’s all shot in 3D.

JU: The opening is not your standard action movie and in many ways seemed to invoke the feeling of a horror movie, with the voice of the girl calling out for her dad and talking about “monsters.” Is this movie going to take the audience through multiple genres and shock them?

JH: Yes, that was definitely the intention. To me, USDOR is sci-fi, action, horror, noir thriller. I was inspired by filmmakers like David Cronenberg, David Lynch and Gaspar Noe, as well as amnesia stories like “Memento.” It deals very much with the subjectivity of experience — unlike the other Universal Soldier movies, this one comes from a much more limited, intimate point of view. The viewer often does not know anything more than the protagonist. The idea was to give the viewer a different kind of experience than they’ve had with the other
movies — to challenge them in different ways, and hopefully fulfill them in different ways.

JU: Scott Adkins is the main star, with Van Damme and Lundgren as co-stars. Would you say that Van Damme and Lundgren have as much time as they did in “Universal Soldier: Regeneration” or more time and how did you envision their roles this time, as it is clear Luc is not a good guy this time around, and when we left him at the end of “Universal Soldier: Regeneration” he was running off and treading the gray area between hero and indifferent?

JH: Van Damme has less screen time than he did in US:R [Universal Soldier: Regeneration] however his role is no less pivotal. Dolph’s role is similar in size to the last one. The point was to introduce a different protagonist and tell the story through his eyes. However, it certainly, as you say, plays off the question of what kind of individual Luc has become since we last saw him running off.

JU: On this one, you co-wrote the script, so what was your goal for this film?

JH: As I said earlier, I think my goal was to try to make a different kind of movie — in order to provide myself and the audience a different set of challenges.

JU: You teamed again with Larnell Stovall (Undisputed III), who is an excellent fight choreographer. What kinds of fights are we going to see in this film—MMA-based like in US:R or more traditional fights, showing off Adkins high level of kicking prowess?

JH: Larnell and I had a chance to get to know each other on Dragon Eyes, however Cung Le was the choreographer on that one, Larnell the stunt coordinator. This time I got a chance to see first-hand why Larnell will soon be considered one of the best choreographers in the business. What I loved most about working with him was how much he focused on narrative — the story of each given fight and how they relate to the others and the rest of the movie. I think that these fights have a little bit of everything, but always in the service of the story. We didn’t want this to be an MMA movie or a trickster movie — we wanted the fights to be appropriate to what is happening within the story, and to be grounded in a real and honest place. One thing I can tell you is that it’s brutal as hell.

JU: Like I mentioned earlier, this film is in 3D, which eludes to some sort of theatrical release. What was it like framing shots and filming in 3D with the same cameras they were shooting the new Spiderman movie with and what challenges did you have to overcome?

JH: The challenges with 3D are twofold — technical and aesthetic. Technically, it requires more time, more people, and provides you with less coverage for any given moment. So, preparation was key. DP [Director of Photography] Yaron Levy and myself had [to] break down the entire movie beforehand so we knew exactly how many set-ups would be required to get through each day. Preparation was key, and he did a great job and I’m very pleased with the result. Aesthetically, the idea was not to use 3D as a gimmick. Instead of going for the “comin at ya” bullshit, we opted for an approach that created an immersive experience that played into the subjectivity of our storytelling.

JU: You and others have mentioned that this will be a hard R movie. Was there any reluctance on behalf of the studio to shoot it in a hard R manner, considering all of the noise the PG-13 rating of “The Expendables 2” received and then it was switched back to R and what are your thoughts on PG-13 vs. R?

JH: There was no reluctance on behalf of the studio to go hard R. It was there on the page and everyone was on board. As for my thoughts on PG-13, I’m not a fan of it. All it does is tell me what I’m not going to see. R ratings leave open the possibilities of what you might see, which is a better way to go into watching a movie.

JU: Will there be any king of behind the scenes footage or making of on the eventual home video release, as it appears outside financing was needed to finish it and was that the case of the studio not wanting to fund that aspect?

JH: There will be extensive behind the scenes material, produced and directed by co-writer Doug Magnuson. It’ll be some of the best behind the scenes material you’ll ever find about the filmmaking process, and gives the viewers an unbelievably intimate look into everything that goes into shooting this kind of movie. I think fans are going to love it.

JU: You also re-teamed with composer, Michael Krassner. What kind of score can we expect in this one as the last one had a very moody, barely there score which helped heighten the sense of claustrophobia in that movie?

JH: This score goes even further into this territory than Regeneration. While there’s still plenty of synth work, it’s less of the Carpenter, Tangerine Dream variety. It’s a beautiful, elegant score — minimal, dark, haunting… the goal was to explore the blurred line between sound and music.

JU: Well, John, I want to thank you again for your time and say that most action fans have “Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning” at the top of their must see list.

(Note: ”Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning” does not have an official release date yet, but John seems to think it will be post- ”The Expendables 2” to capitalize on the star power of Van Damme, Lundgren and Adkins.)

For updates on “Universal Soldier : Day of Reckoning”, including release plans, Clint and I suggest you regularly visit VanDammeFan.net

Images courtesy Listal.

We’re still a ways off from knowing whether Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” is the new coming of super-Christ, but general consensus is that the movie – although looking like a radical departure from the previous “Superman” movies – seems to be coming together nicely.. much to the chagrin of Brandon Routh, no doubt.
A vfx employee, said to be on the WB payroll, has let slip about two sequences we will see in the movie.

This was posted on the IMDB Message Board for the film :

Last night at a VFX conference there was a sizzle reel shown by Weta. In this sizzle reel there were two beta level(most likely from a trailer) clips shown. One only about 6 seconds long, the other much longer.
The former was Clark Kent grabbing a truck with a crying man inside of it while flying through the middle of a tornado. It looked incredible. Henry Cavill can fly, and he can hold a truck in one arm. Zack Snyder brings his usual visual flair, but somehow is still unlike anything he has made before. It felt like a Superman comic. Real heroism.
The longer clip was even more stunning, but the more I think about it, slightly concerning. The clip consisted of Superman in full costume in a verbal argument with Zod in the center of Smallville with Christopher Meloni yells at them through a megaphone next to a tank. Meloni warns them he will fire if they do not surrender. While he says this Zod sizes Superman up. Shannon looks evil as he can be. Bone chilling even. And is DEFINITELY sporting enhanced muscle. Cavill’s Superman is a wonderful sight to behold in motion. Cavill’s pure size makes him the most believable Superman to date. Zod speaks in Kryptonian “Do you know your native tongue, Kal-el?” Superman looks stunned, and responds in English, “Who are you?” (there isn’t enough Superman dialogue to judge Cavill’s performance fairly, but I’d say he did well. Nothing spectacular from this clip.) Meloni curses, then into a walkie talkie orders the tank to fire. Superman hears this and turns to the tank. Zod takes this opportunity to sucker punch Superman(in Zack Snyder slow-then-fast-mo) then when the tank fires Superman rushes in front of Zod, despite the punch and catches the exploding missile near his stomach. The flames ripple around him, hit his face, his cape, his eyes. The shrapnel hits him and bounces off. The same happens to Zod to a lesser extent. Meloni’s shocked expression when they remain standing, silhouettes in a cloud of smoke, ends the clip.
It was incredible, it really was. And absolutely visually stunning, but my qualm is its typical Zack Snyder. It doesn’t look glossy like his films do. It instead has a more clean cut, colorful look. Like Thor, or Iron Man. But it is the same slow-mo styling that people expect from him. Maybe it just happens in this one scene, but it happens twice. Makes me a bit hesitant, despite the fact it looks phenomenal.

This all sounds good but, of course, remember that not everyone on the IMDB boards are legit, let alone who they say they are. (Update! : In this case, maybe the guy IS on the level. He says he’s Jonathan Rothbart, who as you’ll see from his IMDB listing, has worked on everything from “Empire Strikes Back” to “Sin City” and “After Earth”).

While someone else gets the privilege of sequelizing his “Contagion”, writer Scott Z.Burns will be hard at work on the next instalment in the “Planet of the Apes” series, says THR.
After “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” scored big at the box office last year, Fox immediately signed director Rupert Wyatt and ‘Ape’ star Andy Serkis to a sequel. “Apes” scribes Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa were also retained, but seems the draft they wrote wasn’t what Fox were looking for in a sequel.

Burns, whose other credits include Matt Damon movies’ “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “The Informant!”, has been assigned the task of telling the tale of how the apes became to rule society – hinted at the end of the last movie.