1
00:00:44,811 --> 00:00:47,113
Well, Robert's always
been very authentic.

2
00:00:47,113 --> 00:00:48,448
He is a total rock star.

3
00:00:48,448 --> 00:00:50,350
Criminally underappreciated.

4
00:00:50,350 --> 00:00:52,052
He's Shakespearean.

5
00:00:52,052 --> 00:00:54,020
He's a very serious actor,

6
00:00:54,020 --> 00:00:55,755
but he's also a great comedian.

7
00:00:55,755 --> 00:00:58,324
Robert, as a fellow actor,
is a dream.

8
00:00:58,324 --> 00:01:00,060
Robert Englund's a great actor.

9
00:01:00,060 --> 00:01:02,128
It's as plain as that.

10
00:01:04,030 --> 00:01:05,632
Fasten your seat belts.

11
00:01:12,639 --> 00:01:15,809
Okay, I'm ready.

12
00:01:15,809 --> 00:01:17,176
Okay.

13
00:01:19,345 --> 00:01:22,449
I never set out
to become a horror icon.

14
00:01:22,449 --> 00:01:23,917
It's something
I wasn't planning.

15
00:01:23,917 --> 00:01:25,551
It's just something
that happened.

16
00:01:25,551 --> 00:01:28,221
I went right into
the makeup tests

17
00:01:28,221 --> 00:01:29,989
and that's sort of where I found

18
00:01:29,989 --> 00:01:32,258
a lot of the character
and the voice.

19
00:01:32,258 --> 00:01:33,793
Johnny Depp waltzed in
about a week into the shooting

20
00:01:33,793 --> 00:01:37,430
and Heather looking all
beautiful and young and dewy.

21
00:01:37,430 --> 00:01:39,598
And there was the makeup girl

22
00:01:39,598 --> 00:01:41,901
with little pink fans
she bought them:

23
00:01:41,901 --> 00:01:43,803
"We have to keep
our stars cool."

24
00:01:43,803 --> 00:01:46,139
What am I, chopped liver?
And I'm sitting over there.

25
00:01:46,139 --> 00:01:47,707
I've been working
since five in the morning.

26
00:01:47,707 --> 00:01:50,910
I'm itchy.
I've got glue all over me,

27
00:01:50,910 --> 00:01:52,277
the makeup man, David Miller,

28
00:01:52,277 --> 00:01:55,482
stabbing me with
this crusty makeup brush,

29
00:01:55,482 --> 00:01:57,450
and I'm kinda pissed
at the kids.

30
00:01:57,450 --> 00:01:59,551
They don't need makeup.
They're beautiful.

31
00:01:59,551 --> 00:02:01,621
They've got their whole
careers ahead of them.

32
00:02:01,621 --> 00:02:04,090
God, I envy those little...
And I went, "Wait a minute.

33
00:02:04,090 --> 00:02:07,293
That envy, that jealousy I have

34
00:02:07,293 --> 00:02:11,064
for those beautiful
young actors," I said,

35
00:02:11,064 --> 00:02:12,732
"I can use that.
What is Freddy?

36
00:02:12,732 --> 00:02:14,400
He's a child killer.
What are children?

37
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,035
Children are the future."

38
00:02:16,035 --> 00:02:17,837
So for the rest of the movies,

39
00:02:17,837 --> 00:02:20,807
I was able just to
remember that moment,

40
00:02:20,807 --> 00:02:22,542
that little synapse of mine.

41
00:02:22,542 --> 00:02:24,611
I can get there,
just like I got there now.

42
00:02:24,611 --> 00:02:26,579
And that's all I need
to believe in Freddy,

43
00:02:26,579 --> 00:02:28,748
just to get back
to that little moment.

44
00:02:28,748 --> 00:02:31,718
And that becomes my shorthand
getting to an essence of Freddy

45
00:02:31,718 --> 00:02:33,920
that I need to get to
without just going

46
00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:36,222
"Booga, booga, booga," you know.

47
00:02:40,927 --> 00:02:43,863
Robbie Englund was sort of
preordained to be a lawyer.

48
00:02:43,863 --> 00:02:45,398
This is what my father wanted.

49
00:02:45,398 --> 00:02:49,736
He knew I had the gift of gab,
and I broke my father's heart.

50
00:02:49,736 --> 00:02:54,107
I believe it was either
my 11th or my 12th summer,

51
00:02:54,107 --> 00:02:55,942
I was sent off as a chaperone

52
00:02:55,942 --> 00:03:00,513
of my mother's best friend's
gorgeous teenage daughter.

53
00:03:00,513 --> 00:03:04,851
She was a wannabe actress,
and a year older than I was.

54
00:03:04,851 --> 00:03:07,620
So we went to this professional
children's theater together

55
00:03:07,620 --> 00:03:10,390
and I figured I was
going to be sweeping the stage

56
00:03:10,390 --> 00:03:14,127
and having a flashlight
and ushering people in.

57
00:03:14,127 --> 00:03:16,796
And it's a big transition
in life.

58
00:03:16,796 --> 00:03:18,331
You go from being...

59
00:03:18,331 --> 00:03:20,700
literally from being a child
to the teenage world,

60
00:03:20,700 --> 00:03:23,503
but it was also
this world of theater

61
00:03:23,503 --> 00:03:25,238
that I entered that summer,

62
00:03:25,238 --> 00:03:27,373
and I wound up
starring in everything.

63
00:03:27,373 --> 00:03:31,811
I was Pinocchio,
I was Peter Pan, I was Aladdin.

64
00:03:31,811 --> 00:03:35,682
And at some point that summer,
I was in the girls' bathroom.

65
00:03:35,682 --> 00:03:38,685
And the girls were teaching me
how to blow smoke rings.

66
00:03:38,685 --> 00:03:42,355
They were the harem girls.
And I'm sitting there,

67
00:03:42,355 --> 00:03:43,656
and I had curly hair,
to begin with,

68
00:03:43,656 --> 00:03:45,291
but they were like
giving me a perm.

69
00:03:45,291 --> 00:03:47,293
I'm full of screaming hormones.

70
00:03:47,293 --> 00:03:49,662
Twelve years old,
I had a breast in this ear,

71
00:03:49,662 --> 00:03:52,332
a boob in this ear,
a belly button right here,

72
00:03:52,332 --> 00:03:54,567
as the girls touched me
and played with me

73
00:03:54,567 --> 00:03:57,170
and curled me
and rolled my hair.

74
00:03:57,170 --> 00:03:59,172
And I've got a cigarette
and I sort of said to myself,

75
00:03:59,172 --> 00:04:02,875
"I like this.
I think I'm gonna do this."

76
00:04:02,875 --> 00:04:06,079
I had this sequence where
Pinocchio's in shorts,

77
00:04:06,079 --> 00:04:07,480
lederhosen,

78
00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:12,118
and I would run across the
stage mugging "Oh, no."

79
00:04:12,118 --> 00:04:15,822
And the Indians would follow me
and shoot arrows at me.

80
00:04:15,822 --> 00:04:17,523
And then I'd run back
the other way.

81
00:04:17,523 --> 00:04:18,957
Well, during the run
of the show,

82
00:04:18,957 --> 00:04:22,362
every time I came back for
my second run across the stage,

83
00:04:22,362 --> 00:04:23,930
I would add
an extra arrow or two,

84
00:04:23,930 --> 00:04:25,365
and the laugh got bigger.

85
00:04:25,365 --> 00:04:27,700
I had arrows in my ass now;
even a bigger laugh.

86
00:04:27,700 --> 00:04:30,970
Well, I got to love that laugh.
That was mine.

87
00:04:30,970 --> 00:04:33,139
I controlled it,
I'd enhanced it,

88
00:04:33,139 --> 00:04:35,008
and I really loved it.

89
00:04:35,008 --> 00:04:38,578
I went off stage and
there were guests backstage.

90
00:04:38,578 --> 00:04:41,748
And one of the guests backstage
was none other than

91
00:04:41,748 --> 00:04:45,752
the great improvisational
talk show host Steve Allen.

92
00:04:45,752 --> 00:04:47,053
Anyway, I know many of you
want to know

93
00:04:47,053 --> 00:04:49,555
what kind of a show
we'll be doing here on Sundays.

94
00:04:49,555 --> 00:04:51,424
I know I...
I'd like to know.

95
00:04:52,692 --> 00:04:54,327
But this is like the late-night

96
00:04:54,327 --> 00:04:55,595
talk show in the world.

97
00:04:55,595 --> 00:04:58,298
The Tonight Show
before Johnny Carson,

98
00:04:58,298 --> 00:05:00,333
and I idolized him.

99
00:05:00,333 --> 00:05:02,802
And he had... a friend's daughter
was in the show,

100
00:05:02,802 --> 00:05:03,770
and he'd come back,

101
00:05:03,770 --> 00:05:05,571
going to give her
a bunch of roses,

102
00:05:05,571 --> 00:05:07,173
and he'd saved a rose.

103
00:05:07,173 --> 00:05:08,441
I heard this voice,

104
00:05:08,441 --> 00:05:10,810
"Where's the kid
that plays Pinocchio?"

105
00:05:10,810 --> 00:05:12,612
He goes,
"Oh, there's the puppet."

106
00:05:12,612 --> 00:05:17,617
And he gave me the rose
and he said, "You got it, kid."

107
00:05:17,617 --> 00:05:21,354
I'm literally a kid.
I'm 13 years old.

108
00:05:21,354 --> 00:05:24,624
To get that kind of
vote of confidence...

109
00:05:24,624 --> 00:05:26,726
You know, grownups were not
afraid in those days

110
00:05:26,726 --> 00:05:29,462
to tell you you were special,
or you had a gift, you know.

111
00:05:29,462 --> 00:05:30,930
They weren't worried
about being sued by

112
00:05:30,930 --> 00:05:33,099
the Board of Education
or your parents,

113
00:05:33,099 --> 00:05:35,001
because your parents
wanted you to be an engineer

114
00:05:35,001 --> 00:05:37,670
or a lawyer or a doctor.

115
00:05:37,670 --> 00:05:39,505
A lawyer in my case,
and I, you know,

116
00:05:39,505 --> 00:05:41,074
my parents kind of knew.

117
00:05:47,447 --> 00:05:49,849
I'd like to introduce you
to one of your sons.

118
00:05:49,849 --> 00:05:51,951
- Oh.
- This is Adam, Rob. Lester.

119
00:05:51,951 --> 00:05:54,687
- Lester.
- Lester. Pleasure to meet ya.

120
00:05:54,687 --> 00:05:56,889
What's so touching
about Robert is that

121
00:05:56,889 --> 00:05:58,257
maybe we're with
a group of people

122
00:05:58,257 --> 00:06:00,960
and there might be someone
who's new to the acting world.

123
00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,197
He'll immediately say to them,
"Oh, I saw you when you were

124
00:06:04,197 --> 00:06:07,467
in that after-school special
when you were 14 years old,"

125
00:06:07,467 --> 00:06:09,902
and he makes you feel like
you're one of the club.

126
00:06:09,902 --> 00:06:11,037
I think one of the things

127
00:06:11,037 --> 00:06:13,172
that you realize if you start

128
00:06:13,172 --> 00:06:14,974
to last a while in the business

129
00:06:14,974 --> 00:06:18,010
is that every year
there's a fresh crop of people

130
00:06:18,010 --> 00:06:19,412
who are breaking into it

131
00:06:19,412 --> 00:06:22,215
who don't know
as much as the veterans do,

132
00:06:22,215 --> 00:06:24,317
and Robert was always teaching.

133
00:06:24,317 --> 00:06:25,251
We figured out how to do it

134
00:06:25,251 --> 00:06:26,252
safely.
- Yeah.

135
00:06:26,252 --> 00:06:27,954
Run, like Peter Cushing

136
00:06:27,954 --> 00:06:28,955
in Horror of Dracula.
- Right. Okay.

137
00:06:28,955 --> 00:06:29,889
Run on the table

138
00:06:29,889 --> 00:06:31,157
and jump over the fire...
- Right.

139
00:06:31,157 --> 00:06:33,259
...and then land with a sword
and, "Stand back.

140
00:06:33,259 --> 00:06:34,327
He's mine."
- Yeah. Argh. Boom.

141
00:06:34,327 --> 00:06:35,495
This was my first time
directing.

142
00:06:35,495 --> 00:06:36,796
I was fucking scared.

143
00:06:36,796 --> 00:06:37,864
I mean, this is Robert Englund.

144
00:06:37,864 --> 00:06:40,633
This is Lin Shaye.
This is big time.

145
00:06:40,633 --> 00:06:43,002
Robert put his arm around me,
and he gets real close,

146
00:06:43,002 --> 00:06:45,371
and he's like,
"I know you're nervous.

147
00:06:45,371 --> 00:06:48,808
Don't be.
You come to me for anything."

148
00:06:48,808 --> 00:06:50,576
He set the tone.

149
00:06:50,576 --> 00:06:51,611
All right, picture.

150
00:06:51,611 --> 00:06:52,578
Enough, guys. Quiet.

151
00:06:52,578 --> 00:06:54,080
Here we go, guys.

152
00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:56,282
I'd just wrapped,
you know, everybody did the...

153
00:06:56,282 --> 00:06:58,117
the big clap, you know.

154
00:06:58,117 --> 00:07:01,954
And I was heading to my hotel,
and I heard "Corey."

155
00:07:01,954 --> 00:07:03,556
And I turn and I look,

156
00:07:03,556 --> 00:07:06,292
and in one of the side rooms
was Robert.

157
00:07:06,292 --> 00:07:07,493
He goes, "Come in here.

158
00:07:07,493 --> 00:07:09,128
I think you really have
a lot of talent.

159
00:07:09,128 --> 00:07:11,864
And it'd be really cool for you
to keep going and do that."

160
00:07:11,864 --> 00:07:13,032
He's like,
"You did a really good job,"

161
00:07:13,032 --> 00:07:16,669
and I just went...

162
00:07:16,669 --> 00:07:19,872
To me, it was like,
such a great compliment

163
00:07:19,872 --> 00:07:22,475
from an amazingly accomplished
actor.

164
00:07:22,475 --> 00:07:24,143
And it takes
a really generous person

165
00:07:24,143 --> 00:07:27,613
to actually turn that spotlight
onto all the people around him.

166
00:07:27,613 --> 00:07:31,050
I just think that's really rare
in... in... in Hollywood.

167
00:07:34,020 --> 00:07:35,721
Robert knew from an early age

168
00:07:35,721 --> 00:07:36,789
that he was talented at this.

169
00:07:36,789 --> 00:07:38,324
It wasn't just a hobby.

170
00:07:38,324 --> 00:07:39,926
It was something he was,

171
00:07:39,926 --> 00:07:43,496
not only that he loved,
but that he was good at.

172
00:07:43,496 --> 00:07:45,565
The reason you would
discourage a child

173
00:07:45,565 --> 00:07:48,668
from being an actor is because
it's a pretty sketchy,

174
00:07:48,668 --> 00:07:51,637
scary way to make money.

175
00:07:51,637 --> 00:07:55,575
My parents sent me off
with... with...

176
00:07:55,575 --> 00:07:59,579
with good tidings
to the teenage drama workshop.

177
00:07:59,579 --> 00:08:01,948
It was a shock to me later on

178
00:08:01,948 --> 00:08:04,383
to find out they didn't
want me to pursue it.

179
00:08:04,383 --> 00:08:06,786
And I had been recruited
by Stanford,

180
00:08:06,786 --> 00:08:08,988
and I didn't want to go there.

181
00:08:08,988 --> 00:08:10,389
They didn't have
a particularly great

182
00:08:10,389 --> 00:08:12,592
theatre department
or anything else.

183
00:08:12,592 --> 00:08:14,327
It really damaged
the relationship, I think,

184
00:08:14,327 --> 00:08:15,661
with my father;

185
00:08:15,661 --> 00:08:17,897
not my mother so much,
but my father, and...

186
00:08:17,897 --> 00:08:19,732
you know, that his son
was going to,

187
00:08:19,732 --> 00:08:23,369
"Hey diddle-dee-dee.
An actor's life for me."

188
00:08:23,369 --> 00:08:25,571
You know, I don't think
he wanted that.

189
00:08:25,571 --> 00:08:27,173
I think he worried for me.

190
00:08:27,173 --> 00:08:29,809
I don't think they disapproved
of acting per se.

191
00:08:29,809 --> 00:08:33,645
They just recognized
that it was a really tough job.

192
00:08:35,081 --> 00:08:37,450
I did all the
traditional academic training.

193
00:08:37,450 --> 00:08:38,818
I did Julius Caesar,

194
00:08:38,818 --> 00:08:40,852
and I did
Playboy of the Western World.

195
00:08:40,852 --> 00:08:44,023
I was doing classics now
as well as I did, not Dracula,

196
00:08:44,023 --> 00:08:46,792
but I played Jonathan Harker,
the young man whose girlfriend

197
00:08:46,792 --> 00:08:50,162
is suffering the effects
of the vampire.

198
00:08:50,162 --> 00:08:53,699
I looked like a kind of
skinny, big Adam apple,

199
00:08:53,699 --> 00:08:55,434
Danny Kaye back then.

200
00:08:55,434 --> 00:08:58,070
Of course, I was, you know,
ripped because I was a surfer

201
00:08:58,070 --> 00:09:01,874
and I had long blonde hair,
but I was hardly a leading man.

202
00:09:01,874 --> 00:09:03,910
He was a very plain kid.

203
00:09:03,910 --> 00:09:07,680
I mean, he was, he's not
the Robert we see now.

204
00:09:07,680 --> 00:09:08,781
I don't know what the hell
I meant by that,

205
00:09:08,781 --> 00:09:10,683
but, you know, they were...

206
00:09:10,683 --> 00:09:13,653
they were kinder
to plain-lookin' people.

207
00:09:13,653 --> 00:09:15,821
I was pretty plain.

208
00:09:15,821 --> 00:09:18,558
My audition in college,
I followed Richard Dreyfuss,

209
00:09:18,558 --> 00:09:20,893
who had done
an Edward Albee monologue.

210
00:09:20,893 --> 00:09:22,929
And that was like, just amazing.

211
00:09:22,929 --> 00:09:25,398
And I knew enough
not to follow him.

212
00:09:25,398 --> 00:09:26,599
I took my name off the list

213
00:09:26,599 --> 00:09:28,034
because I knew
I could never top his...

214
00:09:28,034 --> 00:09:29,802
it was just, he was brilliant.

215
00:09:29,802 --> 00:09:32,104
He in fact, dropped out
a couple of weeks later,

216
00:09:32,104 --> 00:09:34,740
and he actually told me,
you know,

217
00:09:34,740 --> 00:09:36,542
"You got to get out of here."

218
00:09:36,542 --> 00:09:38,010
And so, we went off and formed

219
00:09:38,010 --> 00:09:40,980
our own theatre company
in Hollywood.

220
00:09:40,980 --> 00:09:42,248
I left home.

221
00:09:42,248 --> 00:09:44,116
I wasn't speaking
to my parents anymore

222
00:09:44,116 --> 00:09:46,052
and I was living
in the basement of a theater.

223
00:09:46,052 --> 00:09:48,354
Girls were opening the trapdoor
in the theater floor

224
00:09:48,354 --> 00:09:51,190
and lowering me down
doughnuts and French fries.

225
00:09:51,190 --> 00:09:52,491
I was broke.

226
00:09:52,491 --> 00:09:56,262
We were all broke
and living with girls.

227
00:09:56,262 --> 00:09:59,165
Every girl I seemed to meet
that was single in New York

228
00:09:59,165 --> 00:10:02,969
had a cat
with a stinky-ass cat box,

229
00:10:02,969 --> 00:10:05,972
and the whole apartment
smelled like cat shit.

230
00:10:05,972 --> 00:10:07,406
You know,
you'd sleep on her couch

231
00:10:07,406 --> 00:10:09,108
until she got tired of you.

232
00:10:09,108 --> 00:10:12,144
And then we'd get a job
and everybody like, like,

233
00:10:12,144 --> 00:10:16,415
fucking smoke signals and drums
knew you had a job.

234
00:10:16,415 --> 00:10:19,051
They'd walk up to you and go,
"Hey, I heard, man."

235
00:10:19,051 --> 00:10:20,786
Can I have a little
more light, please?

236
00:10:26,092 --> 00:10:30,563
Let's see, I met Robert back in
1972, I think it was, or '73,

237
00:10:30,563 --> 00:10:34,600
and got to know each other well,
and we had a lot of fun.

238
00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:36,502
Just a bunch of
crazy guys on stage,

239
00:10:36,502 --> 00:10:39,038
all kinds of shenanigans
going on.

240
00:10:39,038 --> 00:10:40,473
I remember going to a party

241
00:10:40,473 --> 00:10:42,208
with all the football players.

242
00:10:42,208 --> 00:10:45,811
And there were like ten guys
for every one girl at the party.

243
00:10:45,811 --> 00:10:47,780
And all the guys
got really sick and drunk

244
00:10:47,780 --> 00:10:50,049
and throwing up
from the beer kegs.

245
00:10:50,049 --> 00:10:51,751
And the next weekend,
I was invited to

246
00:10:51,751 --> 00:10:53,352
a drama department party.

247
00:10:53,352 --> 00:10:57,056
And it was ten girls
for every one guy.

248
00:10:57,056 --> 00:10:59,692
Not beer kegs
but mixing cocktails.

249
00:10:59,692 --> 00:11:02,228
And there weren't
a lot of straight guys there.

250
00:11:02,228 --> 00:11:04,096
Kind of a
"don't ask, don't tell" time.

251
00:11:04,096 --> 00:11:06,966
And I, it was...
that was a very exotic,

252
00:11:06,966 --> 00:11:10,536
kind of eye-opening
experience for me.

253
00:11:10,536 --> 00:11:12,805
Another perk about
being in the theater is

254
00:11:12,805 --> 00:11:15,041
you're like playing
many different characters

255
00:11:15,041 --> 00:11:17,376
during the course of
a two-and-a-half-hour play.

256
00:11:17,376 --> 00:11:20,146
What happens invariably
is that you run off

257
00:11:20,146 --> 00:11:22,548
to the side of the stage,
and you all strip

258
00:11:22,548 --> 00:11:24,016
and you put on
your next costume.

259
00:11:24,016 --> 00:11:26,552
And you could be standing
right next to a young lady

260
00:11:26,552 --> 00:11:28,254
- who was stripping.
- Really?

261
00:11:28,254 --> 00:11:30,122
Not that you were
paying any attention,

262
00:11:30,122 --> 00:11:33,726
but, you know, occasionally
you just kind of...

263
00:11:33,726 --> 00:11:36,562
glance like that.
That's probably not...

264
00:11:36,562 --> 00:11:40,165
it's... it's probably not...

265
00:11:40,165 --> 00:11:43,703
um, I shouldn't say that
nowadays.

266
00:11:43,703 --> 00:11:45,337
That about does that for me.

267
00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:51,043
I went back to college
after that

268
00:11:51,043 --> 00:11:53,145
and was very successful there,

269
00:11:53,145 --> 00:11:55,881
and that's the beginning
of my professional life.

270
00:11:55,881 --> 00:11:59,085
But I became dissatisfied
and disaffected

271
00:11:59,085 --> 00:12:01,187
with the politics of theater.

272
00:12:01,187 --> 00:12:04,156
I was naive enough to think
the theater was free of that

273
00:12:04,156 --> 00:12:07,293
and pure and...
and fairness prevailed,

274
00:12:07,293 --> 00:12:10,029
and of course it's just
like any other business.

275
00:12:10,029 --> 00:12:12,031
And I returned to Hollywood.

276
00:12:13,833 --> 00:12:17,737
Betsy, my first wife.
We were high school sweethearts.

277
00:12:17,737 --> 00:12:19,939
I can still remember
seeing her, you know,

278
00:12:19,939 --> 00:12:22,908
get in my car in high school

279
00:12:22,908 --> 00:12:25,811
to take her to the movies,
with her, you know,

280
00:12:25,811 --> 00:12:28,280
her surfer girl
sun-streaked hair,

281
00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,484
and her sunburned,
you know, shoulders,

282
00:12:31,484 --> 00:12:34,887
and I was kind of a bad boy.

283
00:12:34,887 --> 00:12:37,623
And then we patched it up.

284
00:12:37,623 --> 00:12:41,927
And then I went off
to go to college.

285
00:12:41,927 --> 00:12:44,730
And then she wound up
at that college,

286
00:12:44,730 --> 00:12:48,534
and we sort of
came back together again.

287
00:12:48,534 --> 00:12:51,971
I think I'd... I'd...
I'd matured just enough

288
00:12:51,971 --> 00:12:54,373
that I thought maybe, maybe,

289
00:12:54,373 --> 00:12:57,176
maybe Betsy and I
are meant to be, you know.

290
00:12:57,176 --> 00:12:59,145
We'd known each other
for so long, it felt like...

291
00:12:59,145 --> 00:13:01,747
when you're young,
it felt like forever.

292
00:13:01,747 --> 00:13:04,083
And so, we made a go of it.

293
00:13:05,785 --> 00:13:07,720
I don't think
she ever understood

294
00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:09,789
how serious I was
about being an actor,

295
00:13:09,789 --> 00:13:11,490
how much I loved it,

296
00:13:11,490 --> 00:13:14,760
and I was so sure of what
I wanted and what I needed.

297
00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:16,962
I think Betsy kind of
wanted us to, you know,

298
00:13:16,962 --> 00:13:19,331
come back to California
and have a house

299
00:13:19,331 --> 00:13:23,068
and a picket fence and babies.
We tried, but we just...

300
00:13:23,068 --> 00:13:25,471
we were just
different people by then.

301
00:13:25,471 --> 00:13:28,607
And you know, I, you know,
we were very young then

302
00:13:28,607 --> 00:13:30,576
and that can damage a marriage.

303
00:13:30,576 --> 00:13:35,648
And I think we just changed,
not necessarily grew apart,

304
00:13:35,648 --> 00:13:37,983
because we had
a very amicable divorce.

305
00:13:37,983 --> 00:13:39,885
You know, we just
got married too young.

306
00:13:44,156 --> 00:13:47,760
I had retained an agent who'd
seen me doing Hello, Dolly,

307
00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:48,928
and I went on
my first interview,

308
00:13:48,928 --> 00:13:50,696
and I got a starring role
in a movie.

309
00:13:50,696 --> 00:13:53,232
1973, Buster and Billie,

310
00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,236
which was sort of a strange,

311
00:13:57,236 --> 00:14:00,906
romantic, and brutal true story

312
00:14:00,906 --> 00:14:04,410
about a couple of teenagers
in the American South,

313
00:14:04,410 --> 00:14:06,979
post-World War Two.

314
00:14:06,979 --> 00:14:08,781
He definitely
made an impression on me,

315
00:14:08,781 --> 00:14:09,949
even at that age.

316
00:14:09,949 --> 00:14:12,017
He didn't look
like a movie actor

317
00:14:12,017 --> 00:14:14,653
and the performance
was really special.

318
00:14:14,653 --> 00:14:16,989
And it's not
a genre film in any way.

319
00:14:16,989 --> 00:14:20,626
It's a coming-of-age drama,
but it's kind of intense.

320
00:14:24,196 --> 00:14:26,232
I beat out a ton of people
for that part.

321
00:14:26,232 --> 00:14:28,634
I found out later,
some of the people that...

322
00:14:28,634 --> 00:14:31,604
that were up to that role,
that Who's Who in Hollywood.

323
00:14:31,604 --> 00:14:34,373
I had this great Emmy
award-winning makeup man,

324
00:14:34,373 --> 00:14:37,977
Del Armstrong,
and my character was an albino

325
00:14:37,977 --> 00:14:42,615
who idolized and sidekicked
this, this older boy.

326
00:14:42,615 --> 00:14:45,251
In the form of the very hunky
Jan Michael Vincent.

327
00:14:45,251 --> 00:14:47,019
Well, you're talkin' to
the Lone Ranger here.

328
00:14:47,019 --> 00:14:48,787
I ride alone, kemo sabe.

329
00:14:50,256 --> 00:14:52,925
My albino character
doesn't like being an albino

330
00:14:52,925 --> 00:14:55,527
and he dyes his hair black,
uses shoe polish.

331
00:14:55,527 --> 00:14:57,863
We wanted it to look
like an old crew cut,

332
00:14:57,863 --> 00:14:59,398
but my hair doesn't do that.

333
00:14:59,398 --> 00:15:01,700
We go to this great
Russian wig maker

334
00:15:01,700 --> 00:15:03,302
in the San Fernando Valley,

335
00:15:03,302 --> 00:15:05,070
and she's got
an entire mantelpiece

336
00:15:05,070 --> 00:15:09,208
full of Emmy awards and Oscars.

337
00:15:09,208 --> 00:15:11,010
And there in this room
is John Wayne's hair

338
00:15:11,010 --> 00:15:12,478
and Jimmy Stewart's hair.

339
00:15:12,478 --> 00:15:15,781
She's got everybody's hairpiece
and everybody's toupee.

340
00:15:15,781 --> 00:15:17,449
She tried a couple of them
on me.

341
00:15:17,449 --> 00:15:20,753
And Alan Arkin
had just done Catch-22.

342
00:15:20,753 --> 00:15:23,222
Well, I got Alan Arkin's toupee.

343
00:15:23,222 --> 00:15:24,790
And we're going to wear
contact lenses

344
00:15:24,790 --> 00:15:26,592
to make my eyes pink.

345
00:15:26,592 --> 00:15:30,729
First day starring in a movie,
I get the contact lenses in,

346
00:15:30,729 --> 00:15:34,934
and they're colored pink
to show that my eyes are green.

347
00:15:34,934 --> 00:15:38,270
Pink and green
together make brown.

348
00:15:38,270 --> 00:15:39,972
I look more like an albino

349
00:15:39,972 --> 00:15:42,608
with my own eyes.
And if I squint a little bit,

350
00:15:42,608 --> 00:15:47,012
then it's... it works, you know.
So I'm in my first movie now,

351
00:15:47,012 --> 00:15:49,148
and I gotta get my courage
with the director.

352
00:15:49,148 --> 00:15:51,083
And I go, "Dan, this just
doesn't look right to me.

353
00:15:51,083 --> 00:15:52,952
I don't know if
I can act in these things."

354
00:15:52,952 --> 00:15:56,388
And he goes,
"Robert, take them out.

355
00:15:56,388 --> 00:15:59,290
They don't look right.
Your own eyes are good.

356
00:15:59,290 --> 00:16:01,493
The windows of the soul."

357
00:16:01,493 --> 00:16:04,596
First minute on a set,
pop them out,

358
00:16:04,596 --> 00:16:08,300
my eyes stop watering,
action, nailed the first scene.

359
00:16:08,300 --> 00:16:10,669
Again it's that thing,
it's that an adult,

360
00:16:10,669 --> 00:16:14,006
someone famous, someone
tried and true and tested

361
00:16:14,006 --> 00:16:16,241
listening to you.

362
00:16:16,241 --> 00:16:17,576
And that's why they're good,

363
00:16:17,576 --> 00:16:19,411
because they know when to listen
and telling me that,

364
00:16:19,411 --> 00:16:21,513
and now my confidence
is through the ceiling.

365
00:16:23,382 --> 00:16:26,418
They had the after party
of my premiere

366
00:16:26,418 --> 00:16:30,322
at Chasen's in Beverly Hills,
which is the restaurant

367
00:16:30,322 --> 00:16:33,726
and it was like Who's Who
of show business in there

368
00:16:33,726 --> 00:16:35,461
at any given night.

369
00:16:35,461 --> 00:16:38,130
My father went without me.
I couldn't attend

370
00:16:38,130 --> 00:16:41,900
because I was doing another job.
I was off on location.

371
00:16:41,900 --> 00:16:44,470
My father really
kind of saw this world

372
00:16:44,470 --> 00:16:47,272
and realized that I was
doing really well in it.

373
00:16:47,272 --> 00:16:49,575
But it was I think just
seeing the family name,

374
00:16:49,575 --> 00:16:52,177
single card
that really touched him.

375
00:16:52,177 --> 00:16:54,013
And we were off and running.

376
00:16:57,883 --> 00:16:59,284
It's fun now to go back through

377
00:16:59,284 --> 00:17:01,220
Robert's early movies.

378
00:17:01,220 --> 00:17:04,223
I actually appreciated Robert
from the very beginning.

379
00:17:04,223 --> 00:17:05,357
Is it a cop?

380
00:17:05,357 --> 00:17:06,358
You're gonna wish I was.

381
00:17:06,358 --> 00:17:08,127
At that time,
Robert was building

382
00:17:08,127 --> 00:17:12,297
a nice gallery of characters
as a character actor.

383
00:17:12,297 --> 00:17:14,400
I was a character actor
in the theater,

384
00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:15,834
and I was a character actor
on film,

385
00:17:15,834 --> 00:17:17,202
and I understand those roles.

386
00:17:17,202 --> 00:17:20,305
So I get best friend,
pissant cowboy,

387
00:17:20,305 --> 00:17:22,007
scuzzy little junky boy,

388
00:17:22,007 --> 00:17:25,277
and I'm getting lots and lots of
screen time with those roles.

389
00:17:25,277 --> 00:17:26,878
Hands on the counter, asshole.

390
00:17:26,878 --> 00:17:28,414
I did a little filler job

391
00:17:28,414 --> 00:17:31,884
for the great American director
Robert Aldrich who did

392
00:17:31,884 --> 00:17:33,152
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

393
00:17:33,152 --> 00:17:35,387
and The Longest Yard
with Burt Reynolds.

394
00:17:35,387 --> 00:17:37,022
They did this movie
called the Hustle.

395
00:17:37,022 --> 00:17:40,192
Real, dirty,
dark contemporary noir,

396
00:17:40,192 --> 00:17:43,095
and I'm hired to play the guy
that kills Burt Reynolds

397
00:17:43,095 --> 00:17:46,365
in the end, this just
sort of random killing.

398
00:17:46,365 --> 00:17:48,867
And one of the shots they want
is that Dirty Harry shot,

399
00:17:48,867 --> 00:17:52,571
that great camera looking down
the barrel of a gunshot.

400
00:17:52,571 --> 00:17:56,708
Prop man put in
too much of a load.

401
00:17:56,708 --> 00:17:59,711
So when they get back
for the shot of me

402
00:17:59,711 --> 00:18:01,380
actually shooting Burt,

403
00:18:01,380 --> 00:18:04,016
Burt's a couple of feet
away from me. I fire the gun

404
00:18:04,016 --> 00:18:05,884
and Burt's toupee goes...

405
00:18:05,884 --> 00:18:07,553
"Whoo, whoo, whoo."

406
00:18:07,553 --> 00:18:09,288
I didn't even know
Burt wore a toupee then.

407
00:18:09,288 --> 00:18:11,090
I'm like, "Oh my god."

408
00:18:11,090 --> 00:18:12,891
Burt invites me
into his trailer.

409
00:18:12,891 --> 00:18:14,693
Burt pours me
a shot of Bushmills.

410
00:18:14,693 --> 00:18:16,962
Burt says, "Now, kid,
don't worry about that.

411
00:18:16,962 --> 00:18:18,163
That wasn't your fault."

412
00:18:18,163 --> 00:18:21,266
He goes, "You gotta be
as mean and pimply

413
00:18:21,266 --> 00:18:23,368
and junky as you can be.

414
00:18:23,368 --> 00:18:26,772
Because the meaner
and nastier you are,

415
00:18:26,772 --> 00:18:29,408
the more the audience is going
to feel bad about my death."

416
00:18:29,408 --> 00:18:32,344
And this is the biggest star
of the '70s telling me this,

417
00:18:32,344 --> 00:18:35,280
someone of power
and major stardom

418
00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:38,350
speaking to me one on one,
making me feel good,

419
00:18:38,350 --> 00:18:41,353
taking this pressure off me
after that horrible accident.

420
00:18:41,353 --> 00:18:43,055
We go back in, and we shoot it.

421
00:18:47,326 --> 00:18:49,561
Get in! Come on!

422
00:18:53,165 --> 00:18:55,334
And it's a great moment
in the film.

423
00:18:55,334 --> 00:18:58,504
The first time I noticed
Robert Englund in a movie

424
00:18:58,504 --> 00:19:01,573
was in Bob Rafelson's
Stay Hungry.

425
00:19:01,573 --> 00:19:05,577
Now, from the man who
directed Five Easy Pieces

426
00:19:05,577 --> 00:19:08,113
comes Stay Hungry,
an extraordinary new film

427
00:19:08,113 --> 00:19:10,983
that takes you
into a fascinating world.

428
00:19:10,983 --> 00:19:12,284
It was like Who's Who.

429
00:19:12,284 --> 00:19:13,519
The great Bob Rafelson,

430
00:19:13,519 --> 00:19:15,721
who had just come off of
Five Easy Pieces.

431
00:19:15,721 --> 00:19:18,824
Jeff Bridges,
one of his early great roles.

432
00:19:18,824 --> 00:19:20,626
Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know,

433
00:19:20,626 --> 00:19:22,628
and I know Arnold Schwarzenegger
has done a brief cameo

434
00:19:22,628 --> 00:19:25,898
in a Robert Altman movie
called The Long Goodbye,

435
00:19:25,898 --> 00:19:28,367
and he's done a documentary
called Pumping Iron,

436
00:19:28,367 --> 00:19:30,736
which is the beginning of
the fitness fad worldwide.

437
00:19:30,736 --> 00:19:33,238
And this movie is
the first movie to address that.

438
00:19:33,238 --> 00:19:35,107
Lots and lots
of wonderful people.

439
00:19:35,107 --> 00:19:37,075
And me, I'm one of the stars.

440
00:19:37,075 --> 00:19:38,610
I'm like
fourth or fifth billing.

441
00:19:38,610 --> 00:19:40,746
Robert played
a bodybuilder in that.

442
00:19:40,746 --> 00:19:42,381
Tank top and all.

443
00:19:42,381 --> 00:19:44,049
He's a little guy but,
you know, he'd been a swimmer.

444
00:19:44,049 --> 00:19:45,617
What you trying to say?

445
00:19:45,617 --> 00:19:46,919
Thor didn't tell me
nothing about it.

446
00:19:46,919 --> 00:19:48,353
Well, he told me.

447
00:19:48,353 --> 00:19:49,788
It's better if you don't have
nothing on your stomach.

448
00:19:49,788 --> 00:19:52,057
There were wonderful actors
in that film,

449
00:19:52,057 --> 00:19:54,560
and just this amazing
crosscurrent

450
00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,163
of Hollywood culture,
the '60s and the '70s

451
00:19:58,163 --> 00:19:59,698
all coming together.

452
00:19:59,698 --> 00:20:01,800
As Jimmy Karen said,
it was Arnold Schwarzenegger

453
00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:03,402
before he could say money.

454
00:20:03,402 --> 00:20:06,572
Arnold, who was like,
this is at the absolute peak

455
00:20:06,572 --> 00:20:10,342
of his beauty
as this sculpted man.

456
00:20:10,342 --> 00:20:12,044
And Arnold's
brilliant and funny.

457
00:20:12,044 --> 00:20:13,378
We all came back to Hollywood.

458
00:20:13,378 --> 00:20:14,479
We were going to help Arnold out

459
00:20:14,479 --> 00:20:16,114
because we all
fell in love with him.

460
00:20:16,114 --> 00:20:19,484
Arnold already, through his
endorsements from bodybuilding,

461
00:20:19,484 --> 00:20:23,155
owned what is considered
Ocean Park now.

462
00:20:23,155 --> 00:20:25,991
He was such a shrewd,
savvy businessman.

463
00:20:25,991 --> 00:20:28,160
So, immediately, we all realize

464
00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,196
he was already
vastly successful.

465
00:20:31,196 --> 00:20:34,066
It's hard to give up.
I'd rather stay hungry.

466
00:20:37,869 --> 00:20:41,273
I remember walking
through onto this set,

467
00:20:41,273 --> 00:20:44,810
and there were tumbleweeds

468
00:20:44,810 --> 00:20:50,515
and a two-story Victorian
wooden rundown house

469
00:20:50,515 --> 00:20:53,785
that was supposedly in
the desert somewhere in Texas.

470
00:20:53,785 --> 00:20:56,488
And then, in the on the porch,

471
00:20:56,488 --> 00:20:59,725
there was a monkey
with bald spots all over

472
00:20:59,725 --> 00:21:02,327
and picking his hair,
and he was mad,

473
00:21:02,327 --> 00:21:04,463
and he was rattling in his cage.

474
00:21:04,463 --> 00:21:08,934
It was one of those
roadside attraction places

475
00:21:08,934 --> 00:21:11,570
that they had in the '40s

476
00:21:11,570 --> 00:21:15,974
in that kind of newly mobile
national highway system USA.

477
00:21:15,974 --> 00:21:19,044
"Last stop for gas,
500 yards on the right,

478
00:21:19,044 --> 00:21:22,814
see the giant iguana
and the bats from hell."

479
00:21:22,814 --> 00:21:25,784
So it's one of those places
off on this side road

480
00:21:25,784 --> 00:21:30,222
where obviously Tobe Hooper's
families, and guests,

481
00:21:30,222 --> 00:21:32,524
and victims will show up.

482
00:21:37,462 --> 00:21:41,400
Eaten Alive
was my first horror film,

483
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:42,968
and it was called Death Trap.

484
00:21:42,968 --> 00:21:45,504
We had to change the title
because of the famous play.

485
00:21:45,504 --> 00:21:47,239
I get this part.

486
00:21:47,239 --> 00:21:49,174
And you have to remember
in the '70s,

487
00:21:49,174 --> 00:21:52,110
my go-to stereotype was redneck,

488
00:21:52,110 --> 00:21:54,746
Western, neutral sidekick.

489
00:21:54,746 --> 00:21:58,183
And so I did my little pissant
cowboy and I got the role.

490
00:21:58,183 --> 00:22:00,652
Get off my property!

491
00:22:00,652 --> 00:22:02,754
Aw, look at that,
done ruffled his feathers.

492
00:22:02,754 --> 00:22:05,524
Eaten Alive was awesome.

493
00:22:05,524 --> 00:22:07,292
You know, 'cause I'm a big
Tobe Hooper fan

494
00:22:07,292 --> 00:22:09,227
and I didn't realize
it was Robert until,

495
00:22:09,227 --> 00:22:10,629
of course, you know,
after the fact

496
00:22:10,629 --> 00:22:12,397
and looking back on stuff.

497
00:22:12,397 --> 00:22:14,766
Howdy, ma'am?
The name's Buck.

498
00:22:14,766 --> 00:22:16,601
We had to finish
the movie without Tobe.

499
00:22:16,601 --> 00:22:19,338
Talk around the set was
it had something to do with

500
00:22:19,338 --> 00:22:22,207
Tobe not making it
violent enough.

501
00:22:22,207 --> 00:22:24,309
Tobe Hooper?
You know, leave him alone.

502
00:22:24,309 --> 00:22:26,345
You'll... you'll see it
when he edits together.

503
00:22:29,948 --> 00:22:32,050
The only thing I regret
is I had to really wrestle

504
00:22:32,050 --> 00:22:35,354
with a giant rubber alligator.

505
00:22:38,890 --> 00:22:40,392
The day we were going to do

506
00:22:40,392 --> 00:22:42,394
the scene with making love and...

507
00:22:42,394 --> 00:22:44,029
and then him getting up
and going outside

508
00:22:44,029 --> 00:22:47,666
and getting eaten,
that was the nude scene for me.

509
00:22:47,666 --> 00:22:49,401
And that's the day
the producer comes in and goes,

510
00:22:49,401 --> 00:22:51,203
"Gotta tell you something.

511
00:22:51,203 --> 00:22:53,405
Tobe Hooper's not going to be
here to direct this."

512
00:22:53,405 --> 00:22:57,642
He goes, "I am,"
and I went, "Oh, my, no."

513
00:22:57,642 --> 00:22:59,911
I was really scared.

514
00:22:59,911 --> 00:23:01,813
But Robert
was really supportive.

515
00:23:01,813 --> 00:23:04,249
He was really there for me
because I was really nervous.

516
00:23:04,249 --> 00:23:05,684
He kept me calm.

517
00:23:05,684 --> 00:23:08,019
Something about him
just made me feel at ease.

518
00:23:08,019 --> 00:23:09,988
Yeah, apparently
in the Japanese release,

519
00:23:09,988 --> 00:23:12,391
there's actually in the middle
of one of my scenes,

520
00:23:12,391 --> 00:23:14,292
they go beyond
and there's actually like

521
00:23:14,292 --> 00:23:16,461
a sexual insert shot.

522
00:23:16,461 --> 00:23:18,029
No pun intended.

523
00:23:18,029 --> 00:23:19,731
Oh, okay.

524
00:23:19,731 --> 00:23:21,299
And... and I'm telling
everyone right now,

525
00:23:21,299 --> 00:23:23,001
it's not me. It's not me.

526
00:23:24,503 --> 00:23:28,573
Name's Buck.
I'm raring to fuck.

527
00:23:28,573 --> 00:23:30,609
Let's just get it over with.

528
00:23:30,609 --> 00:23:33,545
I sort of thought we could, uh,
try something new.

529
00:23:33,545 --> 00:23:35,514
"My name's Buck
and I'm here to fuck."

530
00:23:35,514 --> 00:23:36,882
I didn't even realize
that's where Quentin got it

531
00:23:36,882 --> 00:23:37,983
for Kill Bill.

532
00:23:37,983 --> 00:23:41,119
So you're starting to see
Robert's influence

533
00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:43,321
echoing through pop culture.

534
00:23:43,321 --> 00:23:46,925
My name's Buck
and I'm here to fuck.

535
00:23:46,925 --> 00:23:49,528
I auditioned for Kill Bill
for the orderly.

536
00:23:49,528 --> 00:23:51,863
Quentin has told me
he loves Eaten Alive.

537
00:23:51,863 --> 00:23:54,599
He has a great aesthetic
for grindhouse,

538
00:23:54,599 --> 00:23:56,768
and I have a nice talk
with Quentin.

539
00:23:56,768 --> 00:24:00,372
And my first take
was not what he wanted.

540
00:24:00,372 --> 00:24:02,007
But then I had to do it again.

541
00:24:02,007 --> 00:24:06,011
And I... it was so dim that
I put on my reading glasses.

542
00:24:06,011 --> 00:24:10,482
And I put on my reading glasses
and it really... it changes me.

543
00:24:10,482 --> 00:24:12,818
You know, and I become
the, you know,

544
00:24:12,818 --> 00:24:15,720
the druggist at the store
or something, at the pharmacy.

545
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,357
So, Quentin, confused,
he hired me.

546
00:24:19,357 --> 00:24:20,692
My name's Buck

547
00:24:20,692 --> 00:24:23,228
and I'm here to fuck.

548
00:24:25,764 --> 00:24:29,167
Mornin', Beebo!
I'm feelin' lucky!

549
00:24:29,167 --> 00:24:30,769
I'm starvin'.

550
00:24:30,769 --> 00:24:34,873
The third of the trio
of '70s Southern rednecks

551
00:24:34,873 --> 00:24:38,710
that I played
was Last of the Cowboys,

552
00:24:38,710 --> 00:24:39,578
also known as
The Great Smokey Roadblock.

553
00:24:39,578 --> 00:24:41,012
You have to remember,

554
00:24:41,012 --> 00:24:43,415
trucking movies
were real big in the '70s.

555
00:24:45,383 --> 00:24:46,852
Keep on truckin'.

556
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:50,922
I had the honor of starring
with the great Henry Fonda,

557
00:24:50,922 --> 00:24:54,359
arguably one of the best actors
in American film history.

558
00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:55,961
Also in that film,

559
00:24:55,961 --> 00:24:59,364
I had a lovely young
leading lady, Susan Sarandon,

560
00:24:59,364 --> 00:25:01,066
in one of her earlier roles.

561
00:25:01,066 --> 00:25:02,934
It was sort of
a double whammy for me,

562
00:25:02,934 --> 00:25:05,237
this, uh, this working
character actor

563
00:25:05,237 --> 00:25:08,039
getting to work with one of
America's greatest film actors

564
00:25:08,039 --> 00:25:11,910
and soon-to-be Oscar-winning
Susan Sarandon.

565
00:25:13,245 --> 00:25:16,748
I had met William Katt
at a Saturday audition,

566
00:25:16,748 --> 00:25:20,752
and it was my third
or fourth callback for Carrie.

567
00:25:20,752 --> 00:25:22,487
Creepy Carrie!
Creepy Carrie!

568
00:25:25,123 --> 00:25:28,827
They were liking me
for the John Travolta role.

569
00:25:28,827 --> 00:25:32,063
And I believe that day
it was myself,

570
00:25:32,063 --> 00:25:34,399
William Katt, and Nancy Allen,

571
00:25:34,399 --> 00:25:36,501
who eventually
married Brian DePalma.

572
00:25:36,501 --> 00:25:38,169
Obviously, Travolta got the part

573
00:25:38,169 --> 00:25:41,072
and was fabulous in it.

574
00:25:41,072 --> 00:25:45,010
Young Robert Englund was
obsessed with George Lucas

575
00:25:45,010 --> 00:25:47,212
and Zoetrope
and Francis Ford Coppola.

576
00:25:47,212 --> 00:25:49,247
We idolized these guys.

577
00:25:49,247 --> 00:25:51,683
And we had heard rumors
about Apocalypse Now

578
00:25:51,683 --> 00:25:53,485
in the acting community,

579
00:25:53,485 --> 00:25:55,820
and I managed to
wrangle an audition.

580
00:25:55,820 --> 00:25:58,156
And I wanted to read
for the cook.

581
00:25:58,156 --> 00:26:01,660
I dressed military.
I had a tank top on,

582
00:26:01,660 --> 00:26:03,995
an old green military
thrift shop tank top,

583
00:26:03,995 --> 00:26:05,297
wife-beater,

584
00:26:05,297 --> 00:26:08,733
and I had dog tags
and I was 170 pounds of muscle.

585
00:26:08,733 --> 00:26:10,869
I had an old military shirt
with the sleeves rolled up

586
00:26:10,869 --> 00:26:13,104
on over my sleeveless t-shirt.

587
00:26:13,104 --> 00:26:16,608
So I had a kind of
cool look about me.

588
00:26:16,608 --> 00:26:18,076
They said,
"No, you're too young."

589
00:26:18,076 --> 00:26:20,145
They looked at me
for a minute and said,

590
00:26:20,145 --> 00:26:22,747
"You know, they may want to
see you across the hall.

591
00:26:22,747 --> 00:26:24,983
George Lucas is working
on a new project."

592
00:26:24,983 --> 00:26:26,384
Scene four, take one.

593
00:26:27,619 --> 00:26:29,621
Chick's out again,
there's no mistake.

594
00:26:29,621 --> 00:26:30,755
You can't find a major?

595
00:26:30,755 --> 00:26:33,625
I found it, it's just...
it's just not there.

596
00:26:33,625 --> 00:26:35,627
George Lucas and Brian De Palma

597
00:26:35,627 --> 00:26:37,395
were casting at the same time.

598
00:26:37,395 --> 00:26:39,764
So all those casting sessions,
they held it together

599
00:26:39,764 --> 00:26:42,534
and I think they saw
every up-and-coming

600
00:26:42,534 --> 00:26:45,904
young actor and young actress
in Hollywood at the time.

601
00:26:45,904 --> 00:26:48,206
They wanted Han Solo
to originally be kind of

602
00:26:48,206 --> 00:26:50,342
like a cool older uncle.

603
00:26:50,342 --> 00:26:51,810
You know, that kind of guy
that would, you know,

604
00:26:51,810 --> 00:26:53,578
give you your first beer.

605
00:26:53,578 --> 00:26:54,846
Now they were kind of
bobbing and weaving.

606
00:26:54,846 --> 00:26:56,448
They didn't know
whether to keep it older

607
00:26:56,448 --> 00:27:00,151
or maybe have Han be somebody
almost Luke's age, you know.

608
00:27:00,151 --> 00:27:01,753
It could be
a contemporary of Luke's

609
00:27:01,753 --> 00:27:04,189
but you know, a bad boy.

610
00:27:04,189 --> 00:27:06,324
Over my dead body.

611
00:27:06,324 --> 00:27:09,127
Now that we have seen
Harrison Ford as Han Solo,

612
00:27:09,127 --> 00:27:13,264
you cannot picture
anybody else in that role.

613
00:27:13,264 --> 00:27:16,901
I'm sure Robert would have
given a great performance.

614
00:27:16,901 --> 00:27:19,404
But it's just like asking,

615
00:27:19,404 --> 00:27:21,773
"Can you picture somebody else
as Freddy Krueger?"

616
00:27:21,773 --> 00:27:24,643
You have nothing to worry about.

617
00:27:24,643 --> 00:27:27,145
Immediately,
they thought I was too young.

618
00:27:27,145 --> 00:27:29,180
And they took a Polaroid of me,
I think,

619
00:27:29,180 --> 00:27:30,782
and maybe they filmed me with,
you know,

620
00:27:30,782 --> 00:27:33,818
with a lampshade off on Super 8.
I can't remember.

621
00:27:33,818 --> 00:27:36,054
But I do remember
there being a table in there

622
00:27:36,054 --> 00:27:39,257
and I saw the sides
for Luke Skywalker.

623
00:27:39,257 --> 00:27:41,059
I didn't have sides.
They just took a picture of me.

624
00:27:41,059 --> 00:27:43,828
I didn't even read for Han.

625
00:27:43,828 --> 00:27:47,298
But I stole the sides
for Luke Skywalker.

626
00:27:49,167 --> 00:27:53,238
I get home and my girlfriend's
in the back bedroom typing away.

627
00:27:53,238 --> 00:27:56,374
She's working on a script that
would later become Lost Boys.

628
00:27:56,374 --> 00:27:59,477
Mark Hamill, my buddy.
Always at our house.

629
00:27:59,477 --> 00:28:00,979
And Mark's entrée was always,

630
00:28:00,979 --> 00:28:03,214
he always brought
a six-pack of Heineken.

631
00:28:03,214 --> 00:28:06,151
And I come in and I... I...
I gave him the sides.

632
00:28:06,151 --> 00:28:08,253
I said, "Mark, you might
really be right for this."

633
00:28:08,253 --> 00:28:10,255
He got on the phone
with his agent,

634
00:28:10,255 --> 00:28:12,457
got an interview I think
that very next day.

635
00:28:12,457 --> 00:28:14,826
Went in,
and the rest is history.

636
00:28:14,826 --> 00:28:16,494
We have to find the rebels.

637
00:28:16,494 --> 00:28:18,329
What we're carrying
belongs to them.

638
00:28:18,329 --> 00:28:20,465
Mark Hamill...

639
00:28:20,465 --> 00:28:24,669
Darn him! It was almost mine.
It was that...

640
00:28:24,669 --> 00:28:26,805
It's...
it's a great '70s moment

641
00:28:26,805 --> 00:28:29,207
for how everything came together
and blended together

642
00:28:29,207 --> 00:28:32,010
and how things
bounced off each other.

643
00:28:32,010 --> 00:28:35,280
You know, it's just interesting
how that all works.

644
00:28:37,949 --> 00:28:40,618
Well, back in the '70s,
I wasn't working constantly,

645
00:28:40,618 --> 00:28:43,822
and there were some
unemployment checks.

646
00:28:43,822 --> 00:28:45,590
Sometimes I'd help out friends

647
00:28:45,590 --> 00:28:47,726
in front of
and behind the camera.

648
00:28:49,928 --> 00:28:51,996
My neighbor who lived downstairs

649
00:28:51,996 --> 00:28:55,066
worked with Tommy Lee Wallace
and John Carpenter.

650
00:28:55,066 --> 00:28:58,970
And I offered to
help him one day.

651
00:28:58,970 --> 00:29:01,239
He wanted me to gather leaves

652
00:29:01,239 --> 00:29:04,075
and stuff them in garbage bags,
to all these dead leaves

653
00:29:04,075 --> 00:29:06,544
from the gutter and the streets
so he could go off,

654
00:29:06,544 --> 00:29:08,313
throw them in front of a camera

655
00:29:08,313 --> 00:29:10,048
and have them blow
through the air

656
00:29:10,048 --> 00:29:12,484
in front of a lovely young
actress named Jamie Lee Curtis

657
00:29:12,484 --> 00:29:17,222
in another iconic '70s movie...
Halloween.

658
00:29:18,523 --> 00:29:20,692
I professionally knew
what Robert was up to

659
00:29:20,692 --> 00:29:22,827
and watched his career grow.

660
00:29:22,827 --> 00:29:25,497
We were all kind of
growing at the same time.

661
00:29:25,497 --> 00:29:28,299
But obviously, I didn't
really have an opportunity

662
00:29:28,299 --> 00:29:30,835
to spend time with him again
until we did Big Wednesday.

663
00:29:30,835 --> 00:29:32,137
Big Wednesday,

664
00:29:32,137 --> 00:29:35,373
the day you face your own
biggest challenge.

665
00:29:35,373 --> 00:29:37,509
The day you risk it all.

666
00:29:37,509 --> 00:29:41,146
I had idolized some of
those surfers as a child,

667
00:29:41,146 --> 00:29:43,715
that... whose story
Big Wednesday is.

668
00:29:43,715 --> 00:29:45,817
And John Milius,

669
00:29:45,817 --> 00:29:48,419
the great John Milius,
the writer/director,

670
00:29:48,419 --> 00:29:51,823
was also at Malibu

671
00:29:51,823 --> 00:29:54,526
at that special, special
moment of time.

672
00:29:54,526 --> 00:29:58,696
John directed it and...
and cast all of us in this...

673
00:29:58,696 --> 00:30:00,465
another tribe of guys

674
00:30:00,465 --> 00:30:03,034
that was living on
that ribbon of life

675
00:30:03,034 --> 00:30:05,537
right on the coast
during the '60s.

676
00:30:05,537 --> 00:30:07,806
So it's his memory,

677
00:30:07,806 --> 00:30:10,175
but I remember
some of what he remembered.

678
00:30:10,175 --> 00:30:12,844
We... we're not
that too far off in age.

679
00:30:12,844 --> 00:30:15,113
It wasn't so much
about the party scene,

680
00:30:15,113 --> 00:30:17,916
but it was about tasty waves.

681
00:30:17,916 --> 00:30:19,584
So we would always hunt,

682
00:30:19,584 --> 00:30:22,453
so you'd have to get in your car
and run up and down the coast.

683
00:30:22,453 --> 00:30:24,155
That was my life.

684
00:30:24,155 --> 00:30:26,724
And I know, I know
Robert shared that kind of life

685
00:30:26,724 --> 00:30:28,126
for a long time.

686
00:30:28,126 --> 00:30:29,761
So when I met Robert,

687
00:30:29,761 --> 00:30:31,763
I remember
there was a perfect thing

688
00:30:31,763 --> 00:30:35,233
because he shakes hands when
somebody's going off to war,

689
00:30:35,233 --> 00:30:37,135
and he has lines, so when
I met Robert the first time,

690
00:30:37,135 --> 00:30:39,370
I shook his hand and I said,
"Stay casual, Barlow."

691
00:30:39,370 --> 00:30:40,505
Stay casual, Barlow.

692
00:30:42,106 --> 00:30:43,708
But what was
fascinating about it was

693
00:30:43,708 --> 00:30:45,677
he didn't go
"Oh, I'm glad you've seen

694
00:30:45,677 --> 00:30:46,978
one of my other movies."

695
00:30:46,978 --> 00:30:49,147
What he said was,
very seriously,

696
00:30:49,147 --> 00:30:51,249
"Oh, I love that movie."

697
00:30:51,249 --> 00:30:56,120
Robert has this wonderful
speaking voice.

698
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,190
He was the narrator
of Big Wednesday,

699
00:30:59,190 --> 00:31:01,092
which a lot of people
don't know.

700
00:31:01,092 --> 00:31:03,595
In the old days,
I remember a wind

701
00:31:03,595 --> 00:31:06,164
that would blow down
through the canyons.

702
00:31:06,164 --> 00:31:08,900
It was a hot wind
called a Santana.

703
00:31:08,900 --> 00:31:12,337
The narration
was so rhapsodic and beautiful,

704
00:31:12,337 --> 00:31:15,540
and Robert spoke it
so wonderfully.

705
00:31:15,540 --> 00:31:17,842
My friends and I
would sleep in our cars

706
00:31:17,842 --> 00:31:19,010
and the smell
of the offshore wind

707
00:31:19,010 --> 00:31:20,745
would often wake us.

708
00:31:20,745 --> 00:31:22,647
I... I kind of
pinched my nose for it,

709
00:31:22,647 --> 00:31:24,315
just a little bit.

710
00:31:24,315 --> 00:31:29,387
"I remember the three friends,"
you know, and "Santa Ana winds."

711
00:31:29,387 --> 00:31:31,222
I didn't get it to...
I didn't dude it like...

712
00:31:31,222 --> 00:31:34,726
like Sean Penn.
I didn't go full, "Dude."

713
00:31:34,726 --> 00:31:37,328
Oh, gnarly!

714
00:31:37,328 --> 00:31:39,163
But I did
just put enough of it on it,

715
00:31:39,163 --> 00:31:40,832
but I also wanted it to be

716
00:31:40,832 --> 00:31:44,936
as if it was a remembrance
of things past

717
00:31:44,936 --> 00:31:48,106
and give it the kind of
class that...

718
00:31:48,106 --> 00:31:51,109
the gentle poetry
in the narration required

719
00:31:51,109 --> 00:31:53,244
that John Milius had written.

720
00:31:53,244 --> 00:31:55,713
It was about...
their friendship was the film,

721
00:31:55,713 --> 00:31:58,883
and it was another guy standing
just outside of that,

722
00:31:58,883 --> 00:32:01,552
talking about their friendship.

723
00:32:01,552 --> 00:32:05,089
I hadn't done a part
that small in ten years.

724
00:32:05,089 --> 00:32:07,091
I had worked at
Warner Brothers a lot.

725
00:32:07,091 --> 00:32:09,160
I felt comfortable
taking a pay cut.

726
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,963
And I know that story
that they told.

727
00:32:11,963 --> 00:32:13,264
Big Wednesday for me

728
00:32:13,264 --> 00:32:16,100
is literally the last day
of my youth.

729
00:32:22,573 --> 00:32:25,310
This is the road
to Potter's Bluff.

730
00:32:25,310 --> 00:32:27,512
Maybe you've been there.

731
00:32:27,512 --> 00:32:33,051
Clean, picturesque, full of
old-fashioned friendliness.

732
00:32:33,051 --> 00:32:36,521
I met Robert Englund
in some casting sessions

733
00:32:36,521 --> 00:32:39,958
when I was casting
some television projects

734
00:32:39,958 --> 00:32:42,093
in Los Angeles.

735
00:32:42,093 --> 00:32:44,462
But Gary's hired me
several times.

736
00:32:44,462 --> 00:32:46,564
I mean, we did that...
we had done Mysterious Two,

737
00:32:46,564 --> 00:32:48,132
the television movie.

738
00:32:48,132 --> 00:32:50,168
And Robert came in and
I found him really interesting

739
00:32:50,168 --> 00:32:52,737
as an actor and as a person.

740
00:32:52,737 --> 00:32:54,472
I just really liked him.

741
00:32:54,472 --> 00:32:57,408
And I really went to the wall
to convince everybody

742
00:32:57,408 --> 00:33:00,812
that this guy could hold
his own against Noah Beery.

743
00:33:00,812 --> 00:33:02,814
Reverend MacLeish?

744
00:33:02,814 --> 00:33:03,748
You know, whose name was
on that tent permit?

745
00:33:03,748 --> 00:33:05,450
Yeah.

746
00:33:05,450 --> 00:33:08,820
Well, he up and died
six months before it was issued.

747
00:33:08,820 --> 00:33:10,121
And I was right.

748
00:33:10,121 --> 00:33:12,824
And he did, and he was
absolutely fantastic.

749
00:33:12,824 --> 00:33:17,128
And then I hired Robert again
on Dead & Buried.

750
00:33:17,128 --> 00:33:19,230
By the time I saw Dead & Buried

751
00:33:19,230 --> 00:33:22,133
for the first time, I was
already a big Robert Englund fan

752
00:33:22,133 --> 00:33:25,236
and just so excited to see him
outside of Freddy.

753
00:33:25,236 --> 00:33:27,305
Any chance I could see him
outside of Freddy,

754
00:33:27,305 --> 00:33:29,307
I was just fascinated.

755
00:33:29,307 --> 00:33:31,776
Did you get a good gander
at that face, Danny?

756
00:33:31,776 --> 00:33:33,411
Yes, Harry, I did.

757
00:33:33,411 --> 00:33:36,114
I actually
tailored that part for him.

758
00:33:36,114 --> 00:33:37,515
Actually, I don't even think
in the...

759
00:33:37,515 --> 00:33:41,219
in an earlier draft
that Harry had a name.

760
00:33:41,219 --> 00:33:42,820
He was just
the tow truck driver,

761
00:33:42,820 --> 00:33:45,256
and he just had a few scenes.

762
00:33:45,256 --> 00:33:47,925
And what we did was, you know,
what I did is I sat down

763
00:33:47,925 --> 00:33:53,197
and I expanded the part of...
of Harry and gave it to Robert.

764
00:33:53,197 --> 00:33:55,566
Gary was wonderful
with all of us,

765
00:33:55,566 --> 00:33:58,302
you know, and we were kind of,
like, treated like an ensemble.

766
00:33:58,302 --> 00:34:01,939
It was still that moment of time
in Hollywood,

767
00:34:01,939 --> 00:34:03,374
where even if you had
a small role,

768
00:34:03,374 --> 00:34:04,709
they wouldn't bring you in
for two days

769
00:34:04,709 --> 00:34:06,277
and work you really hard.

770
00:34:06,277 --> 00:34:08,012
You'd be run of the show.

771
00:34:08,012 --> 00:34:09,746
So I was there
for the whole shoot.

772
00:34:09,746 --> 00:34:11,315
Listen,
I just pulled a late-model Ford

773
00:34:11,315 --> 00:34:13,650
out of the water
down by the south beach.

774
00:34:13,650 --> 00:34:14,552
Yeah?

775
00:34:14,552 --> 00:34:16,154
It appears
she come off the bluff.

776
00:34:16,154 --> 00:34:17,588
When we were doing the setup,

777
00:34:17,588 --> 00:34:20,324
he had the kid's
airplane in his hand,

778
00:34:20,324 --> 00:34:23,327
and he was sitting there
flicking the propeller.

779
00:34:23,327 --> 00:34:26,330
It was almost kind of
an ad-lib of his, and I said,

780
00:34:26,330 --> 00:34:28,900
"That's great."

781
00:34:28,900 --> 00:34:30,735
That's the thing about Robert,

782
00:34:30,735 --> 00:34:34,072
is that his dialogue delivery
is so natural.

783
00:34:34,072 --> 00:34:35,606
It's just so real.

784
00:34:35,606 --> 00:34:38,141
The great Jack Albertson
is in that movie.

785
00:34:38,141 --> 00:34:42,013
Lisa Blount plays this sort of
death nurse in that,

786
00:34:42,013 --> 00:34:43,347
and really, I think that may be

787
00:34:43,347 --> 00:34:46,384
the original
death nurse performance

788
00:34:46,384 --> 00:34:48,186
in the genre of films.

789
00:34:48,186 --> 00:34:49,754
And what's funny
is the character

790
00:34:49,754 --> 00:34:53,524
who gets the needle in his eye,
his name was Freddy.

791
00:34:53,524 --> 00:34:56,726
Stan Winston also
worked that film,

792
00:34:56,726 --> 00:34:58,362
the great Stan Winston.

793
00:34:58,362 --> 00:35:02,900
That was one of my very early
effects makeup experiences.

794
00:35:02,900 --> 00:35:06,504
It's also one of my favorite
posters of any film I've done.

795
00:35:06,504 --> 00:35:09,273
And occasionally I'll get a
European version of that poster

796
00:35:09,273 --> 00:35:11,409
with beautiful signing,

797
00:35:11,409 --> 00:35:13,144
you know,
at one of the conventions.

798
00:35:13,144 --> 00:35:15,379
It's just an amazing poster,
kind of a classic.

799
00:35:20,151 --> 00:35:22,854
Roger Corman had just
purchased some warehouses

800
00:35:22,854 --> 00:35:24,956
in Venice, California.

801
00:35:24,956 --> 00:35:27,725
So it was... all these warehouses
had been converted

802
00:35:27,725 --> 00:35:31,162
into Rogers's
new low-budget studio.

803
00:35:31,162 --> 00:35:33,030
Roger was doing sci-fi,
getting... getting in

804
00:35:33,030 --> 00:35:35,199
on that sci-fi bandwagon.

805
00:35:37,935 --> 00:35:39,704
He knew what the audiences
wanted.

806
00:35:39,704 --> 00:35:44,342
Prepare yourself for...

807
00:35:44,342 --> 00:35:46,277
...Galaxy of Terror.

808
00:35:46,277 --> 00:35:48,312
I did Galaxy of Terror

809
00:35:48,312 --> 00:35:50,681
because there was going to be
an actors' strike.

810
00:35:50,681 --> 00:35:52,884
I had the shittiest,
crappiest little dressing room.

811
00:35:52,884 --> 00:35:56,487
It was like two theater flats,
pin-hinged together,

812
00:35:56,487 --> 00:35:59,557
couple of bent coat hangers
hanging on a dowel,

813
00:35:59,557 --> 00:36:02,326
and a little stained
plastic chair.

814
00:36:02,326 --> 00:36:03,895
That was my dressing room.

815
00:36:03,895 --> 00:36:07,031
Across from me
was a little makeshift office

816
00:36:07,031 --> 00:36:08,299
for the art department.

817
00:36:08,299 --> 00:36:09,467
And there was a guy

818
00:36:09,467 --> 00:36:12,003
with scraggly long blond hair
in there,

819
00:36:12,003 --> 00:36:13,704
and he would be drawing
all the time

820
00:36:13,704 --> 00:36:16,507
creatures for the show,
and he was the art director.

821
00:36:16,507 --> 00:36:19,477
And he would throw
balls of paper out

822
00:36:19,477 --> 00:36:21,479
and I would grab them
and open them up;

823
00:36:21,479 --> 00:36:23,281
they were great drawings.

824
00:36:23,281 --> 00:36:27,084
Well, the guy was James Cameron,

825
00:36:27,084 --> 00:36:28,920
who went on to some success.

826
00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:33,658
And he'd covered the walls
in Styrofoam boxes

827
00:36:33,658 --> 00:36:36,060
from the dumpsters, like...
it looked like...

828
00:36:36,060 --> 00:36:37,628
it looked as good as Star Wars.

829
00:36:37,628 --> 00:36:39,130
What is it?

830
00:36:39,130 --> 00:36:41,165
Nothing.

831
00:36:41,165 --> 00:36:45,937
I keep seeing something...
then nothing.

832
00:36:45,937 --> 00:36:48,506
I've been a huge Robert Englund
fan for a long time,

833
00:36:48,506 --> 00:36:51,008
but the first time I saw him
was in Galaxy of Terror,

834
00:36:51,008 --> 00:36:52,610
which is a...
this little sci-fi gem

835
00:36:52,610 --> 00:36:55,146
that a lot of people don't
know about, which annoys me.

836
00:36:55,146 --> 00:36:56,614
Of all my movies,

837
00:36:56,614 --> 00:36:59,550
Galaxy of Terror
and Ford Fairlane

838
00:36:59,550 --> 00:37:03,521
have the two craziest
pop culture casts.

839
00:37:03,521 --> 00:37:05,856
We had the star of Happy Days,
Erin Moran,

840
00:37:05,856 --> 00:37:08,793
Grace Zabriskie from Twin Peaks,
Ray Walston,

841
00:37:08,793 --> 00:37:12,496
and then the great,
late Sid Haig.

842
00:37:12,496 --> 00:37:15,800
I live and I die
by the crystals.

843
00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:17,568
Sid was, you know,
just a sweetheart.

844
00:37:17,568 --> 00:37:19,337
I was off to do
my Vietnam movie,

845
00:37:19,337 --> 00:37:21,038
Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder.

846
00:37:21,038 --> 00:37:23,874
Sid had done a hundred movies
in the Philippines,

847
00:37:23,874 --> 00:37:27,311
and Sid wrote down
all these places for me to go,

848
00:37:27,311 --> 00:37:30,615
the best sushi bar,
the best Chinese restaurant.

849
00:37:30,615 --> 00:37:32,450
He was like this sort of like,

850
00:37:32,450 --> 00:37:34,685
back then for me,
just sort of like a mentor,

851
00:37:34,685 --> 00:37:38,155
big brother, about, you know,
the crazy world of

852
00:37:38,155 --> 00:37:40,458
being a character actor
internationally,

853
00:37:40,458 --> 00:37:43,060
which was about to
happen for me.

854
00:37:52,236 --> 00:37:54,038
You know,
Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder,

855
00:37:54,038 --> 00:37:56,574
I call it my Vietnam movie.

856
00:37:56,574 --> 00:37:58,242
And it's a true story.

857
00:37:58,242 --> 00:37:59,810
The boy it's about

858
00:37:59,810 --> 00:38:02,179
was actually
the technical adviser

859
00:38:02,179 --> 00:38:03,948
on Apocalypse Now.

860
00:38:03,948 --> 00:38:08,786
It's really, I think,
a worthy, amazing,

861
00:38:08,786 --> 00:38:12,857
and an important story about
the other aspect of Vietnam,

862
00:38:12,857 --> 00:38:16,327
which is why
Francis Ford Coppola insisted

863
00:38:16,327 --> 00:38:19,330
that Paul Henssler,
who wrote this project

864
00:38:19,330 --> 00:38:21,899
about his life,
make it into a film.

865
00:38:21,899 --> 00:38:23,501
My character is into
taking drugs.

866
00:38:23,501 --> 00:38:25,603
He's a very confused
and misguided

867
00:38:25,603 --> 00:38:27,104
and a very unhappy person

868
00:38:27,104 --> 00:38:29,473
because of the situation
that he finds himself in,

869
00:38:29,473 --> 00:38:33,210
doing autopsies on casualties
in Vietnam.

870
00:38:33,210 --> 00:38:34,312
My name was Tripper

871
00:38:34,312 --> 00:38:36,347
because I was
an ambulance driver,

872
00:38:36,347 --> 00:38:38,382
and I was sort of this stoner.

873
00:38:38,382 --> 00:38:40,951
One of the things that
we know now about Vietnam,

874
00:38:40,951 --> 00:38:44,655
is a lot of young men
went that far from home,

875
00:38:44,655 --> 00:38:46,757
and that was the first place
they'd ever been high,

876
00:38:46,757 --> 00:38:48,793
because drugs were everywhere.

877
00:38:48,793 --> 00:38:50,661
So that was sort of
my character.

878
00:38:50,661 --> 00:38:52,563
The guys that just
kept themselves

879
00:38:52,563 --> 00:38:54,365
lightly buzzed all the time.

880
00:38:54,365 --> 00:38:56,667
Ain't she a little
young for you, Brian?

881
00:38:56,667 --> 00:38:59,203
Goddammit, haven't you
ever heard of knockin'?

882
00:39:00,338 --> 00:39:01,272
We just clicked right away.

883
00:39:01,272 --> 00:39:03,407
He's a very impassioned actor

884
00:39:03,407 --> 00:39:06,110
and I was too,
so it was a perfect match.

885
00:39:06,110 --> 00:39:09,680
Dennis just sort of taught me
how to go on location.

886
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:13,818
And I had big cases
that musicians travel with.

887
00:39:13,818 --> 00:39:15,686
And he had a couple of things
from home that he needed.

888
00:39:15,686 --> 00:39:18,656
I remember he had
silver framed pictures of...

889
00:39:18,656 --> 00:39:20,991
of... of his friends
and his family.

890
00:39:20,991 --> 00:39:24,495
I brought a boom box with me
with two speakers.

891
00:39:24,495 --> 00:39:25,863
I know that Robert
checked this out

892
00:39:25,863 --> 00:39:29,633
and was very like, "Whoa,
look how you roll." You know?

893
00:39:33,404 --> 00:39:35,539
Dennis and I
went into town one night,

894
00:39:35,539 --> 00:39:38,175
and Dennis had cut the sleeves

895
00:39:38,175 --> 00:39:41,545
off of one of
the military shirts.

896
00:39:41,545 --> 00:39:43,647
And that's... we were on a...
on a pub crawl,

897
00:39:43,647 --> 00:39:46,984
and we got arrested because
Dennis got busted.

898
00:39:46,984 --> 00:39:49,387
You're not allowed to
mutate the uniform.

899
00:39:49,387 --> 00:39:51,655
I remember the guards,
the MPs got us,

900
00:39:51,655 --> 00:39:53,391
and Dennis says,
"You can't arrest us.

901
00:39:53,391 --> 00:39:55,359
We're movie stars."

902
00:39:55,359 --> 00:39:57,194
"Dennis, that's not
going to work."

903
00:39:57,194 --> 00:39:58,829
What?

904
00:39:58,829 --> 00:40:01,599
And Susan St. James got us out,

905
00:40:01,599 --> 00:40:04,001
and I think
she had to promise some DJ...

906
00:40:04,001 --> 00:40:05,369
she was going to be DJ

907
00:40:05,369 --> 00:40:08,806
on Armed Services Radio
in the Philippines.

908
00:40:08,806 --> 00:40:10,040
You know, she had to like,
you know,

909
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:11,208
a bunch of tapes with her.

910
00:40:11,208 --> 00:40:13,144
Hi, this is Susan St. James,

911
00:40:13,144 --> 00:40:17,581
and you're listening
to the Eagles here on KNAVYN.

912
00:40:17,581 --> 00:40:19,316
Or something like that.

913
00:40:19,316 --> 00:40:22,052
We hung out quite a lot
and had a good time, yeah,

914
00:40:22,052 --> 00:40:23,354
trying to find these guys

915
00:40:23,354 --> 00:40:27,825
and to not make this
a morality tale about

916
00:40:27,825 --> 00:40:32,430
the sweet Americans who were
saving orphans in Vietnam.

917
00:40:32,430 --> 00:40:34,865
It's really, I think,

918
00:40:34,865 --> 00:40:37,768
a worthy and amazing
and an important story

919
00:40:37,768 --> 00:40:40,070
about the
other aspect of Vietnam.

920
00:40:40,070 --> 00:40:42,840
There's a great deal of
resonance in it today,

921
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:45,776
of what you do
with the collateral damage.

922
00:40:45,776 --> 00:40:47,778
And is it collateral damage
or are they people?

923
00:40:50,681 --> 00:40:53,551
And of course...
the creatures!

924
00:41:10,901 --> 00:41:13,137
Television at the time of V

925
00:41:13,137 --> 00:41:16,173
was mostly something I didn't
pay much attention to.

926
00:41:16,173 --> 00:41:19,610
I loved movies, TV was
kind of the same old same old

927
00:41:19,610 --> 00:41:21,879
all the time,
and then along comes V.

928
00:41:21,879 --> 00:41:24,815
Suddenly, we're talking about
lizard aliens

929
00:41:24,815 --> 00:41:27,284
underneath human skin
splitting open and the like,

930
00:41:27,284 --> 00:41:29,286
and I loved it.

931
00:41:29,286 --> 00:41:32,556
V was about this alien
species that has come here

932
00:41:32,556 --> 00:41:33,991
supposedly to be our friends,

933
00:41:33,991 --> 00:41:36,527
but they have a dark agenda
just like the Nazis did,

934
00:41:36,527 --> 00:41:38,529
when they rolled
into northern Europe.

935
00:41:40,965 --> 00:41:43,901
I have a dear friend,
and he was...

936
00:41:43,901 --> 00:41:46,237
he was close
to the casting director,

937
00:41:46,237 --> 00:41:47,738
Phyllis Hoffman.

938
00:41:47,738 --> 00:41:49,840
And Phyllis had brought me in
on several projects

939
00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:51,509
and brought me in for V.

940
00:41:51,509 --> 00:41:53,644
It was to play this alien

941
00:41:53,644 --> 00:41:57,114
who had a proclivity
for malapropping,

942
00:41:57,114 --> 00:42:00,551
for using the wrong word
to mean another word.

943
00:42:00,551 --> 00:42:02,086
So I was going to be
comedy relief, and I go,

944
00:42:02,086 --> 00:42:04,255
"That's a lot to parcel
right there."

945
00:42:04,255 --> 00:42:06,190
Robert walked in, and I thought,

946
00:42:06,190 --> 00:42:10,895
"Oh, this is just so right.
He looks so right."

947
00:42:10,895 --> 00:42:13,898
So we started reading together
and it was like, bang,

948
00:42:13,898 --> 00:42:16,567
this is the guy
that I had in my mind

949
00:42:16,567 --> 00:42:18,702
when I created
the character of Willie.

950
00:42:18,702 --> 00:42:20,638
I said to Ken, you know, I said,

951
00:42:20,638 --> 00:42:23,741
"Give me some help here.
What... how do you see him?"

952
00:42:23,741 --> 00:42:26,477
You know? And I remember
Ken saying two words:

953
00:42:26,477 --> 00:42:27,912
"Gene Wilder."

954
00:42:27,912 --> 00:42:29,747
And that just was so out of
the left field for me,

955
00:42:29,747 --> 00:42:31,315
but I love Gene Wilder.

956
00:42:31,315 --> 00:42:35,653
Robert absolutely captured
that desire to please and...

957
00:42:35,653 --> 00:42:39,790
and to be involved from
the very first time we see him,

958
00:42:39,790 --> 00:42:41,759
in the scene with Jason Bernard

959
00:42:41,759 --> 00:42:42,893
where they run into each other,

960
00:42:42,893 --> 00:42:45,362
and Jason is this big,
gruff son of a gun

961
00:42:45,362 --> 00:42:47,598
who just doesn't like
these aliens taking their jobs.

962
00:42:47,598 --> 00:42:49,633
And he bumps into Robert
and says,

963
00:42:49,633 --> 00:42:50,768
"What the hell are you doing?"

964
00:42:50,768 --> 00:42:52,937
And Robert just
takes his glasses off...

965
00:42:52,937 --> 00:42:55,873
oh, first the dark glasses
so that we could see his eyes...

966
00:42:55,873 --> 00:42:57,942
and he says, "I-I need help."

967
00:42:57,942 --> 00:42:59,143
Help what?

968
00:42:59,143 --> 00:43:01,078
I am just...

969
00:43:01,078 --> 00:43:02,212
Just what?

970
00:43:02,212 --> 00:43:03,480
Yes.

971
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:06,517
Oh, get out of the way.
Damn stupid alien.

972
00:43:06,517 --> 00:43:08,552
And he absolutely got the moment

973
00:43:08,552 --> 00:43:10,187
that I was looking for.

974
00:43:10,187 --> 00:43:13,357
He was somebody who was not
menacing or dark or evil

975
00:43:13,357 --> 00:43:17,094
and didn't really believe
in the leaders' plans

976
00:43:17,094 --> 00:43:21,532
but rather was more connected
to humanity.

977
00:43:21,532 --> 00:43:23,033
He was the first alien

978
00:43:23,033 --> 00:43:25,135
that really kind of took
humanity's side, I felt like.

979
00:43:25,135 --> 00:43:27,438
You know, he fell in love,
um, but he was so innocent.

980
00:43:27,438 --> 00:43:29,807
I think it was his innocence
in V that really,

981
00:43:29,807 --> 00:43:31,108
kind of made me fall in love
with the character

982
00:43:31,108 --> 00:43:33,210
and I think made everybody
fall in love with the character.

983
00:43:33,210 --> 00:43:35,746
And, you know, you kind of
counteract him with...

984
00:43:35,746 --> 00:43:38,782
Diana Jane Badler's
like the super evil one.

985
00:43:38,782 --> 00:43:40,985
He was just this nice mixture
of like, you know,

986
00:43:40,985 --> 00:43:43,354
humor and innocence
and sweetness.

987
00:43:43,354 --> 00:43:45,456
Just... just what everybody
wants to find in a guy

988
00:43:45,456 --> 00:43:47,391
that doesn't exist
in real people.

989
00:43:47,391 --> 00:43:49,960
Hello, Harmony.

990
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:52,529
Robert has
a great ease and facility

991
00:43:52,529 --> 00:43:55,199
that was really fun
to be around.

992
00:43:55,199 --> 00:43:58,135
And we hit it off right away
because we're both talkers.

993
00:43:58,135 --> 00:43:59,637
You want a burger?

994
00:43:59,637 --> 00:44:01,572
No.

995
00:44:01,572 --> 00:44:03,474
Don't you guys ever eat?

996
00:44:03,474 --> 00:44:05,109
Sometimes.

997
00:44:05,109 --> 00:44:07,277
I love the juxtaposition
of the way

998
00:44:07,277 --> 00:44:09,113
Kenny Johnson wrote
the two characters

999
00:44:09,113 --> 00:44:11,148
because I played sort of
the salt of the earth.

1000
00:44:11,148 --> 00:44:12,983
I, with the catering truck,
you know,

1001
00:44:12,983 --> 00:44:19,289
innocent, very grounded,
and he was this confused alien

1002
00:44:19,289 --> 00:44:22,292
who was on the side of good
and didn't speak English.

1003
00:44:22,292 --> 00:44:25,162
So it was two great,
very different, you know,

1004
00:44:25,162 --> 00:44:27,164
characters, Mutt and Jeff,
you know, Abbott and Costello,

1005
00:44:27,164 --> 00:44:30,734
which is a perfect combination
for a great, great relationship.

1006
00:44:30,734 --> 00:44:33,771
I think they look
real snappy in those uniforms.

1007
00:44:33,771 --> 00:44:35,472
Robert and I worked together

1008
00:44:35,472 --> 00:44:39,643
before either one of us
were known for our characters.

1009
00:44:39,643 --> 00:44:41,645
And I did a couple episodes

1010
00:44:41,645 --> 00:44:44,248
as one of his lizard men
or something.

1011
00:44:44,248 --> 00:44:47,284
I was in a makeup
but, you know, technically,

1012
00:44:47,284 --> 00:44:49,586
one of his bad guys.

1013
00:44:49,586 --> 00:44:52,890
V was the number one
mini-series in America,

1014
00:44:52,890 --> 00:44:55,325
with ratings as good as Roots.

1015
00:44:55,325 --> 00:44:58,028
It was my first sort of
big introduction to,

1016
00:44:58,028 --> 00:45:01,065
wow, television really reaches
a lot of people.

1017
00:45:01,065 --> 00:45:02,733
And V did two things for me.

1018
00:45:02,733 --> 00:45:04,668
It made me international
overnight

1019
00:45:04,668 --> 00:45:06,103
and people knew my name
overnight.

1020
00:45:06,103 --> 00:45:08,172
He began to get recognized.

1021
00:45:08,172 --> 00:45:12,076
And that's a moment when
an actor transitions

1022
00:45:12,076 --> 00:45:16,980
from being just a working actor
to being a recognizable star.

1023
00:45:16,980 --> 00:45:19,650
You know,
I was flying over for awards

1024
00:45:19,650 --> 00:45:22,486
and film festivals and
publicity.

1025
00:45:22,486 --> 00:45:25,155
So it was... it was just
a great experience for me.

1026
00:45:31,228 --> 00:45:35,899
I had a window
within my schedule

1027
00:45:35,899 --> 00:45:38,435
and the only project
that really fit

1028
00:45:38,435 --> 00:45:41,438
was this thing called
A Nightmare on Elm Street.

1029
00:45:49,713 --> 00:45:52,282
An awkward, strange title.

1030
00:45:52,282 --> 00:45:54,651
I knew a little bit
about Wes Craven.

1031
00:45:54,651 --> 00:45:56,053
I had him filed under,

1032
00:45:56,053 --> 00:45:59,490
like David Lynch,
"artist, dark, strange."

1033
00:45:59,490 --> 00:46:01,358
So when I went on the interview,

1034
00:46:01,358 --> 00:46:05,662
I was sort of expecting
Rasputin or some goth guy.

1035
00:46:05,662 --> 00:46:08,132
Of course, Wes is sitting there
dressed in Ralph Lauren,

1036
00:46:08,132 --> 00:46:11,769
pinwale corduroys,
brilliant, erudite, smart,

1037
00:46:11,769 --> 00:46:14,238
puns a lot, likes...
likes corny jokes.

1038
00:46:14,238 --> 00:46:16,540
What's interesting
about Freddy Krueger is

1039
00:46:16,540 --> 00:46:19,843
that when Wes was first
looking for this character,

1040
00:46:19,843 --> 00:46:22,012
he was auditioning stuntmen.

1041
00:46:22,012 --> 00:46:23,714
He wasn't even looking
for an actor.

1042
00:46:23,714 --> 00:46:25,783
Interesting fact, I had,

1043
00:46:25,783 --> 00:46:28,552
way back before
Robert was hired,

1044
00:46:28,552 --> 00:46:31,488
had a meeting with Wes Craven
because I had done

1045
00:46:31,488 --> 00:46:33,690
The Hills Have Eyes II.

1046
00:46:33,690 --> 00:46:36,126
Wes knew that I had burn scars,

1047
00:46:36,126 --> 00:46:40,197
and he said he was developing
a new character

1048
00:46:40,197 --> 00:46:43,967
that is going to be a horror
character who's been burned.

1049
00:46:43,967 --> 00:46:46,103
And he goes,
"I'm thinking of using someone

1050
00:46:46,103 --> 00:46:48,105
with real burns scars."

1051
00:46:48,105 --> 00:46:51,708
When Kane tells that story now
and you just start to wonder,

1052
00:46:51,708 --> 00:46:54,378
what if it had gone that way?

1053
00:46:54,378 --> 00:46:56,480
But everything always
works out like it should.

1054
00:47:01,451 --> 00:47:04,354
I was in the middle
of spring surfing.

1055
00:47:04,354 --> 00:47:07,524
I was tan, I had
long curly blonde hair,

1056
00:47:07,524 --> 00:47:08,992
and I thought,
"You know, I don't feel like

1057
00:47:08,992 --> 00:47:11,929
I look anything like
what they're going to want.

1058
00:47:11,929 --> 00:47:14,398
I'm not big enough.
I'm not scary enough."

1059
00:47:14,398 --> 00:47:16,200
There's nothing threatening
about Robert,

1060
00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:18,802
at least in his demeanor
when you're meeting him.

1061
00:47:18,802 --> 00:47:20,737
So I went,
and I took the dipstick

1062
00:47:20,737 --> 00:47:24,641
from under the hood of my car
and I got some oil on my hands.

1063
00:47:24,641 --> 00:47:27,978
And I greased my hair back
straight to my scalp.

1064
00:47:27,978 --> 00:47:30,047
Realized my buddy had left
a cigarette butt

1065
00:47:30,047 --> 00:47:31,882
in my ashtray in my car.

1066
00:47:31,882 --> 00:47:33,417
So I took a little saliva,

1067
00:47:33,417 --> 00:47:34,918
and I mixed it
with the cigarette ash

1068
00:47:34,918 --> 00:47:36,887
and I put circles under my eyes.

1069
00:47:36,887 --> 00:47:38,856
They looked very natural,
just kind of discolored,

1070
00:47:38,856 --> 00:47:40,858
like I am permanently now.

1071
00:47:40,858 --> 00:47:42,726
Now my face looked
long and lean.

1072
00:47:42,726 --> 00:47:45,462
I got in there and I just
let Wes do all the talking.

1073
00:47:45,462 --> 00:47:48,098
I kept my mouth shut.

1074
00:47:48,098 --> 00:47:53,303
And I played... a staring game
with Wes.

1075
00:47:53,303 --> 00:47:56,640
And as long as he talked,
I tried not to blink.

1076
00:47:56,640 --> 00:47:58,442
And it worked.

1077
00:47:58,442 --> 00:48:01,411
This... is God.

1078
00:48:02,713 --> 00:48:04,114
You really look for actors

1079
00:48:04,114 --> 00:48:05,249
that you think can break through

1080
00:48:05,249 --> 00:48:07,517
all the veneer of civilization

1081
00:48:07,517 --> 00:48:10,087
in one way or the other,
either as victim or as,

1082
00:48:10,087 --> 00:48:11,388
you know, perpetrator.

1083
00:48:11,388 --> 00:48:13,223
There's that sort of
Kosovo factor of people

1084
00:48:13,223 --> 00:48:15,192
that at one moment
can be nurturing their children,

1085
00:48:15,192 --> 00:48:17,327
the next moment
slashing each other's throats.

1086
00:48:17,327 --> 00:48:18,862
And so, you look for
that willingness

1087
00:48:18,862 --> 00:48:20,497
on the part of an actor
to expose that

1088
00:48:20,497 --> 00:48:23,667
and to be cruel or to be
inventive in the cruelty.

1089
00:48:23,667 --> 00:48:25,168
Quite often, it's the person
that's the most gentle

1090
00:48:25,168 --> 00:48:27,237
or the most civilized.

1091
00:48:27,237 --> 00:48:29,006
Now I'm going to be
truthful and honest

1092
00:48:29,006 --> 00:48:30,807
as I can here.

1093
00:48:30,807 --> 00:48:33,777
People are so kind and nice,
and they say that Wes thought

1094
00:48:33,777 --> 00:48:36,113
I was the only person
that understood

1095
00:48:36,113 --> 00:48:38,181
when he pitched the idea to me,

1096
00:48:38,181 --> 00:48:39,650
but it could have been
as simple as

1097
00:48:39,650 --> 00:48:42,586
me having a thin face
and Wes being paranoid about

1098
00:48:42,586 --> 00:48:45,055
the makeup effects
and how they would work.

1099
00:48:45,055 --> 00:48:47,491
Just knowing
that my skinny thin face

1100
00:48:47,491 --> 00:48:49,927
when you put
the foam latex on it

1101
00:48:49,927 --> 00:48:52,763
would still be natural in size,

1102
00:48:52,763 --> 00:48:56,333
in ratio with
my broad shoulders.

1103
00:48:56,333 --> 00:48:59,303
The day that I saw him really
in his makeup was...

1104
00:48:59,303 --> 00:49:00,771
it was part of
that high school scene

1105
00:49:00,771 --> 00:49:02,205
where I go into the basement

1106
00:49:02,205 --> 00:49:04,374
and I see Freddy Krueger
for the first time

1107
00:49:04,374 --> 00:49:07,177
and I think it was the first
time I saw him in makeup.

1108
00:49:07,177 --> 00:49:09,079
And maybe Wes had
planned it that way.

1109
00:49:09,079 --> 00:49:10,747
I mean, if he had,
it was really genius

1110
00:49:10,747 --> 00:49:13,450
because I turned around
and I see him in his makeup

1111
00:49:13,450 --> 00:49:15,719
and it's dark
and it's really scary.

1112
00:49:15,719 --> 00:49:18,055
Eugh! Creepy.

1113
00:49:18,055 --> 00:49:19,423
So I remember thinking,

1114
00:49:19,423 --> 00:49:20,991
"Wow, that's what
Freddy's gonna look like."

1115
00:49:20,991 --> 00:49:22,125
It was what I'd pictured,

1116
00:49:22,125 --> 00:49:24,494
but it was shocking
to see it in person.

1117
00:49:24,494 --> 00:49:26,363
I mean,
it worked well for my character,

1118
00:49:26,363 --> 00:49:27,431
death being the first person

1119
00:49:27,431 --> 00:49:28,398
to fight Freddy.

1120
00:49:28,398 --> 00:49:30,233
Aaahh!

1121
00:49:30,233 --> 00:49:32,369
You can't have Freddy Krueger
without Robert Englund.

1122
00:49:32,369 --> 00:49:34,604
It's Robert
who makes that character.

1123
00:49:34,604 --> 00:49:36,807
You can see
the way Nick Castle moves

1124
00:49:36,807 --> 00:49:38,475
when he's playing Michael Myers.

1125
00:49:38,475 --> 00:49:40,310
You can see the way
Kane Hodder moves.

1126
00:49:40,310 --> 00:49:43,647
When he's Jason he's got, like,
very specific body language.

1127
00:49:43,647 --> 00:49:46,249
But Freddy's the one that,
under all that makeup,

1128
00:49:46,249 --> 00:49:47,784
Robert really has to act.

1129
00:49:47,784 --> 00:49:49,186
Watch this.

1130
00:49:54,391 --> 00:49:55,359
Robert said, "Well, you know,

1131
00:49:55,359 --> 00:49:56,727
I've just done this movie.

1132
00:49:56,727 --> 00:50:00,030
I'm covered in makeup.
I don't have many lines.

1133
00:50:00,030 --> 00:50:01,198
I don't know.

1134
00:50:01,198 --> 00:50:02,566
Maybe I should get
into real estate.

1135
00:50:02,566 --> 00:50:03,700
What should I do?"

1136
00:50:03,700 --> 00:50:05,635
My feeling is
the monster characters,

1137
00:50:05,635 --> 00:50:08,672
they don't become iconic
because of the writers.

1138
00:50:08,672 --> 00:50:09,606
They don't become iconic

1139
00:50:09,606 --> 00:50:11,341
necessarily
because of the directors.

1140
00:50:11,341 --> 00:50:12,342
They don't even become iconic

1141
00:50:12,342 --> 00:50:13,844
necessarily
because of the makeup,

1142
00:50:13,844 --> 00:50:15,979
although it certainly helps.

1143
00:50:15,979 --> 00:50:18,348
You can have all those factors.

1144
00:50:18,348 --> 00:50:22,152
If the guy behind the makeup
isn't selling it right,

1145
00:50:22,152 --> 00:50:26,623
isn't convincing,
isn't himself convinced,

1146
00:50:26,623 --> 00:50:27,758
then it doesn't work.

1147
00:50:27,758 --> 00:50:31,194
Like most actors,
you don't, you don't realize

1148
00:50:31,194 --> 00:50:34,064
that this is going to be
a life-changing moment.

1149
00:50:34,064 --> 00:50:35,665
A Nightmare on Elm Street,
the first one,

1150
00:50:35,665 --> 00:50:37,968
was really a big breakthrough
for everybody.

1151
00:50:44,307 --> 00:50:46,343
I first saw
Nightmare on Elm Street

1152
00:50:46,343 --> 00:50:50,013
and I don't know if I had ever
been that scared in a movie.

1153
00:50:50,013 --> 00:50:51,548
It just really struck a nerve

1154
00:50:51,548 --> 00:50:53,183
with audiences
all over the world.

1155
00:50:53,183 --> 00:50:54,151
I was frightened.

1156
00:50:54,151 --> 00:50:55,519
I mean, I was stunned

1157
00:50:55,519 --> 00:50:58,422
because it was the first time
in a long time

1158
00:50:58,422 --> 00:51:01,958
where the process
of the filmmaking disappeared,

1159
00:51:01,958 --> 00:51:04,995
and I just was blown away.

1160
00:51:04,995 --> 00:51:06,530
It was different in so many ways

1161
00:51:06,530 --> 00:51:10,100
because the concept of it
was just so like

1162
00:51:10,100 --> 00:51:13,136
outrageously beyond
every other slasher movie.

1163
00:51:13,136 --> 00:51:14,671
It's a very strange movie.

1164
00:51:14,671 --> 00:51:16,473
Such an offbeat movie.

1165
00:51:16,473 --> 00:51:19,076
I remember
really being blown away

1166
00:51:19,076 --> 00:51:21,178
by how popular

1167
00:51:21,178 --> 00:51:23,280
a horror film could feel.

1168
00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:29,252
People were shrieking, laughing,
enjoying themselves.

1169
00:51:29,252 --> 00:51:30,554
I remember going to
my girlfriend's house

1170
00:51:30,554 --> 00:51:32,222
at the time to watch
Nightmare on Elm Street,

1171
00:51:32,222 --> 00:51:33,690
and I'm unabashedly
not afraid to say

1172
00:51:33,690 --> 00:51:35,826
that I was nervous.
And to watch that

1173
00:51:35,826 --> 00:51:37,594
and try to keep my cool

1174
00:51:37,594 --> 00:51:40,597
in front of my girlfriend
was challenging enough.

1175
00:51:40,597 --> 00:51:42,299
It was just so imaginative,

1176
00:51:42,299 --> 00:51:43,700
such strong characters,

1177
00:51:43,700 --> 00:51:46,603
and I'd never seen
like a villain like Freddy.

1178
00:51:46,603 --> 00:51:50,574
He was the first
real slasher film icon

1179
00:51:50,574 --> 00:51:52,075
that had style.

1180
00:51:52,075 --> 00:51:53,410
The movie influenced me so much

1181
00:51:53,410 --> 00:51:55,612
that I wrote a prequel
and sent it to Bob Shea

1182
00:51:55,612 --> 00:51:56,813
when I was 14.

1183
00:51:56,813 --> 00:51:59,816
I ended up interning
at New Line when I was 19.

1184
00:51:59,816 --> 00:52:00,817
I worked there for 11 years

1185
00:52:00,817 --> 00:52:02,552
and that's where
I made Final Destination,

1186
00:52:02,552 --> 00:52:05,021
so I... I literally credit
Nightmare on Elm Street

1187
00:52:05,021 --> 00:52:06,656
as starting my career
in the business.

1188
00:52:10,060 --> 00:52:12,129
I went to see
Nightmare on Elm Street

1189
00:52:12,129 --> 00:52:14,731
with a girl,
and I was just blown away

1190
00:52:14,731 --> 00:52:17,000
by the imaginative
characteristics of the film

1191
00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:18,201
and his character.

1192
00:52:18,201 --> 00:52:19,669
Six months later,

1193
00:52:19,669 --> 00:52:21,638
I get a call from
my friend Bart Mixon,

1194
00:52:21,638 --> 00:52:23,607
who was working
with Mark Sjostrom,

1195
00:52:23,607 --> 00:52:26,776
who invited me to come work on
Nightmare on Elm Street 2.

1196
00:52:29,179 --> 00:52:30,847
I was going to work with,

1197
00:52:30,847 --> 00:52:33,617
you know, the big new
horror star Robert Englund.

1198
00:52:33,617 --> 00:52:37,487
He brought so much into
Freddy the way he built Freddy.

1199
00:52:37,487 --> 00:52:41,258
And then you see the footage
that they tried to use

1200
00:52:41,258 --> 00:52:44,194
in Nightmare on Elm Street 2
with the doppelganger,

1201
00:52:44,194 --> 00:52:46,363
and it's night and fucking day.

1202
00:52:46,363 --> 00:52:47,397
I remember being at a meeting

1203
00:52:47,397 --> 00:52:48,765
at the production office,

1204
00:52:48,765 --> 00:52:51,568
and they were
actually kicking around

1205
00:52:51,568 --> 00:52:54,638
whether it was worth bringing
Englund back to be Freddy.

1206
00:52:54,638 --> 00:52:58,608
I guess the norm at that time
was using stuntmen

1207
00:52:58,608 --> 00:53:01,745
for, you know, Jason
or Mike Myers or whatever.

1208
00:53:01,745 --> 00:53:03,513
I mean,
there's just like this asshole

1209
00:53:03,513 --> 00:53:06,583
in a cosplayer outfit, you know,
kind of walking out of the steam

1210
00:53:06,583 --> 00:53:09,052
and you're like,
"That's so not Robert Englund.

1211
00:53:09,052 --> 00:53:10,921
What the fuck is going on?"

1212
00:53:10,921 --> 00:53:13,356
"Why hire an actor
and then bury him in makeup?"

1213
00:53:13,356 --> 00:53:15,725
It's like, "That's why
you hire an actor."

1214
00:53:15,725 --> 00:53:18,295
Thankfully, I think
the main producers recognized

1215
00:53:18,295 --> 00:53:20,564
what he brought
to the first film

1216
00:53:20,564 --> 00:53:22,632
and I'm sure there would have
never been a part three,

1217
00:53:22,632 --> 00:53:24,267
you know, had that happened.

1218
00:53:24,267 --> 00:53:26,436
And he brings
that character back to life.

1219
00:53:26,436 --> 00:53:27,771
That's special, man.

1220
00:53:27,771 --> 00:53:30,607
And that's... it's the gift
of a true actor.

1221
00:53:30,607 --> 00:53:34,678
We got special work to do here,
you and me.

1222
00:53:34,678 --> 00:53:36,580
My actual first meeting
with Robert Englund

1223
00:53:36,580 --> 00:53:38,882
was on set after working
for about three months.

1224
00:53:38,882 --> 00:53:40,717
He had just finished
having his makeup done,

1225
00:53:40,717 --> 00:53:42,285
and I turn over

1226
00:53:42,285 --> 00:53:46,089
to see him tapping
his finger on a mirror.

1227
00:53:46,089 --> 00:53:48,425
Oh, Mister Knify hands.

1228
00:53:48,425 --> 00:53:50,727
Mister Knify hands
is here, oy vey.

1229
00:53:50,727 --> 00:53:53,630
He came up full
Chevy Chase style and said,

1230
00:53:53,630 --> 00:53:57,767
I like it.

1231
00:53:57,767 --> 00:53:58,768
As Freddy.

1232
00:53:58,768 --> 00:54:00,337
There might
have been drugs involved.

1233
00:54:00,337 --> 00:54:01,638
What a rush.

1234
00:54:03,773 --> 00:54:06,243
When I got to work with
Robert on Nightmare Three...

1235
00:54:06,243 --> 00:54:08,011
You.

1236
00:54:08,011 --> 00:54:09,713
Oh, my God.

1237
00:54:09,713 --> 00:54:11,881
He was the elder, but
I was like the mid-elder,

1238
00:54:11,881 --> 00:54:13,984
and then we had
the younger kids,

1239
00:54:13,984 --> 00:54:16,786
and we both took a much more
protective attitude

1240
00:54:16,786 --> 00:54:17,954
about the kids.

1241
00:54:17,954 --> 00:54:20,857
He's often in a fantastic
image of himself:

1242
00:54:20,857 --> 00:54:22,525
puppeteer in the sky,

1243
00:54:22,525 --> 00:54:25,161
or he's a giant snake
coming out of a floor

1244
00:54:25,161 --> 00:54:26,730
swallowing Patricia Arquette.

1245
00:54:26,730 --> 00:54:29,399
The effects on part three
are fucking amazing.

1246
00:54:29,399 --> 00:54:33,103
And so, having him
on the set as himself,

1247
00:54:33,103 --> 00:54:34,638
there weren't
that many days of that.

1248
00:54:34,638 --> 00:54:37,340
He's larger than life in a way.

1249
00:54:37,340 --> 00:54:40,577
He is a character in that dream.

1250
00:54:40,577 --> 00:54:44,514
He's not the actual,
real, pathetic,

1251
00:54:44,514 --> 00:54:47,751
strange little man
that was Freddy Krueger.

1252
00:54:47,751 --> 00:54:48,885
I asked Robert, I said,

1253
00:54:48,885 --> 00:54:53,356
"Are you a child murderer
or a child molester?

1254
00:54:53,356 --> 00:54:55,025
There's a big difference here."

1255
00:54:55,025 --> 00:54:58,928
I mean, the guy
was a fucking child molester.

1256
00:54:58,928 --> 00:55:02,699
There really isn't much
sympathy for Freddy Krueger.

1257
00:55:02,699 --> 00:55:04,501
I mean,
kids love Freddy Krueger.

1258
00:55:04,501 --> 00:55:06,569
There's something about him
that everyone has sort of

1259
00:55:06,569 --> 00:55:08,972
dismissed the child molester
part and thought,

1260
00:55:08,972 --> 00:55:10,607
"Oh, this is a guy
who kills you in your dreams."

1261
00:55:10,607 --> 00:55:12,709
He became the boogeyman.

1262
00:55:12,709 --> 00:55:14,878
And the fact
that Robert still managed to

1263
00:55:14,878 --> 00:55:17,447
make him not just horrific,
but likable,

1264
00:55:17,447 --> 00:55:18,815
where you wanted to see
more of him

1265
00:55:18,815 --> 00:55:21,418
and you're not just hating him
and waiting for him to die

1266
00:55:21,418 --> 00:55:23,520
or go away, that's everything.

1267
00:55:23,520 --> 00:55:25,188
And that's why Freddy will last.

1268
00:55:25,188 --> 00:55:27,624
And New Line
quickly moved away from

1269
00:55:27,624 --> 00:55:30,393
anything molesting,
which is wise.

1270
00:55:30,393 --> 00:55:32,629
So he just murders them,
which is bad enough.

1271
00:55:32,629 --> 00:55:34,597
I did notice that
there were little kids

1272
00:55:34,597 --> 00:55:36,099
coming to my door
dressed as Freddy

1273
00:55:36,099 --> 00:55:37,667
and that's when
I really realized

1274
00:55:37,667 --> 00:55:40,870
that it had hit
this pop culture place.

1275
00:55:40,870 --> 00:55:42,305
When I was
in his dressing room with him

1276
00:55:42,305 --> 00:55:44,908
and we were talking,
there was a huge crowd

1277
00:55:44,908 --> 00:55:48,011
and they started
rocking the trailer.

1278
00:55:48,011 --> 00:55:49,746
And he was so great with them.

1279
00:55:49,746 --> 00:55:51,614
He went out there
and he was dressed in his...

1280
00:55:51,614 --> 00:55:53,783
in his stuff, you know,
in his outfit,

1281
00:55:53,783 --> 00:55:55,352
and he went out there
and he was like,

1282
00:55:55,352 --> 00:55:56,686
"You guys gotta quit
knocking the thing

1283
00:55:56,686 --> 00:55:57,787
or you're gonna knock me over.

1284
00:55:57,787 --> 00:55:59,689
But I appreciate you all
out here."

1285
00:55:59,689 --> 00:56:02,559
You know, it was really nice
and it was scary.

1286
00:56:02,559 --> 00:56:05,161
I mean, we thought
we were gonna be tipped over.

1287
00:56:05,161 --> 00:56:08,298
Freddy Krueger right here.
Nightmare on Elm Street.

1288
00:56:08,298 --> 00:56:09,432
Yeah?

1289
00:56:09,432 --> 00:56:10,867
This is my Freddy Krueger mask.

1290
00:56:10,867 --> 00:56:13,336
I made it myself,
the sculpting on up.

1291
00:56:13,336 --> 00:56:14,537
This is my claw.

1292
00:56:14,537 --> 00:56:16,639
He doesn't
become a rock star of horror

1293
00:56:16,639 --> 00:56:20,543
because he's a child murderer,
molester.

1294
00:56:20,543 --> 00:56:23,780
It's because Robert Englund
has so much humor

1295
00:56:23,780 --> 00:56:28,151
and so much personality
and so much joie de morte,

1296
00:56:28,151 --> 00:56:29,719
instead of vivre.

1297
00:56:29,719 --> 00:56:33,723
You can't have any film
or any style of film

1298
00:56:33,723 --> 00:56:37,660
without having a charismatic
person at the helm.

1299
00:56:37,660 --> 00:56:41,431
I love... just loved the way
that Robert was able to juggle

1300
00:56:41,431 --> 00:56:44,467
humor with horror.

1301
00:56:44,467 --> 00:56:47,504
The humor
was very rare in the first one,

1302
00:56:47,504 --> 00:56:49,072
but it was there.

1303
00:56:49,072 --> 00:56:51,574
And it became embellished
in the sequels afterwards,

1304
00:56:51,574 --> 00:56:53,042
in some people's opinion.

1305
00:56:53,042 --> 00:56:55,678
Freddy does speak.
Says "bitch" a lot.

1306
00:56:55,678 --> 00:56:58,214
Bon appétit, bitch.

1307
00:56:59,549 --> 00:57:04,087
But it's Robert playing
this scarred character

1308
00:57:04,087 --> 00:57:07,857
who has this wicked,
nasty sense of humor.

1309
00:57:07,857 --> 00:57:09,759
And it really appeals to
a young audience

1310
00:57:09,759 --> 00:57:13,530
because they don't
think about mortality,

1311
00:57:13,530 --> 00:57:17,567
and they enjoy the rending
of these bodies on screen

1312
00:57:17,567 --> 00:57:20,403
by the bladed glove
of Freddy Krueger.

1313
00:57:20,403 --> 00:57:22,439
I don't believe in fairy tales.

1314
00:57:25,308 --> 00:57:27,644
At that point, I had a little
boy who had nightmares,

1315
00:57:27,644 --> 00:57:29,012
and kids that have nightmares

1316
00:57:29,012 --> 00:57:31,147
always want the thing
that scares them;

1317
00:57:31,147 --> 00:57:33,049
that's what they seek.

1318
00:57:33,049 --> 00:57:35,452
So he was always wanting
all this Freddy Krueger stuff.

1319
00:57:35,452 --> 00:57:36,853
So it was such a trip.

1320
00:57:36,853 --> 00:57:38,655
He wouldn't understand
"I work with that guy."

1321
00:57:38,655 --> 00:57:40,156
In fact, it would probably
have freaked him out.

1322
00:57:40,156 --> 00:57:43,193
For the same reason
you'll embrace black metal

1323
00:57:43,193 --> 00:57:45,895
in the hopes that your parents
would hate it,

1324
00:57:45,895 --> 00:57:50,066
you'll embrace outrageous
violence in films.

1325
00:57:50,066 --> 00:57:55,138
And so Robert is a de facto
uncle to this audience.

1326
00:57:55,138 --> 00:57:56,573
I mean, I've always said

1327
00:57:56,573 --> 00:58:01,244
that horror films are to film
what rock is to music.

1328
00:58:01,244 --> 00:58:06,382
By the time Nightmare 3 came out
and Robert was a guest VJ on MTV

1329
00:58:06,382 --> 00:58:07,450
and you had the Dokken song,

1330
00:58:07,450 --> 00:58:08,885
interestingly enough,

1331
00:58:08,885 --> 00:58:11,020
that was the first time
I met him.

1332
00:58:11,020 --> 00:58:13,223
When that came...
came on MTV, I was like...

1333
00:58:13,223 --> 00:58:14,390
whooh!

1334
00:58:14,390 --> 00:58:18,328
♪ We're the dream warriors ♪

1335
00:58:18,328 --> 00:58:19,863
I lost my mind.

1336
00:58:19,863 --> 00:58:23,766
This was like a real deal,
serious, serious video.

1337
00:58:23,766 --> 00:58:26,669
I've always said that

1338
00:58:26,669 --> 00:58:29,339
Freddy is rock and roll, and
Pinhead is a requiem mass.

1339
00:58:29,339 --> 00:58:31,808
We made a lot of fun
of him and what he had become

1340
00:58:31,808 --> 00:58:33,209
and what Freddy had become,

1341
00:58:33,209 --> 00:58:38,648
and why the pop culture
around Freddy was just so,

1342
00:58:38,648 --> 00:58:42,051
you know, it was just really
amusing and... and crazy.

1343
00:58:42,051 --> 00:58:43,386
Gah!

1344
00:58:43,386 --> 00:58:44,621
And he's Robert fucking Englund,

1345
00:58:44,621 --> 00:58:45,655
for God's sake.

1346
00:58:46,723 --> 00:58:47,790
Guys, Freddy Krueger,

1347
00:58:47,790 --> 00:58:49,492
the star of
Nightmare on Elm Street,

1348
00:58:49,492 --> 00:58:51,060
portrayed by
this very fine actor...

1349
00:58:51,060 --> 00:58:54,130
not a school teacher, Debbie...
Mr. Robert Englund.

1350
00:58:54,130 --> 00:58:55,765
Please welcome the man
who plays Freddy Krueger,

1351
00:58:55,765 --> 00:58:57,300
Robert Englund.

1352
00:58:57,300 --> 00:59:01,204
- Robert Englund.
- Robert Englund here.

1353
00:59:01,204 --> 00:59:02,805
Do you like your movies?

1354
00:59:02,805 --> 00:59:04,741
Yeah, I do.
I... I... I think there's a,

1355
00:59:04,741 --> 00:59:05,875
I think there's a need
for these movies.

1356
00:59:05,875 --> 00:59:06,943
I hate to say this, Freddy,

1357
00:59:06,943 --> 00:59:08,411
but I can't go
and see your movies.

1358
00:59:08,411 --> 00:59:10,179
I am too afraid.

1359
00:59:10,179 --> 00:59:11,314
Well...

1360
00:59:11,314 --> 00:59:12,315
It's a complete accident.

1361
00:59:12,315 --> 00:59:13,750
It's a happy accident.

1362
00:59:13,750 --> 00:59:16,786
The double whammy of me
being an international

1363
00:59:16,786 --> 00:59:20,189
television science fiction
character that everybody loved,

1364
00:59:20,189 --> 00:59:21,824
that's very, very different

1365
00:59:21,824 --> 00:59:26,195
from the dark boogeyman
of these incredibly imaginative

1366
00:59:26,195 --> 00:59:28,531
and original horror films
that I did

1367
00:59:28,531 --> 00:59:30,333
that became a franchise.

1368
00:59:30,333 --> 00:59:32,835
There was just so many
things you could buy.

1369
00:59:32,835 --> 00:59:36,906
Record albums, and sweaters
of course, and hats.

1370
00:59:36,906 --> 00:59:39,042
There's just so much that
they ended up marketing

1371
00:59:39,042 --> 00:59:41,978
that as much as it's nice to see
Freddy be a rock star,

1372
00:59:41,978 --> 00:59:44,681
I thought that it kind of...
there was something cheap...

1373
00:59:44,681 --> 00:59:46,616
that cheapened
the whole thing by it.

1374
00:59:46,616 --> 00:59:48,084
The reason that I...

1375
00:59:48,084 --> 00:59:50,420
a benefactor from this gift
that just keeps giving

1376
00:59:50,420 --> 00:59:54,223
is because simultaneously
another happy accident occurred.

1377
00:59:54,223 --> 00:59:57,193
First, there was early cable,
and I was on cable,

1378
00:59:57,193 --> 00:59:58,728
parts one, two, three;

1379
00:59:58,728 --> 01:00:01,965
early video,
the mom-and-pop video stores.

1380
01:00:01,965 --> 01:00:05,001
People would stay home now
on weekends, save money.

1381
01:00:05,001 --> 01:00:06,536
They'd let the kids
pick a movie.

1382
01:00:06,536 --> 01:00:08,171
Well, of course,
the kids would pick

1383
01:00:08,171 --> 01:00:10,540
Nightmare on Elm Street 1
or Nightmare on Elm Street 2

1384
01:00:10,540 --> 01:00:11,908
or three or four,

1385
01:00:11,908 --> 01:00:13,776
and they'd bring it home
on a Saturday,

1386
01:00:13,776 --> 01:00:15,878
Mom and Dad sit around
and they'd let them watch

1387
01:00:15,878 --> 01:00:18,181
Mom and Dad get scared,
have a pizza.

1388
01:00:18,181 --> 01:00:19,782
And then there was
Freddy's Nightmares.

1389
01:00:19,782 --> 01:00:22,485
I mean, like Freddy had
his own television show.

1390
01:00:22,485 --> 01:00:25,888
Freddy killed children,
and he had a television show,

1391
01:00:25,888 --> 01:00:27,690
which everybody loved.

1392
01:00:27,690 --> 01:00:29,993
I was lured into
the television series

1393
01:00:29,993 --> 01:00:31,728
by a number of factors.

1394
01:00:31,728 --> 01:00:36,232
Not the least of which
was money, I'll be honest.

1395
01:00:37,533 --> 01:00:39,135
I was lured in
specifically because

1396
01:00:39,135 --> 01:00:41,104
they were gonna give me
my DGA card,

1397
01:00:41,104 --> 01:00:43,272
my Directors Guild
of America card.

1398
01:00:43,272 --> 01:00:44,941
I directed several episodes.

1399
01:00:44,941 --> 01:00:47,877
I did not have to give
Robert much direction.

1400
01:00:47,877 --> 01:00:49,912
He knew Freddy
better than I did.

1401
01:00:49,912 --> 01:00:53,182
If the suspense doesn't
get you, I will.

1402
01:00:53,182 --> 01:00:55,785
I was in like a motel room
with my family and...

1403
01:00:55,785 --> 01:00:58,154
and we were clicking
through the channels,

1404
01:00:58,154 --> 01:01:00,923
and it was like an ad
for call Freddy at one point

1405
01:01:00,923 --> 01:01:02,825
where it was like a like
"1-800, call Freddy

1406
01:01:02,825 --> 01:01:04,427
and he'll talk to you
on the phone."

1407
01:01:04,427 --> 01:01:06,329
Join the Freddy Fan Club.

1408
01:01:06,329 --> 01:01:10,600
Freddy Krueger has a special
message just for you.

1409
01:01:13,269 --> 01:01:14,470
It was like phone sex,

1410
01:01:14,470 --> 01:01:16,172
but it was with Freddy instead,
you know.

1411
01:01:21,277 --> 01:01:23,713
Robert was willing to make fun
of himself a great deal

1412
01:01:23,713 --> 01:01:26,282
and I think he knew how...

1413
01:01:26,282 --> 01:01:29,519
how absurd and crazy it was
that Freddy Krueger has now been

1414
01:01:29,519 --> 01:01:32,488
this worldwide phenomenon.

1415
01:01:32,488 --> 01:01:34,123
But he loves it.

1416
01:01:34,123 --> 01:01:35,692
I never set out to be an actor
to sign autographs or...

1417
01:01:35,692 --> 01:01:37,760
or drive a Mercedes,

1418
01:01:37,760 --> 01:01:41,030
but I must confess
that I do like the attention.

1419
01:01:44,534 --> 01:01:49,205
My mother died early on
in the Freddy phenomenon.

1420
01:01:49,205 --> 01:01:52,475
She'd see me on chat shows,
on talk shows.

1421
01:01:52,475 --> 01:01:54,477
Or she'd be watching
the late-night talk shows

1422
01:01:54,477 --> 01:01:55,878
and Johnny Carson,

1423
01:01:55,878 --> 01:01:57,547
or someone would do
a Freddy Krueger joke.

1424
01:01:57,547 --> 01:01:59,982
You see Mayor Bradley's
in a little bit of trouble?

1425
01:01:59,982 --> 01:02:01,951
He declared
today Freddy Krueger Day.

1426
01:02:04,020 --> 01:02:07,090
It had begun to enter
the vernacular then,

1427
01:02:07,090 --> 01:02:09,425
and so she was
receptive to that.

1428
01:02:09,425 --> 01:02:12,895
But then she passed
and didn't really see

1429
01:02:12,895 --> 01:02:14,964
the sort of peak
of the phenomenon,

1430
01:02:14,964 --> 01:02:18,167
but my father got to experience
a lot of that.

1431
01:02:18,167 --> 01:02:22,772
And the only time my father
ever visited me,

1432
01:02:22,772 --> 01:02:25,241
I could have been, you know,
not wearing makeup,

1433
01:02:25,241 --> 01:02:28,978
I could have been at any one of
dozens of other projects,

1434
01:02:28,978 --> 01:02:32,815
but he came the day
that I was crucified

1435
01:02:32,815 --> 01:02:37,987
with Makita screws
on three-quarter-inch plywood.

1436
01:02:37,987 --> 01:02:39,489
That was the first project
I worked with Robert on,

1437
01:02:39,489 --> 01:02:40,456
Nightmare 4.

1438
01:02:44,927 --> 01:02:45,928
This is the biggest sequence,

1439
01:02:45,928 --> 01:02:47,363
it's the finale, it's the end.

1440
01:02:47,363 --> 01:02:49,065
Roll it.

1441
01:02:49,065 --> 01:02:50,533
Souls burst out of him and
get their vengeance on Robert.

1442
01:02:50,533 --> 01:02:54,370
And I had this
animatronic chest and torso on.

1443
01:02:54,370 --> 01:02:55,805
Adjacent to me

1444
01:02:55,805 --> 01:03:00,343
was a giant, King Kong size
chest of souls.

1445
01:03:00,343 --> 01:03:03,646
They were doing a ratio thing
with the camera.

1446
01:03:03,646 --> 01:03:08,017
So I had these phenomenally
sculptured special effects

1447
01:03:08,017 --> 01:03:12,622
makeup heads of my victims,
the souls of my victims,

1448
01:03:12,622 --> 01:03:14,390
moving around and talking and...

1449
01:03:14,390 --> 01:03:16,826
and their little mouths
and their lips would move,

1450
01:03:16,826 --> 01:03:18,227
and their nostrils would flare,

1451
01:03:18,227 --> 01:03:21,130
and I could feel
the little clockwork mechanisms

1452
01:03:21,130 --> 01:03:23,699
behind them, you know,
tearing at my flesh.

1453
01:03:23,699 --> 01:03:26,035
I was up there
for probably eight hours.

1454
01:03:26,035 --> 01:03:28,070
We tortured the poor guy.

1455
01:03:28,070 --> 01:03:29,739
We're shooting all day.
He can't move.

1456
01:03:29,739 --> 01:03:31,741
He's literally
glued into that wall

1457
01:03:31,741 --> 01:03:33,342
in this big animatronic body

1458
01:03:33,342 --> 01:03:34,710
that's sticking out
of his chest.

1459
01:03:34,710 --> 01:03:36,245
Total trouper.

1460
01:03:36,245 --> 01:03:39,849
And that's the day
my father came to see his son,

1461
01:03:39,849 --> 01:03:43,586
recruited by Stanford,
crucified in makeup

1462
01:03:43,586 --> 01:03:45,788
with men that had like,
there were like wires

1463
01:03:45,788 --> 01:03:48,124
going up every orifice
on my body.

1464
01:03:48,124 --> 01:03:50,726
You know, "Oh, hi, Dad.

1465
01:03:50,726 --> 01:03:52,428
How are ya?"

1466
01:03:52,428 --> 01:03:56,532
It wasn't embarrassing as much
as it was surreal and funny.

1467
01:03:56,532 --> 01:04:00,069
But looking back on it,
it was a rather strange way

1468
01:04:00,069 --> 01:04:04,106
to have your father
see you working as an artist.

1469
01:04:04,106 --> 01:04:06,409
But you know, behind the scenes,

1470
01:04:06,409 --> 01:04:07,977
it's a different story.

1471
01:04:07,977 --> 01:04:09,712
I think I ended up
partying with Robert

1472
01:04:09,712 --> 01:04:11,147
more than I ended up
working with him.

1473
01:04:11,147 --> 01:04:13,516
I very well could have
partied with those guys.

1474
01:04:13,516 --> 01:04:14,650
I just don't remember.

1475
01:04:14,650 --> 01:04:16,385
I like it!

1476
01:04:16,385 --> 01:04:17,920
I was in the makeup trailer,

1477
01:04:17,920 --> 01:04:20,423
and I was watching him
get his makeup on,

1478
01:04:20,423 --> 01:04:22,091
which was elaborate.

1479
01:04:22,091 --> 01:04:24,560
And we would talk about
things like, you know,

1480
01:04:24,560 --> 01:04:27,897
acting and Shakespeare,
and I was thinking,

1481
01:04:27,897 --> 01:04:29,732
"God, I have to be
afraid of him.

1482
01:04:29,732 --> 01:04:31,234
He's so... he's so sweet."

1483
01:04:31,234 --> 01:04:33,035
But then when I saw him
in the scene,

1484
01:04:33,035 --> 01:04:34,971
when I had scenes with him,

1485
01:04:34,971 --> 01:04:40,176
he becomes this swaggering,
sexy almost, villain.

1486
01:04:40,176 --> 01:04:43,012
I mean, he's got this sexiness
about him, I think.

1487
01:04:43,012 --> 01:04:45,548
That menace has
a certain sexual threat to it.

1488
01:04:45,548 --> 01:04:48,351
And his victims are women,
and I mean, they're...

1489
01:04:48,351 --> 01:04:50,653
that's all built
into the character.

1490
01:04:50,653 --> 01:04:55,258
He had a predator posture, and
he comes to your bedroom.

1491
01:04:55,258 --> 01:04:56,893
He's in your subconscious,

1492
01:04:56,893 --> 01:05:00,129
so he knows
what's in your diary.

1493
01:05:00,129 --> 01:05:04,166
He knows what you want.
He knows your fantasies.

1494
01:05:04,166 --> 01:05:05,868
That's what's sexy about it.

1495
01:05:05,868 --> 01:05:07,270
And it's funny
because as I said,

1496
01:05:07,270 --> 01:05:10,139
I answer all the email
on robertenglund.com.

1497
01:05:10,139 --> 01:05:13,709
"I love you so much."
And it's like, yay.

1498
01:05:13,709 --> 01:05:14,977
I know he's going home with me

1499
01:05:14,977 --> 01:05:17,680
so I really don't have to
be jealous about that

1500
01:05:17,680 --> 01:05:20,383
fabulous Freddiette there

1501
01:05:20,383 --> 01:05:22,118
with her skirt that stops there

1502
01:05:22,118 --> 01:05:23,853
and shirt that stops there.

1503
01:05:23,853 --> 01:05:25,488
Doing a horror film

1504
01:05:25,488 --> 01:05:27,790
was like one step above
like crappy porn.

1505
01:05:27,790 --> 01:05:29,191
You know, they're like,

1506
01:05:29,191 --> 01:05:30,026
"Oh, you got a horror film,
big deal."

1507
01:05:30,259 --> 01:05:33,095
But anyhow, we didn't know
it was gonna explode.

1508
01:05:33,095 --> 01:05:35,064
But Robert Englund
had become a star

1509
01:05:35,064 --> 01:05:36,599
and I knew who he was too.

1510
01:05:36,599 --> 01:05:38,434
And then we're wrapping up
the film and he...

1511
01:05:38,434 --> 01:05:40,169
I say, I go, "Hey, can I
get an autograph from you,

1512
01:05:40,169 --> 01:05:41,871
like people do now?"

1513
01:05:41,871 --> 01:05:44,240
He says, "Danny, hopefully we'll
get to work together again."

1514
01:05:44,240 --> 01:05:45,708
And then like,
three weeks later,

1515
01:05:45,708 --> 01:05:48,577
we ended up getting Nightmare
5, it became a real thing.

1516
01:05:48,577 --> 01:05:51,213
So I've been a fan of Robert
for a long time.

1517
01:05:51,213 --> 01:05:52,548
I knew
of Nightmare on Elm Street

1518
01:05:52,548 --> 01:05:54,517
but I had never seen one,
but it's kind of like,

1519
01:05:54,517 --> 01:05:56,052
"I didn't know this shit
was this serious."

1520
01:05:58,187 --> 01:06:00,656
This is a cultural phenomenon.

1521
01:06:00,656 --> 01:06:03,159
People love Freddy Krueger.

1522
01:06:03,159 --> 01:06:06,429
And I feel very blessed
and fortunate

1523
01:06:06,429 --> 01:06:09,966
that I even had the opportunity
to work with Robert.

1524
01:06:09,966 --> 01:06:12,635
I mean, he's super nice.

1525
01:06:12,635 --> 01:06:14,770
I don't consider that
I've done six horror movies.

1526
01:06:14,770 --> 01:06:16,339
I consider I've done one roll.

1527
01:06:16,339 --> 01:06:17,940
It's a chance,
every once in a while,

1528
01:06:17,940 --> 01:06:19,375
to get it just the way
I want it.

1529
01:06:19,375 --> 01:06:21,010
And it's kind of fun
because of Freddy,

1530
01:06:21,010 --> 01:06:22,278
I can do a little bit of that.

1531
01:06:22,278 --> 01:06:24,613
I changed the voice.
I changed the way I moved.

1532
01:06:24,613 --> 01:06:26,315
You can't replace him.

1533
01:06:26,315 --> 01:06:28,217
You can't put
somebody else in that makeup.

1534
01:06:28,217 --> 01:06:29,618
It has to be Robert,

1535
01:06:29,618 --> 01:06:32,688
and I don't think anyone
will accept anybody else.

1536
01:06:32,688 --> 01:06:35,758
In 50 years, I hope
there will be other actors

1537
01:06:35,758 --> 01:06:38,828
playing and doing a fabulous job
at Freddy Krueger.

1538
01:06:38,828 --> 01:06:40,296
My only problem with Freddy now

1539
01:06:40,296 --> 01:06:42,698
is that I'm turning down
other projects

1540
01:06:42,698 --> 01:06:44,133
that I'd like to do.

1541
01:06:44,133 --> 01:06:46,502
When the Freddy project
comes alive last year,

1542
01:06:46,502 --> 01:06:48,371
I had to turn down
a great movie in Australia.

1543
01:06:48,371 --> 01:06:49,472
It's the actor's nightmare,
you know,

1544
01:06:49,472 --> 01:06:51,207
that you can't like
divide yourself

1545
01:06:51,207 --> 01:06:52,908
and split like an amoeba.

1546
01:06:52,908 --> 01:06:54,610
That's very frustrating.

1547
01:06:54,610 --> 01:06:56,912
I mean, gosh, you know,
I've waited all these years to...

1548
01:06:56,912 --> 01:06:59,648
to have this problem.

1549
01:06:59,648 --> 01:07:02,151
All of a sudden,
you get a role that defines you,

1550
01:07:02,151 --> 01:07:05,087
and sometimes
people don't allow you

1551
01:07:05,087 --> 01:07:07,556
to escape the confines
of that character.

1552
01:07:07,556 --> 01:07:10,493
Here was a guy
that as a character actor

1553
01:07:10,493 --> 01:07:12,728
could have, I think,
done anything

1554
01:07:12,728 --> 01:07:14,797
because his skill set is there.

1555
01:07:14,797 --> 01:07:17,800
However, having done Freddy,

1556
01:07:17,800 --> 01:07:22,605
it launched him into a kind of
American subconscious,

1557
01:07:22,605 --> 01:07:27,176
and now a worldwide subconscious
where he's iconic.

1558
01:07:27,176 --> 01:07:30,346
And yet it was
oddly limiting for him.

1559
01:07:30,346 --> 01:07:32,248
Robert became
so associated with Freddy

1560
01:07:32,248 --> 01:07:34,683
that Freddy gets the credit
for his performance.

1561
01:07:34,683 --> 01:07:36,719
There's so much more
to Robert than Freddy Krueger,

1562
01:07:36,719 --> 01:07:40,056
and I think if there's any,
I'm gonna say downside,

1563
01:07:40,056 --> 01:07:43,059
is that it's deprived us
of seeing him

1564
01:07:43,059 --> 01:07:45,628
branch out into parts
that might have actually

1565
01:07:45,628 --> 01:07:47,596
also really thrilled us.

1566
01:07:47,596 --> 01:07:49,799
I can play a lawyer tomorrow
if somebody asked me,

1567
01:07:49,799 --> 01:07:51,033
and I'd be very happy to.

1568
01:07:51,033 --> 01:07:52,268
Does KISS get sick

1569
01:07:52,268 --> 01:07:55,004
of playing rock and roll
all night, every night?

1570
01:07:55,004 --> 01:07:56,472
Probably.

1571
01:07:56,472 --> 01:07:58,541
But that's what
everyone's there to see.

1572
01:07:58,541 --> 01:08:00,342
So in a case
like Robert Englund,

1573
01:08:00,342 --> 01:08:03,412
where you get to play
a character like Freddy,

1574
01:08:03,412 --> 01:08:05,347
you've just completely
knocked it out of the park

1575
01:08:05,347 --> 01:08:08,050
and everybody knows you as that
and loves you as that,

1576
01:08:08,050 --> 01:08:09,952
that's pretty amazing.

1577
01:08:09,952 --> 01:08:12,721
He is a really talented actor.

1578
01:08:12,721 --> 01:08:15,991
And I think assumptions
get made about horror actors

1579
01:08:15,991 --> 01:08:18,693
that they're less than,
and it's unfair.

1580
01:08:18,693 --> 01:08:20,296
One of the problems
with being, you know,

1581
01:08:20,296 --> 01:08:23,432
an icon, if you will,
or having an iconic part

1582
01:08:23,432 --> 01:08:25,300
is that you end up
holding on to it

1583
01:08:25,300 --> 01:08:28,404
like it's a life raft,
you know, like, you,

1584
01:08:28,404 --> 01:08:31,073
"Boy, without this,
I am nothing."

1585
01:08:31,073 --> 01:08:33,876
I don't think you get trapped
in that role like you used to.

1586
01:08:33,876 --> 01:08:35,176
I think that it's a bit of a...

1587
01:08:35,176 --> 01:08:36,512
like a bit of a gift
and a curse.

1588
01:08:36,512 --> 01:08:39,115
It's not a curse,
it's a blessing.

1589
01:08:39,115 --> 01:08:42,251
And I think
Robert appreciates that.

1590
01:08:42,251 --> 01:08:43,318
He has
learned to appreciate that

1591
01:08:43,318 --> 01:08:45,121
as much as I have.

1592
01:08:45,121 --> 01:08:48,290
At some point...
I know I've found this...

1593
01:08:48,290 --> 01:08:51,292
is that I kind of
just have been really happy

1594
01:08:51,292 --> 01:08:53,796
with the idea
that this will be the one part

1595
01:08:53,796 --> 01:08:57,032
that people know me for,
and I have to be okay with that.

1596
01:08:57,032 --> 01:08:59,268
And I think
Robert probably is too.

1597
01:08:59,268 --> 01:09:01,836
And I think he's been able
to handle it quite well.

1598
01:09:01,836 --> 01:09:03,839
I thought a little bit
about fighting it.

1599
01:09:03,839 --> 01:09:08,544
And there came a point when
I absolutely surrendered to it.

1600
01:09:08,544 --> 01:09:12,448
Partly on the advice
of Wes Craven, but also,

1601
01:09:12,448 --> 01:09:17,819
with myself as an actor,
I embraced it.

1602
01:09:17,819 --> 01:09:19,621
Turn your head slightly.
Vacuum off.

1603
01:09:21,824 --> 01:09:22,992
Keep turning the head now.

1604
01:09:22,992 --> 01:09:24,693
Robert is such a pro.

1605
01:09:24,693 --> 01:09:26,629
And it's not just that he's
a pro about his own performance.

1606
01:09:26,629 --> 01:09:30,933
He's one of those film actors
who understands film.

1607
01:09:30,933 --> 01:09:32,902
Robert has probably
seen more movies

1608
01:09:32,902 --> 01:09:34,937
than all of us combined.

1609
01:09:34,937 --> 01:09:36,471
Oh, one of my favorite films,

1610
01:09:36,471 --> 01:09:39,241
a 1974 Brian DePalma film,
Sisters.

1611
01:09:39,241 --> 01:09:41,042
After the day's work,

1612
01:09:41,042 --> 01:09:43,679
he would get out
of his whole outfit

1613
01:09:43,679 --> 01:09:45,080
and we'd all have
a couple of beers

1614
01:09:45,080 --> 01:09:47,449
and go to a small
screening room,

1615
01:09:47,449 --> 01:09:49,551
and he'd draw something
to my attention

1616
01:09:49,551 --> 01:09:51,219
that maybe I wasn't aware of,

1617
01:09:51,219 --> 01:09:53,556
and I could draw something
to his attention

1618
01:09:53,556 --> 01:09:55,558
that he wasn't thinking about.

1619
01:09:55,558 --> 01:09:57,793
No matter where you are or
what you're talking about...

1620
01:09:57,793 --> 01:10:01,030
he is just a 100-mile-an-hour
ball of ideas.

1621
01:10:01,030 --> 01:10:02,598
Well, Robert pays attention.

1622
01:10:02,598 --> 01:10:05,501
It's not all about Robert.
It's not all about Freddy.

1623
01:10:05,501 --> 01:10:07,002
It's not all about
that character,

1624
01:10:07,002 --> 01:10:11,440
but he really understands
the machinery of filmmaking,

1625
01:10:11,440 --> 01:10:14,977
as well as the creative depth
of the actor.

1626
01:10:14,977 --> 01:10:16,612
It goes beyond the actor.

1627
01:10:16,612 --> 01:10:19,648
Knows where the camera is,
knows how close the shot is,

1628
01:10:19,648 --> 01:10:21,984
knows how to pitch
his performance accordingly.

1629
01:10:21,984 --> 01:10:25,321
So he's hyper-aware of
what lens is on the camera,

1630
01:10:25,321 --> 01:10:27,022
what's the... not just
what the angle of view,

1631
01:10:27,022 --> 01:10:30,559
but what's the lens so that
if he takes two steps back

1632
01:10:30,559 --> 01:10:33,462
on a move, is that going to be
really impactful

1633
01:10:33,462 --> 01:10:34,797
or is it not going to be
so impactful?

1634
01:10:34,797 --> 01:10:37,299
Because the lens selection
is going to change that. Right?

1635
01:10:37,299 --> 01:10:40,502
And so there's a very
like interactive way

1636
01:10:40,502 --> 01:10:42,771
that Robert works
with the people around him.

1637
01:10:42,771 --> 01:10:44,073
People have often talked about

1638
01:10:44,073 --> 01:10:46,141
how he angles Freddy's glove.

1639
01:10:46,141 --> 01:10:47,610
It's not a surprise
that, you know,

1640
01:10:47,610 --> 01:10:50,079
he's a director himself,
976-EVIL.

1641
01:10:51,814 --> 01:10:52,880
I thought I told you
not to tell anybody

1642
01:10:52,880 --> 01:10:54,516
about last night.

1643
01:10:54,516 --> 01:10:57,286
Mommy said we were
blessed by the Lord.

1644
01:10:57,286 --> 01:10:59,321
I directed
my first professional play,

1645
01:10:59,321 --> 01:11:01,757
I think in 1966.

1646
01:11:01,757 --> 01:11:07,228
For me, directing film is not
as pleasant an experience

1647
01:11:07,228 --> 01:11:08,864
as I thought,

1648
01:11:08,864 --> 01:11:12,635
and I'm much more at home
directing in the theater.

1649
01:11:12,635 --> 01:11:15,804
The only offers I ever get
are genre.

1650
01:11:15,804 --> 01:11:18,641
It takes a year off of your life
because there's pre-production,

1651
01:11:18,641 --> 01:11:20,276
and then there's the shoot.

1652
01:11:20,276 --> 01:11:22,144
Tick-tock tick-tock,
the nervous stomach.

1653
01:11:22,144 --> 01:11:23,579
Time is money. Not...

1654
01:11:23,579 --> 01:11:26,815
you can't really luxuriate in
the creative process

1655
01:11:26,815 --> 01:11:28,951
like you imagine you can
in theater.

1656
01:11:28,951 --> 01:11:30,519
But I had some wonderful actors.

1657
01:11:30,519 --> 01:11:33,489
I got to work and direct the
late great Sandy Dennis,

1658
01:11:33,489 --> 01:11:39,061
who literally invented the
neurotic female on film.

1659
01:11:39,061 --> 01:11:41,630
I've enjoyed working
with him very, very much.

1660
01:11:41,630 --> 01:11:43,832
First of all, because
he enjoys me, I think.

1661
01:11:43,832 --> 01:11:46,568
I can justify that experience
just for that.

1662
01:11:50,639 --> 01:11:52,541
On the set of 976-EVIL,

1663
01:11:52,541 --> 01:11:54,977
I was actually nervous
about working on this movie,

1664
01:11:54,977 --> 01:11:58,414
because I'd heard that the
director was an actor,

1665
01:11:58,414 --> 01:12:00,148
and he was
a first-time director,

1666
01:12:00,148 --> 01:12:01,317
and those can be
a pain in the ass,

1667
01:12:01,317 --> 01:12:02,584
especially
in the art department.

1668
01:12:02,584 --> 01:12:04,386
I was a set decorator.

1669
01:12:04,386 --> 01:12:06,422
So if they don't know anything,
they'll go in,

1670
01:12:06,422 --> 01:12:08,424
"Oh, that's not how it was
in my grandma's house.

1671
01:12:08,424 --> 01:12:09,825
You have to have
this kind of rug."

1672
01:12:09,825 --> 01:12:12,827
It's like,
"Go play with the cameras."

1673
01:12:12,827 --> 01:12:14,563
I hadn't seen any
of the Nightmare movies.

1674
01:12:14,563 --> 01:12:17,566
There was a Rolling Stone
magazine with his picture

1675
01:12:17,566 --> 01:12:20,536
and I was like, "Okay.
Oh, yeah, that's him. Okay."

1676
01:12:20,536 --> 01:12:23,772
Nancy drew the short straw,
and got the grunt job

1677
01:12:23,772 --> 01:12:27,376
of having to drive the
location manager and myself,

1678
01:12:27,376 --> 01:12:29,545
looking for locations
in Hollywood.

1679
01:12:29,545 --> 01:12:32,181
I had already picked
a couple of locations.

1680
01:12:32,181 --> 01:12:36,050
I would make Nancy drive anyway
to those locations.

1681
01:12:36,050 --> 01:12:38,353
And she got to drive
on the freeways for hours

1682
01:12:38,353 --> 01:12:40,389
and I was slowly
falling in love.

1683
01:12:40,389 --> 01:12:42,891
And this is so creepy now
when I think back on it,

1684
01:12:42,891 --> 01:12:46,094
but I also, I found out
where she lived.

1685
01:12:46,094 --> 01:12:48,063
Hm... Okay.

1686
01:12:48,063 --> 01:12:49,398
And a couple of nights,

1687
01:12:49,398 --> 01:12:51,300
I drove...
getting my courage up

1688
01:12:51,300 --> 01:12:52,901
to knock on the door
and ask her out.

1689
01:12:52,901 --> 01:12:55,871
I'd wait and like sit,
watch her light go on upstairs,

1690
01:12:55,871 --> 01:12:59,007
like a Hitchcock movie
or something.

1691
01:12:59,007 --> 01:13:01,343
Okay, fine.

1692
01:13:01,343 --> 01:13:04,446
I remember taking her
to a famous bar

1693
01:13:04,446 --> 01:13:06,582
across the street
from the Formosa.

1694
01:13:06,582 --> 01:13:08,984
And I kissed her,
and my knees almost buckled.

1695
01:13:08,984 --> 01:13:10,252
I was like a little kid.

1696
01:13:10,252 --> 01:13:11,620
Because I'd been around.

1697
01:13:11,620 --> 01:13:12,788
I'd been divorced.

1698
01:13:12,788 --> 01:13:14,656
I'd come out
of a ten-year relationship

1699
01:13:14,656 --> 01:13:16,358
that wasn't working.

1700
01:13:16,358 --> 01:13:19,628
I had a lot of, you know, scars.

1701
01:13:19,628 --> 01:13:23,132
And I was probably 38 years old.

1702
01:13:23,132 --> 01:13:25,934
I remember saying to her,
and I stole this line

1703
01:13:25,934 --> 01:13:29,103
from an old
James Garner-Sally Field movie,

1704
01:13:29,103 --> 01:13:31,607
"I think I'm in love
for the last time in my life."

1705
01:13:31,607 --> 01:13:33,075
You know, I'm gonna be
running on empty.

1706
01:13:33,075 --> 01:13:36,178
And she said, "Well, you know,
clear out your baggage,

1707
01:13:36,178 --> 01:13:38,147
and call me." And I did.

1708
01:13:38,147 --> 01:13:41,450
I was on the show when
Robert and Nancy met.

1709
01:13:41,450 --> 01:13:44,520
And I can tell you
that by the end of the show,

1710
01:13:44,520 --> 01:13:46,121
you could hear their heartbeats

1711
01:13:46,121 --> 01:13:48,023
and you could see
the twinkles in their eyes.

1712
01:13:48,023 --> 01:13:49,291
They were so in love.

1713
01:13:49,291 --> 01:13:50,726
I saw
that this could be serious;

1714
01:13:50,726 --> 01:13:52,628
that he was a serious man

1715
01:13:52,628 --> 01:13:55,063
and he had serious intentions
for me and...

1716
01:13:55,063 --> 01:13:59,568
and therefore we wanted to be
logical about it.

1717
01:13:59,568 --> 01:14:01,202
Who is this lovely
woman next to you?

1718
01:14:01,202 --> 01:14:03,338
This is my fiancée, Nancy Booth.

1719
01:14:03,338 --> 01:14:04,540
We did, and it worked.

1720
01:14:04,540 --> 01:14:06,608
Nancy, you have
strange taste in men.

1721
01:14:06,608 --> 01:14:08,811
Is he... is he... off screen,
is he regular, normal,

1722
01:14:08,811 --> 01:14:09,812
all of that?

1723
01:14:09,812 --> 01:14:11,413
Sweet, intelligent,
wonderful. Yes.

1724
01:14:11,413 --> 01:14:14,583
I don't actually think
I've seen Robert without Nancy

1725
01:14:14,583 --> 01:14:16,952
as long as I can remember.

1726
01:14:16,952 --> 01:14:19,987
They were like two little
sweet peas in a pod.

1727
01:14:19,987 --> 01:14:21,623
She strikes me as someone

1728
01:14:21,623 --> 01:14:24,660
who can just keep the train
running on the tracks,

1729
01:14:24,660 --> 01:14:27,896
and they just bring out
the very best in each other.

1730
01:14:27,896 --> 01:14:31,166
I think that they're
a pretty humble couple

1731
01:14:31,166 --> 01:14:35,603
but they just happen to live
this really rock-star lifestyle.

1732
01:14:35,603 --> 01:14:37,673
Also contributes to why
we don't have children now,

1733
01:14:37,673 --> 01:14:40,242
because, you know,
I wanted to be with him,

1734
01:14:40,242 --> 01:14:42,443
be traveling the world, so.

1735
01:14:42,443 --> 01:14:44,780
He worships the ground
she walks on.

1736
01:14:44,780 --> 01:14:47,148
It's a really beautiful
thing to see.

1737
01:14:47,148 --> 01:14:50,786
And I just think they're
a really good team together.

1738
01:14:50,786 --> 01:14:54,656
And here we are,
30 years later, so...

1739
01:14:57,693 --> 01:14:59,460
I have all kinds of memories

1740
01:14:59,460 --> 01:15:01,530
about Phantom of the Opera.

1741
01:15:01,530 --> 01:15:03,764
That was part of
a two-picture deal for me

1742
01:15:03,764 --> 01:15:06,735
with a big
international company,

1743
01:15:06,735 --> 01:15:11,907
Canon Jones 21st century,
and it's a family business.

1744
01:15:11,907 --> 01:15:16,278
Menahem Golan realized that the
Phantom of the Opera title,

1745
01:15:16,278 --> 01:15:17,478
the literary title,

1746
01:15:17,478 --> 01:15:20,115
had come into public domain,
so he thought,

1747
01:15:20,115 --> 01:15:22,651
"I need to immediately make
a Phantom of the Opera ."

1748
01:15:22,651 --> 01:15:24,585
It was all over Broadway,

1749
01:15:24,585 --> 01:15:28,023
the Lloyd Webber version
was still very active.

1750
01:15:28,023 --> 01:15:30,025
And they went to Robert
right away

1751
01:15:30,025 --> 01:15:33,128
because he had become
the horror kind of icon.

1752
01:15:35,097 --> 01:15:36,965
I think
it was my biggest payday;

1753
01:15:36,965 --> 01:15:38,867
considerably more
than I was earning

1754
01:15:38,867 --> 01:15:39,800
for the Nightmare films.

1755
01:15:44,873 --> 01:15:46,708
I knew that as a marketing tool,

1756
01:15:46,708 --> 01:15:49,077
Robert Englund was of value.

1757
01:15:49,077 --> 01:15:50,646
But we were really
going to make a movie

1758
01:15:50,646 --> 01:15:55,984
about Eric Destler and kind of
left Freddy behind.

1759
01:15:55,984 --> 01:15:58,320
My makeup
was much more intricate

1760
01:15:58,320 --> 01:16:02,157
and much longer in application
than Freddy Krueger.

1761
01:16:02,157 --> 01:16:05,960
There was also the...
the form Phantom makeup,

1762
01:16:05,960 --> 01:16:08,630
so I had on two makeups
at all the time.

1763
01:16:08,630 --> 01:16:09,898
And then later on that day,

1764
01:16:09,898 --> 01:16:12,534
you might need to see
a bit of it peeling away,

1765
01:16:12,534 --> 01:16:15,070
because the Phantom's
preoccupation was,

1766
01:16:15,070 --> 01:16:19,808
he would kill to take
the skin off his victims

1767
01:16:19,808 --> 01:16:22,844
and cover his deformity
so he could go out in public,

1768
01:16:22,844 --> 01:16:25,180
to the opera,
attend his beloved opera

1769
01:16:25,180 --> 01:16:26,081
and listen to the music

1770
01:16:26,081 --> 01:16:28,817
and hear his beloved
Christine sing...

1771
01:16:28,817 --> 01:16:34,289
♪ Your eyes see but my shadow ♪

1772
01:16:34,289 --> 01:16:37,526
I didn't meet
Robert until we were actually in

1773
01:16:37,526 --> 01:16:41,964
Budapest where we shot the film,
and we had no rehearsal.

1774
01:16:41,964 --> 01:16:44,398
You just get up there,
and you do it.

1775
01:16:44,398 --> 01:16:47,502
Jill looks like what
you imagine Christine to

1776
01:16:47,502 --> 01:16:48,804
look like and Jill can sing.

1777
01:16:48,804 --> 01:16:50,639
And she's a wonderful actress.

1778
01:16:50,639 --> 01:16:53,775
Here come the tears.

1779
01:16:53,775 --> 01:16:56,478
Not only did she have
to star in this film,

1780
01:16:56,478 --> 01:16:58,146
not only was it period,

1781
01:16:58,146 --> 01:17:00,148
but she had to sing
and lip sync...

1782
01:17:00,148 --> 01:17:03,719
she had as much work
as I had on that film,

1783
01:17:03,719 --> 01:17:05,353
if not more.

1784
01:17:10,993 --> 01:17:14,696
There's one oddball scene
where he's completely alone.

1785
01:17:14,696 --> 01:17:17,099
I just had the camera on Robert.

1786
01:17:17,099 --> 01:17:20,335
And he shows up
and he watches Christine

1787
01:17:20,335 --> 01:17:24,406
perform in Faust,
and he's watching her on stage.

1788
01:17:24,406 --> 01:17:28,076
But he didn't have
anything really to react to,

1789
01:17:28,076 --> 01:17:30,978
except an eyeline and the music.

1790
01:17:30,978 --> 01:17:34,983
But what he did as an actor
in that moment,

1791
01:17:34,983 --> 01:17:38,120
I... I really understood,
you know, the longing,

1792
01:17:38,120 --> 01:17:43,825
the... the lusting, the...
just everything was in this.

1793
01:17:43,825 --> 01:17:46,528
There's no dialogue,
just Robert acting.

1794
01:17:46,528 --> 01:17:48,296
So for a director,
that's a big moment,

1795
01:17:48,296 --> 01:17:51,433
where you think,
"Oh my God, this guy really,

1796
01:17:51,433 --> 01:17:53,001
this guy really can deliver."

1797
01:17:53,001 --> 01:17:55,237
Robert Englund is...

1798
01:17:55,237 --> 01:17:57,105
You're him, aren't you?

1799
01:17:57,105 --> 01:18:01,009
...the Phantom of
the Opera.

1800
01:18:01,009 --> 01:18:02,377
When they marketed it,

1801
01:18:02,377 --> 01:18:04,880
they went for the lowest
common denominator.

1802
01:18:04,880 --> 01:18:07,816
They made one poster,
and they doctored it

1803
01:18:07,816 --> 01:18:09,550
so it looked a little bit
like Freddy.

1804
01:18:09,550 --> 01:18:10,619
The marketing people
didn't leave him behind,

1805
01:18:10,619 --> 01:18:12,120
but we did.

1806
01:18:12,120 --> 01:18:14,389
The German posters
and the British posters

1807
01:18:14,389 --> 01:18:18,760
are a great handsome photo
of me as the Phantom and Jill.

1808
01:18:18,760 --> 01:18:21,530
They say, "Robert Englund,
you loved him as Freddy,

1809
01:18:21,530 --> 01:18:22,731
you'll love him
as the Phantom."

1810
01:18:22,731 --> 01:18:24,132
I don't mind that.
That's fine.

1811
01:18:24,132 --> 01:18:25,634
That comes with the territory.

1812
01:18:25,634 --> 01:18:27,969
I'm a Hollywood kid,
I know that.

1813
01:18:27,969 --> 01:18:32,273
I just didn't like that
doctored to look like Freddy.

1814
01:18:32,273 --> 01:18:33,775
That was one problem.

1815
01:18:33,775 --> 01:18:35,844
The second problem was that we...

1816
01:18:35,844 --> 01:18:39,081
we completely split
our two audiences,

1817
01:18:39,081 --> 01:18:42,084
because the Lloyd Webber
Phantom people

1818
01:18:42,084 --> 01:18:45,520
were not expecting
the horror gore elements.

1819
01:18:49,057 --> 01:18:51,593
It didn't surprise me
that it had problems

1820
01:18:51,593 --> 01:18:53,428
from that point of view.

1821
01:18:53,428 --> 01:18:57,966
You lost the audience when
it got into the slice, dice.

1822
01:18:57,966 --> 01:19:02,637
Dwight and I always were going
for a genre with the film.

1823
01:19:02,637 --> 01:19:05,240
Dwight and I remembered
being teenagers,

1824
01:19:05,240 --> 01:19:08,175
and taking our girls
to the drive-in movies,

1825
01:19:08,175 --> 01:19:11,179
and seeing all the Hammer Films:
Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing,

1826
01:19:11,179 --> 01:19:12,380
Herbert Long.

1827
01:19:12,380 --> 01:19:14,049
We loved those films.

1828
01:19:14,049 --> 01:19:18,320
So we used the saturated color,
and we changed our Phantom

1829
01:19:18,320 --> 01:19:22,124
from the Paris Opera
to the English Opera

1830
01:19:22,124 --> 01:19:25,260
so that we could be
in the same time frame,

1831
01:19:25,260 --> 01:19:27,629
but in the London
of Jack the Ripper,

1832
01:19:27,629 --> 01:19:29,164
to give it that edge.

1833
01:19:29,164 --> 01:19:31,532
It was a strange combination,
to be honest.

1834
01:19:31,532 --> 01:19:33,268
A very strange combination.

1835
01:19:34,903 --> 01:19:37,005
I'm Robert Englund,
and you're watching USA,

1836
01:19:37,005 --> 01:19:39,474
America's favorite
cable network.

1837
01:19:44,212 --> 01:19:45,914
After Phantom of the Opera,

1838
01:19:45,914 --> 01:19:48,717
the door had opened
for me to work abroad.

1839
01:19:50,619 --> 01:19:51,386
Audio Jungle.

1840
01:19:53,021 --> 01:19:55,056
I did movies in Russia.

1841
01:19:55,056 --> 01:19:58,894
The experience of shooting
that movie was life-changing.

1842
01:19:58,894 --> 01:20:00,128
Whether he plays in drag,

1843
01:20:00,128 --> 01:20:02,364
really well, that remains
to be seen.

1844
01:20:02,364 --> 01:20:05,934
I did movies
in Italy and the UK and Mexico,

1845
01:20:05,934 --> 01:20:07,936
Israel and Bulgaria

1846
01:20:07,936 --> 01:20:10,071
and Romania, South Africa.

1847
01:20:10,071 --> 01:20:11,139
That's a hell of a flight.

1848
01:20:11,139 --> 01:20:13,708
My passport was now a passport

1849
01:20:13,708 --> 01:20:15,544
of an international
man of mystery.

1850
01:20:16,878 --> 01:20:18,880
Amongst those films
I did in Europe,

1851
01:20:18,880 --> 01:20:23,118
one we did in Spain,
down in Amarillo where they shot

1852
01:20:23,118 --> 01:20:25,487
all the Clint Eastwood
spaghetti Westerns.

1853
01:20:28,023 --> 01:20:29,424
I worked on a film called

1854
01:20:29,424 --> 01:20:32,994
La lengua asesina,
The Killer Tongue.

1855
01:20:32,994 --> 01:20:35,864
I met some bloke from the UK,

1856
01:20:35,864 --> 01:20:38,066
who'd had a bit of success
in horror movies too.

1857
01:20:38,066 --> 01:20:39,334
What's his name?

1858
01:20:39,334 --> 01:20:43,138
You know, the guy
with the nails in his face.

1859
01:20:43,138 --> 01:20:44,406
I can't remember the name.

1860
01:20:46,641 --> 01:20:49,110
Oh, yeah, Pinhead.

1861
01:20:49,110 --> 01:20:53,849
We'll tear your soul apart.

1862
01:20:55,617 --> 01:20:57,052
There was a movie
I was supposed to do

1863
01:20:57,052 --> 01:20:58,353
with Arnold Schwarzenegger,

1864
01:20:58,353 --> 01:21:00,889
and they never got
the financing complete...

1865
01:21:00,889 --> 01:21:03,124
with Paul Verhoeven,
who I love and respect,

1866
01:21:03,124 --> 01:21:05,059
and Arnold, who I knew.

1867
01:21:05,059 --> 01:21:07,028
He was going to do
a Crusades movie where he was

1868
01:21:07,028 --> 01:21:08,930
Arnold Schwarzenegger's valet.

1869
01:21:08,930 --> 01:21:12,968
And it began at six months
in northern Spain.

1870
01:21:12,968 --> 01:21:15,503
That's how the project began,
with more money

1871
01:21:15,503 --> 01:21:17,405
than I'd ever been offered
before in my life.

1872
01:21:17,405 --> 01:21:18,974
There were
a lot of delightful things

1873
01:21:18,974 --> 01:21:21,309
that would have happened
on this movie.

1874
01:21:21,309 --> 01:21:23,945
I, as a younger actor,

1875
01:21:23,945 --> 01:21:26,414
losing those roles
or those movies being...

1876
01:21:26,414 --> 01:21:30,418
being canceled would cost me
weeks of sleep and tension.

1877
01:21:30,418 --> 01:21:33,288
But you can't entertain
that any longer.

1878
01:21:33,288 --> 01:21:35,991
You learn there's a point where
you just have to let it go.

1879
01:21:35,991 --> 01:21:38,793
Nancy is always telling me,
"Robert, let it go."

1880
01:21:38,793 --> 01:21:40,295
I deal with it.

1881
01:21:40,295 --> 01:21:42,831
So there was a point, you know,
at some point in my 40s,

1882
01:21:42,831 --> 01:21:45,400
where I did, I just let it go

1883
01:21:45,400 --> 01:21:50,438
and made peace with the fact
that somewhere in my obituary,

1884
01:21:50,438 --> 01:21:53,808
probably the first sentence,
Freddy, you know,

1885
01:21:53,808 --> 01:21:56,311
will rear his ugly little head.

1886
01:21:56,311 --> 01:21:58,746
I'm sure people
ask you this all the time.

1887
01:21:58,746 --> 01:22:01,583
Is Freddy really dead?

1888
01:22:01,583 --> 01:22:03,718
Of course he is.
Freddy's dead and gone.

1889
01:22:11,927 --> 01:22:15,297
Ha ha! Love you, babe.

1890
01:22:15,297 --> 01:22:17,699
Wes called me up and
said he had thought of an idea

1891
01:22:17,699 --> 01:22:20,068
to bring everyone back together,

1892
01:22:20,068 --> 01:22:22,270
and it brought
Nancy and Freddy back.

1893
01:22:22,270 --> 01:22:24,105
And he wanted me to read it.

1894
01:22:24,105 --> 01:22:27,208
It was just so preposterous.

1895
01:22:27,208 --> 01:22:29,511
I mean, the whole idea
of playing myself,

1896
01:22:29,511 --> 01:22:31,980
I just... I had to look
at my husband and just say,

1897
01:22:31,980 --> 01:22:34,516
"I don't know.
If you say no, I won't do it."

1898
01:22:34,516 --> 01:22:37,952
Have you seen any of
the script, by any chance?

1899
01:22:37,952 --> 01:22:40,722
Well, Wes won't show it
until he's finished.

1900
01:22:40,722 --> 01:22:45,427
I was attracted to the sort of
meta-deconstructed element of it

1901
01:22:45,427 --> 01:22:48,530
and... and the fact that
Wes was making it for the fans.

1902
01:22:48,530 --> 01:22:50,065
You know, I talked to Robert

1903
01:22:50,065 --> 01:22:52,634
and, you know,
he was very excited about it.

1904
01:22:52,634 --> 01:22:55,303
And I talked to Wes, and
he was really excited about it.

1905
01:22:55,303 --> 01:22:58,073
And I decided yes,
and I immediately was

1906
01:22:58,073 --> 01:23:00,308
really excited about
starting that project.

1907
01:23:00,308 --> 01:23:03,577
And Robert and I just had
a wonderful time doing it.

1908
01:23:04,913 --> 01:23:06,380
Miss me?

1909
01:23:06,380 --> 01:23:09,150
The Freddy character
was so iconic at the time

1910
01:23:09,150 --> 01:23:11,886
that you didn't have to
necessarily see the movies

1911
01:23:11,886 --> 01:23:12,954
to know who he was.

1912
01:23:12,954 --> 01:23:14,689
He was almost like a superhero.

1913
01:23:14,689 --> 01:23:16,424
I remember Wes saying,

1914
01:23:16,424 --> 01:23:18,626
"This is sort of an uber-Freddy.

1915
01:23:18,626 --> 01:23:20,628
This is an angry Freddy

1916
01:23:20,628 --> 01:23:26,267
because he was based on
some essence of truth, his evil,

1917
01:23:26,267 --> 01:23:29,204
and now he's been exploited
by Hollywood and Robert Englund

1918
01:23:29,204 --> 01:23:31,940
and Wes Craven
and New Line Cinema,

1919
01:23:31,940 --> 01:23:34,009
and he's gonna get us."

1920
01:23:34,009 --> 01:23:35,243
I think both Wes and I were

1921
01:23:35,243 --> 01:23:37,879
just extremely jealous
of Robert.

1922
01:23:37,879 --> 01:23:39,748
You know,
here's Wes Craven even.

1923
01:23:39,748 --> 01:23:43,218
He's writing that
because even he felt that

1924
01:23:43,218 --> 01:23:44,486
what Robert was going through

1925
01:23:44,486 --> 01:23:48,289
was just kind of absurd and
ridiculous considering,

1926
01:23:48,289 --> 01:23:50,625
you know, it was
Wes Craven's creation.

1927
01:23:50,625 --> 01:23:53,661
I made
a conscious decision then.

1928
01:23:53,661 --> 01:23:55,463
I saw how big Freddy was.

1929
01:23:55,463 --> 01:23:58,833
There's this exponential
growth of fans.

1930
01:23:58,833 --> 01:24:02,337
And you can't control that.
And it's really difficult.

1931
01:24:02,337 --> 01:24:08,209
You either start it very early
in your career, and I didn't,

1932
01:24:08,209 --> 01:24:10,812
to control it with a manager

1933
01:24:10,812 --> 01:24:12,280
that really sees
a specific thing

1934
01:24:12,280 --> 01:24:14,315
that you're going to be
an action star,

1935
01:24:14,315 --> 01:24:16,451
or you are going to be
A-list always

1936
01:24:16,451 --> 01:24:18,420
and you can't say yes
to anything else.

1937
01:24:18,420 --> 01:24:21,790
Or you kind of surrender
with what's happened

1938
01:24:21,790 --> 01:24:25,627
in terms of popularity,
and what people want from you.

1939
01:24:25,627 --> 01:24:27,228
I didn't fight it.

1940
01:24:27,228 --> 01:24:32,100
I never thought I would become
a genre star in horror.

1941
01:24:32,100 --> 01:24:35,570
And so I just went
with the flow.

1942
01:24:35,570 --> 01:24:36,905
I never had seen the movies.

1943
01:24:36,905 --> 01:24:39,240
But when I got the call
that I was going to audition

1944
01:24:39,240 --> 01:24:41,675
to be in one,
I was elated because...

1945
01:24:41,675 --> 01:24:45,713
because I immediately knew,
and it was pretty exciting.

1946
01:24:45,713 --> 01:24:46,848
Ever play...

1947
01:24:46,848 --> 01:24:47,849
skin the cat?

1948
01:24:50,785 --> 01:24:53,254
Greg!

1949
01:24:53,254 --> 01:24:55,389
I was exposed
to the makeup process

1950
01:24:55,389 --> 01:24:58,760
with Freddy early on,
so I saw Robert beforehand

1951
01:24:58,760 --> 01:25:00,428
and the transformation.

1952
01:25:00,428 --> 01:25:04,032
He was always very personable
in and out of character.

1953
01:25:04,032 --> 01:25:06,835
He was a joy to be around.

1954
01:25:06,835 --> 01:25:08,503
Of the seven,

1955
01:25:08,503 --> 01:25:11,406
I would say the New Nightmare
is probably the best

1956
01:25:11,406 --> 01:25:13,641
because it reinvents it.

1957
01:25:13,641 --> 01:25:15,410
And Robert is,
of course, very affecting

1958
01:25:15,410 --> 01:25:17,512
because you get to see him
what he's like as a person

1959
01:25:17,512 --> 01:25:19,547
as opposed to
the Freddy Krueger character.

1960
01:25:19,547 --> 01:25:21,349
He's...

1961
01:25:21,349 --> 01:25:24,486
Darker... more evil?

1962
01:25:24,486 --> 01:25:26,554
When New Nightmare came out,

1963
01:25:26,554 --> 01:25:29,891
it was successful,
but it wasn't a mega-hit.

1964
01:25:29,891 --> 01:25:32,160
I think people
didn't know what to make of it.

1965
01:25:32,160 --> 01:25:34,228
The title even maybe
was a little strange.

1966
01:25:34,228 --> 01:25:35,930
It's a...
it's a Freddy movie,

1967
01:25:35,930 --> 01:25:39,300
but it's not a Freddy movie.
It's got Wes's name in it.

1968
01:25:39,300 --> 01:25:41,436
What is this? And it was
kind of his playground

1969
01:25:41,436 --> 01:25:45,340
to explore the themes that
I think he really expanded on

1970
01:25:45,340 --> 01:25:47,108
in Scream, in his next movie.

1971
01:25:47,108 --> 01:25:48,877
And Scream,

1972
01:25:48,877 --> 01:25:53,047
was just that much more
accessible to the fans.

1973
01:25:53,047 --> 01:25:54,883
But after Scream came out,

1974
01:25:54,883 --> 01:25:59,053
people rediscovered
Wes Craven's New Nightmare.

1975
01:25:59,053 --> 01:26:00,321
It happens
a lot of times with...

1976
01:26:00,321 --> 01:26:02,523
with some movies where
with enough distance,

1977
01:26:02,523 --> 01:26:04,791
they... they kind of
come into their own.

1978
01:26:06,594 --> 01:26:07,862
I was a little surprised

1979
01:26:07,862 --> 01:26:10,064
that Wes Craven's New Nightmare

1980
01:26:10,064 --> 01:26:14,235
didn't come out of the gate
as a huge box-office success.

1981
01:26:14,235 --> 01:26:16,404
We'd worked really hard on it.

1982
01:26:16,404 --> 01:26:20,375
But you know, the... the '90s,
things were changing.

1983
01:26:20,375 --> 01:26:23,844
And some of
the old war horses of horror

1984
01:26:23,844 --> 01:26:27,448
were diminishing in...
in their fame and their success.

1985
01:26:27,448 --> 01:26:30,050
And the audiences
were looking at different

1986
01:26:30,050 --> 01:26:31,419
kinds of movies then.

1987
01:26:31,419 --> 01:26:33,755
I sort of ran out of gas
a little bit.

1988
01:26:33,755 --> 01:26:35,690
At one point in the '90s,
you know,

1989
01:26:35,690 --> 01:26:39,059
we decided that people were
already forgetting the stuff

1990
01:26:39,059 --> 01:26:40,161
that I'd done in the '70s.

1991
01:26:40,161 --> 01:26:42,297
So we did some Disney films,

1992
01:26:42,297 --> 01:26:45,867
Meet the Deedles
and The Paper Brigade.

1993
01:26:45,867 --> 01:26:49,603
And to this day, I've probably
signed more autographs

1994
01:26:49,603 --> 01:26:51,906
for that little family film

1995
01:26:51,906 --> 01:26:54,976
than any other project except
for Nightmare on Elm Street.

1996
01:26:54,976 --> 01:26:57,812
Life's a bitch, then you die.

1997
01:26:57,812 --> 01:26:59,581
Get him back to work.

1998
01:26:59,581 --> 01:27:03,518
I think Mangler and
Phantom were my double bill.

1999
01:27:03,518 --> 01:27:05,420
There was supposed to be
a second Phantom film

2000
01:27:05,420 --> 01:27:07,855
and The Mangler.
It was a package thing.

2001
01:27:07,855 --> 01:27:10,525
It was very lucrative.
And I mean, I think now

2002
01:27:10,525 --> 01:27:13,261
I would have been foolish to
turn down a Stephen King movie.

2003
01:27:13,261 --> 01:27:15,496
Three modern masters of horror

2004
01:27:15,496 --> 01:27:18,733
have just created
the ultimate machine...

2005
01:27:20,001 --> 01:27:21,903
...for terror.

2006
01:27:21,903 --> 01:27:23,705
The Mangler.

2007
01:27:23,705 --> 01:27:26,641
I said, well, you know,
Toby's back

2008
01:27:26,641 --> 01:27:30,878
and I like the source material
and I need a hook,

2009
01:27:30,878 --> 01:27:33,548
and I remembered that old
Orson Welles movie,

2010
01:27:33,548 --> 01:27:36,884
Lady from Shanghai,
and the guy with the leg braces,

2011
01:27:36,884 --> 01:27:38,786
the cuckolded husband.

2012
01:27:38,786 --> 01:27:41,022
He decided to stop
and give her one.

2013
01:27:41,022 --> 01:27:43,391
He'll cast a book.
When he's reading, he's like,

2014
01:27:43,391 --> 01:27:44,826
"Oh, who'd you use
for that young guy?

2015
01:27:44,826 --> 01:27:45,927
I used Nick Nolte."
And I was like,

2016
01:27:47,262 --> 01:27:49,397
"You cast...?"
I was like...

2017
01:27:49,397 --> 01:27:50,632
When I read the short story,

2018
01:27:50,632 --> 01:27:53,901
I imagined him and
I translated that into the...

2019
01:27:53,901 --> 01:27:56,037
and communicated
to my makeup man,

2020
01:27:56,037 --> 01:27:59,340
"That's the look I want to
go for: Bill Gartley."

2021
01:27:59,340 --> 01:28:01,776
Goddamn sons of bitches.

2022
01:28:01,776 --> 01:28:03,710
Robert Englund is a better actor

2023
01:28:03,710 --> 01:28:06,981
than any of the roles
that he's played

2024
01:28:06,981 --> 01:28:08,750
after Freddy Krueger.

2025
01:28:08,750 --> 01:28:10,818
He brings everything
to the table,

2026
01:28:10,818 --> 01:28:13,321
and the only times
he is let down

2027
01:28:13,321 --> 01:28:16,858
is if the script is not
as good as it should be.

2028
01:28:16,858 --> 01:28:20,228
Because Robert is capable
of elevating material.

2029
01:28:20,228 --> 01:28:21,596
Why don't you
shut that thing down

2030
01:28:21,596 --> 01:28:24,465
before somebody else gets hurt.

2031
01:28:24,465 --> 01:28:27,302
Not if I were you.

2032
01:28:27,302 --> 01:28:29,070
He's having so much fun,

2033
01:28:29,070 --> 01:28:32,340
and he's so evil and he's
so great and so delicious.

2034
01:28:32,340 --> 01:28:34,409
And in every scene, it's the...

2035
01:28:34,409 --> 01:28:36,110
it's scenery-chewing
in the best way.

2036
01:28:36,110 --> 01:28:37,577
It's like he will
look at a scene

2037
01:28:37,577 --> 01:28:40,114
and understand really
how to make the most out of it.

2038
01:28:40,114 --> 01:28:44,986
Frawley, you stupid old bitch.

2039
01:28:44,986 --> 01:28:48,823
The Mangler originally was
supposed to be shot in Toronto,

2040
01:28:48,823 --> 01:28:51,192
but instead we went to
Johannesburg

2041
01:28:51,192 --> 01:28:53,094
and shot at a studio there.

2042
01:28:53,094 --> 01:28:57,098
On our sound stage,
I think they'd found a body.

2043
01:28:57,098 --> 01:28:58,733
That was a little scary.

2044
01:28:58,733 --> 01:29:01,969
And also, seeing the remnants
of apartheid everywhere

2045
01:29:01,969 --> 01:29:03,338
was a bit frightening.

2046
01:29:03,338 --> 01:29:05,173
Barbed wire on the top of fences

2047
01:29:05,173 --> 01:29:08,276
and lots of
German Shepherd dogs.

2048
01:29:08,276 --> 01:29:10,478
I don't think they're pets.

2049
01:29:10,478 --> 01:29:14,916
But it was getting better.
It was getting hopeful.

2050
01:29:14,916 --> 01:29:16,751
But I had a great time
making that movie.

2051
01:29:18,219 --> 01:29:20,088
There are horror icons.

2052
01:29:20,088 --> 01:29:21,189
There's Freddy.

2053
01:29:21,189 --> 01:29:22,290
There's Jason.

2054
01:29:22,290 --> 01:29:23,458
There's Pinhead.

2055
01:29:23,458 --> 01:29:24,726
There's Chucky.

2056
01:29:24,726 --> 01:29:27,962
But then there are
iconic horror actors.

2057
01:29:27,962 --> 01:29:32,266
Robert Englund, Tony Todd,
and Kane Hodder.

2058
01:29:32,266 --> 01:29:33,868
One of the fun things
about Wishmaster

2059
01:29:33,868 --> 01:29:37,071
was that certainly, I
and I think the whole crew

2060
01:29:37,071 --> 01:29:40,641
regard it as a kind of
valediction to the period

2061
01:29:40,641 --> 01:29:42,643
immediately before
the movie was made,

2062
01:29:42,643 --> 01:29:46,547
which was the '80s era
of monster character.

2063
01:29:46,547 --> 01:29:50,184
And so, I put a lot of
references into the script...

2064
01:29:50,184 --> 01:29:52,085
names, winks to the audience.

2065
01:29:52,085 --> 01:29:53,855
And what was great is that Bob,

2066
01:29:53,855 --> 01:29:57,492
Robert Kurtzman the director,
because he was the K in K.N.B.,

2067
01:29:57,492 --> 01:30:00,628
he had these connections
with so many iconic figures

2068
01:30:00,628 --> 01:30:02,797
from those '80s movies.

2069
01:30:02,797 --> 01:30:05,466
I've waited ten years
for this piece.

2070
01:30:05,466 --> 01:30:07,635
I did Wishmaster
because I loved the hook.

2071
01:30:07,635 --> 01:30:08,736
I loved the gimmick.

2072
01:30:08,736 --> 01:30:11,239
You be careful
what you wish for.

2073
01:30:11,239 --> 01:30:13,141
I was excited,
and I was excited that

2074
01:30:13,141 --> 01:30:16,210
he was going to be playing,
you know, just a victim.

2075
01:30:18,946 --> 01:30:22,650
I'm washing
the shit out of this.

2076
01:30:22,650 --> 01:30:24,252
The character Robert was
playing, Beaumont,

2077
01:30:24,252 --> 01:30:27,088
the somewhat corrupt
art collector,

2078
01:30:27,088 --> 01:30:29,457
it was so in Robert's wheelhouse
that it was like

2079
01:30:29,457 --> 01:30:31,659
he could have done it
without dialogue.

2080
01:30:31,659 --> 01:30:34,262
What do you mean,
it went down in history?

2081
01:30:34,262 --> 01:30:35,797
Yes.

2082
01:30:35,797 --> 01:30:37,565
Robert and I came from
very different backgrounds.

2083
01:30:37,565 --> 01:30:38,900
Mine was all physical,

2084
01:30:38,900 --> 01:30:40,968
which fit with
the Jason character

2085
01:30:40,968 --> 01:30:44,338
because there's no dialogue.
It's all physical stuff.

2086
01:30:44,338 --> 01:30:46,507
But Robert
had the perfect background

2087
01:30:46,507 --> 01:30:48,309
with all his acting training.

2088
01:30:48,309 --> 01:30:52,213
And once I started doing
characters with dialogue,

2089
01:30:52,213 --> 01:30:54,348
I found it pretty challenging

2090
01:30:54,348 --> 01:30:57,885
because I had no training
in acting ever.

2091
01:30:57,885 --> 01:30:59,620
I can't say
I give a shit either.

2092
01:30:59,620 --> 01:31:01,789
We had a lot
of horror character actors

2093
01:31:01,789 --> 01:31:04,992
that were playing
all sorts of smaller roles.

2094
01:31:04,992 --> 01:31:07,728
It was sort of stocked full
of everybody

2095
01:31:07,728 --> 01:31:09,496
from the horror genre.

2096
01:31:09,496 --> 01:31:11,833
After I heard they were in,
Robert included,

2097
01:31:11,833 --> 01:31:14,168
I'd give the characters
a little tweak, thinking,

2098
01:31:14,168 --> 01:31:16,437
"Well, you know, A,
they probably need more lines

2099
01:31:16,437 --> 01:31:17,972
than I gave them.

2100
01:31:17,972 --> 01:31:19,974
And B, maybe I should try
and make the lines better."

2101
01:31:19,974 --> 01:31:22,977
This is not going
in the fucking film.

2102
01:31:22,977 --> 01:31:25,012
That was the first time
that they got the trio

2103
01:31:25,012 --> 01:31:27,514
for myself, Kane Hodder,
and Robert.

2104
01:31:27,514 --> 01:31:29,150
We didn't work together,

2105
01:31:29,150 --> 01:31:32,787
but we have this historic
three-shot that floats around

2106
01:31:32,787 --> 01:31:36,357
and reappears on tables
and cards everywhere.

2107
01:31:36,357 --> 01:31:38,493
Andrew had the burden
of the makeup in that film,

2108
01:31:38,493 --> 01:31:41,529
as the genie, The Djinn.

2109
01:31:41,529 --> 01:31:42,597
I'm trying to do Andrew,
but I can't.

2110
01:31:42,597 --> 01:31:44,130
His voice is so great.

2111
01:31:44,130 --> 01:31:46,234
Make your wish.

2112
01:31:46,234 --> 01:31:49,704
It was really a workout getting
that thing workin', man.

2113
01:31:49,704 --> 01:31:51,906
I went in and auditioned

2114
01:31:51,906 --> 01:31:55,142
and was quite lucky
to be able to sit with Robert

2115
01:31:55,142 --> 01:31:57,077
before the audition, and he,

2116
01:31:57,077 --> 01:31:59,814
as a big brother,
was so insightful about,

2117
01:31:59,814 --> 01:32:02,583
and... and one of
the things he said is that,

2118
01:32:02,583 --> 01:32:04,619
"Make sure you put it
in your contract, kid,

2119
01:32:04,619 --> 01:32:07,955
that when you're done,
they gotta go clean your face."

2120
01:32:07,955 --> 01:32:09,824
He says, "There's going to be
glue in there for weeks

2121
01:32:09,824 --> 01:32:10,758
that you're not
going to get out."

2122
01:32:10,758 --> 01:32:12,527
And I'm thinking "Wow."

2123
01:32:12,527 --> 01:32:13,728
And I do know for a fact

2124
01:32:13,728 --> 01:32:16,697
Robert has the record of
consecutive days

2125
01:32:16,697 --> 01:32:18,132
wearing the makeup.

2126
01:32:18,132 --> 01:32:21,135
But I think it's because of
Robert's experience

2127
01:32:21,135 --> 01:32:23,905
that other sort of
directors and producers

2128
01:32:23,905 --> 01:32:26,641
sort of heard about,
"Well, you know, you can't,

2129
01:32:26,641 --> 01:32:28,876
it'll start pulling the skin off
and it'll...

2130
01:32:28,876 --> 01:32:31,546
it'll start changing
the complexion."

2131
01:32:31,546 --> 01:32:33,548
And so he was a guinea pig
really for that.

2132
01:32:33,548 --> 01:32:35,650
And so people,
people paid attention.

2133
01:32:35,650 --> 01:32:36,784
Thank you, sir.

2134
01:32:36,784 --> 01:32:38,252
Pleasure
doing business with you.

2135
01:32:39,719 --> 01:32:42,723
Horror movies, for me, were
kind of the product

2136
01:32:42,723 --> 01:32:45,092
of diminishing returns
in the '90s,

2137
01:32:45,092 --> 01:32:48,195
I think the makeup roles
especially.

2138
01:32:48,195 --> 01:32:51,332
But I did begin doing
horror movies out of makeup.

2139
01:32:51,332 --> 01:32:53,968
I was not a big fan
of horror films.

2140
01:32:53,968 --> 01:32:57,338
And so, when I came
to Urban Legend,

2141
01:32:57,338 --> 01:32:58,873
I took it because it was,

2142
01:32:58,873 --> 01:33:01,809
uh... Jamie Blanks's approach
to Urban Legend

2143
01:33:01,809 --> 01:33:03,511
was not going to be
a slasher film.

2144
01:33:03,511 --> 01:33:04,844
He said privately,

2145
01:33:04,844 --> 01:33:06,480
"We're not going to show
what's in the script."

2146
01:33:06,480 --> 01:33:09,450
So there was a lot of blood...
bloody stuff in the script.

2147
01:33:09,450 --> 01:33:10,651
"And we're gonna be
really playing

2148
01:33:10,651 --> 01:33:12,085
with the thriller aspects."

2149
01:33:12,085 --> 01:33:13,853
I said, "Who's playing
the professor?"

2150
01:33:13,853 --> 01:33:15,189
And he said, "Robert Englund."

2151
01:33:15,189 --> 01:33:17,191
And I... it didn't quite register
who Englund is.

2152
01:33:17,191 --> 01:33:18,459
He's like,
"You know, Freddy Krueger."

2153
01:33:18,459 --> 01:33:19,960
"Really?"

2154
01:33:19,960 --> 01:33:22,362
Unfortunately,
it doesn't matter what he's in.

2155
01:33:22,362 --> 01:33:24,764
Your first thing is always,
"Oh, it's Freddy,"

2156
01:33:24,764 --> 01:33:26,567
or "It's the guy
who played Freddy."

2157
01:33:26,567 --> 01:33:28,502
No, it's Robert Englund.
It's Freddy.

2158
01:33:28,502 --> 01:33:30,004
So I was a little skeptical,
frankly,

2159
01:33:30,004 --> 01:33:32,005
because I wasn't
really a fan of those films.

2160
01:33:32,005 --> 01:33:34,175
Who gives a fuck what you think?

2161
01:33:34,175 --> 01:33:36,277
I met him as Professor Wexler

2162
01:33:36,277 --> 01:33:38,746
on set at the University
of Toronto,

2163
01:33:38,746 --> 01:33:42,817
and I was completely taken
with Robert.

2164
01:33:42,817 --> 01:33:44,619
He was a complete surprise.

2165
01:33:44,619 --> 01:33:47,822
The babysitter
and the man upstairs

2166
01:33:47,822 --> 01:33:51,791
is what we call an urban legend.

2167
01:33:51,791 --> 01:33:53,827
That's a really
well-directed movie.

2168
01:33:53,827 --> 01:33:57,431
That movie is slick as snot,
as we used to say.

2169
01:33:57,431 --> 01:33:59,666
It's held up because
the psychology of the characters

2170
01:33:59,666 --> 01:34:02,068
are so rich, all of them
are so interesting,

2171
01:34:02,068 --> 01:34:05,139
all are suspect at some point.

2172
01:34:05,139 --> 01:34:07,141
And there was
an extraordinary cast.

2173
01:34:07,141 --> 01:34:09,343
Jared Leto, who has Oscars now.

2174
01:34:09,343 --> 01:34:11,344
I love Alicia Witt.

2175
01:34:11,344 --> 01:34:12,813
And then there were cameos.

2176
01:34:12,813 --> 01:34:15,549
I mean, you know,
Loretta Devine and Brad Dourif,

2177
01:34:15,549 --> 01:34:17,985
and Baron Munchausen,
John Neville.

2178
01:34:17,985 --> 01:34:20,054
I remember Michael
Rosenbaum telling me,

2179
01:34:20,054 --> 01:34:21,422
he's like, "Oh my god,
I got to work with

2180
01:34:21,422 --> 01:34:23,357
Robert Englund in Urban Legend.

2181
01:34:23,357 --> 01:34:25,660
It was so cool. He came in
and he taught the class

2182
01:34:25,660 --> 01:34:26,960
and he was just fantastic."

2183
01:34:26,960 --> 01:34:29,263
Like, anyone who's a horror fan,

2184
01:34:29,263 --> 01:34:31,232
they just geek out
when they're around Robert,

2185
01:34:31,232 --> 01:34:34,035
and he's just so,
so sweet about it.

2186
01:34:34,035 --> 01:34:35,136
He's also a good sport.

2187
01:34:35,136 --> 01:34:37,405
We had to stuff him
in the trunk of a car.

2188
01:34:37,405 --> 01:34:39,206
Now think about that.

2189
01:34:39,206 --> 01:34:41,541
The trunk of the car
is not really big enough.

2190
01:34:41,541 --> 01:34:45,680
And so you have to really
squash the poor guy in there.

2191
01:34:45,680 --> 01:34:47,214
And then
you're gonna close the lid.

2192
01:34:50,951 --> 01:34:52,687
I wasn't always
playing the villain.

2193
01:34:52,687 --> 01:34:54,487
Sometimes I was the red herring.

2194
01:34:54,487 --> 01:34:56,791
The last thing you expect
to see is Professor Wexler.

2195
01:34:56,791 --> 01:34:59,193
He's still a suspect
in our minds.

2196
01:34:59,193 --> 01:35:02,697
I began to explore
another kind of role

2197
01:35:02,697 --> 01:35:04,865
and mature into
another kind of role.

2198
01:35:04,865 --> 01:35:06,032
I... I was very proud
of the film.

2199
01:35:06,032 --> 01:35:07,735
I call it the Lawrence of Arabia

2200
01:35:07,735 --> 01:35:09,603
of horror films,
because of the look of it.

2201
01:35:09,603 --> 01:35:10,805
I'm very proud of that film.

2202
01:35:12,005 --> 01:35:13,307
And that movie
was a hit, you know.

2203
01:35:13,307 --> 01:35:15,643
Urban Legend was a genuine,
authentic hit.

2204
01:35:15,643 --> 01:35:17,210
I always forget that, you know,

2205
01:35:17,210 --> 01:35:18,446
because some of my movies
aren't hits

2206
01:35:18,446 --> 01:35:19,413
and then some of them are.

2207
01:35:25,986 --> 01:35:27,455
When I was doing V,

2208
01:35:27,455 --> 01:35:32,026
NBC asked me to go do
a Thanksgiving Day Parade.

2209
01:35:32,026 --> 01:35:33,928
I did the parade
and I get down off the float

2210
01:35:33,928 --> 01:35:37,064
at the end and I hear
"Bralalalalalala."

2211
01:35:37,064 --> 01:35:40,166
And this Harley
with an extended fork pulls up

2212
01:35:40,166 --> 01:35:44,705
and this gorgeous guy with
blond hair going down his back

2213
01:35:44,705 --> 01:35:47,041
and a big beard
and he's muscular,

2214
01:35:47,041 --> 01:35:49,410
and he goes, "Mr. Englund,
I want to show you my ink."

2215
01:35:49,410 --> 01:35:51,512
And he takes off his vest.

2216
01:35:51,512 --> 01:35:55,148
From his neck to his elbows

2217
01:35:55,148 --> 01:35:59,553
is a tattoo of
Freddy and Jason grappling.

2218
01:35:59,553 --> 01:36:03,958
It's a fan question since 1984.

2219
01:36:03,958 --> 01:36:07,762
"Hey, Mr. Englund, dude,
who do you think would win, man,

2220
01:36:07,762 --> 01:36:11,132
if Jason and Freddy threw down?"

2221
01:36:11,132 --> 01:36:14,735
It's that same thing
that happened in the 1930s,

2222
01:36:14,735 --> 01:36:17,571
a kid turned to another kid
and said during the Depression,

2223
01:36:17,571 --> 01:36:18,839
"Who do you think would win

2224
01:36:18,839 --> 01:36:21,075
between Frankenstein
and the Wolfman?"

2225
01:36:21,075 --> 01:36:24,278
So this is this...
it's an adolescent fantasy.

2226
01:36:24,278 --> 01:36:26,480
Even after Jason Goes To Hell,

2227
01:36:26,480 --> 01:36:28,849
they were talking about
Freddy versus Jason.

2228
01:36:28,849 --> 01:36:31,652
Wasn't just about
seeing Freddy versus Jason,

2229
01:36:31,652 --> 01:36:32,920
it was seeing
Robert versus Kane.

2230
01:36:32,920 --> 01:36:34,955
That's what we wanted.

2231
01:36:34,955 --> 01:36:36,924
I was called
into New Line Cinema,

2232
01:36:36,924 --> 01:36:39,093
had a lunch meeting
with an executive.

2233
01:36:39,093 --> 01:36:41,228
She gave me the script, said,

2234
01:36:41,228 --> 01:36:43,531
"We're finally
doing this movie."

2235
01:36:43,531 --> 01:36:46,200
And I was so excited.

2236
01:36:46,200 --> 01:36:47,635
When I'm given the script
and said,

2237
01:36:47,635 --> 01:36:49,136
"We're finally doing
this movie,"

2238
01:36:49,136 --> 01:36:52,072
I tend to think I have the job.

2239
01:36:52,072 --> 01:36:55,609
My understanding was
Kane had the part.

2240
01:36:55,609 --> 01:36:57,311
Kane was offered the role.

2241
01:36:57,311 --> 01:37:02,148
In the weeks following, I...
I knew something was wrong.

2242
01:37:02,148 --> 01:37:07,288
Something... something
was not going as I expected

2243
01:37:07,288 --> 01:37:11,859
and had in the past, so I knew
something was not good.

2244
01:37:11,859 --> 01:37:14,562
During pre-production,

2245
01:37:14,562 --> 01:37:19,666
Ken Kirzinger walked in
the office in Vancouver.

2246
01:37:19,666 --> 01:37:22,369
Ronnie's sitting there,
the director,

2247
01:37:22,369 --> 01:37:25,906
and he looks up
and there's Ken Kirzinger

2248
01:37:25,906 --> 01:37:28,843
applying for the role
of stunt coordinator.

2249
01:37:28,843 --> 01:37:31,478
Th... there had been
a storyboard done,

2250
01:37:31,478 --> 01:37:34,682
and they'd elongated Jason.

2251
01:37:34,682 --> 01:37:36,217
He looked gigantic.

2252
01:37:36,217 --> 01:37:39,753
In Ronnie's mind's eye,
he'd always seen Jason

2253
01:37:39,753 --> 01:37:42,056
as almost a silent,
lumbering giant,

2254
01:37:42,056 --> 01:37:45,693
and Freddy's this little
energetic, nagging junkyard dog.

2255
01:37:45,693 --> 01:37:47,862
Well, he saw Ken, and his...

2256
01:37:47,862 --> 01:37:50,630
you know, his wish
was fulfilled.

2257
01:37:50,630 --> 01:37:54,869
And then I was finally told

2258
01:37:54,869 --> 01:37:57,771
that they were going
with somebody else.

2259
01:37:57,771 --> 01:37:59,039
And he just hired Ken.

2260
01:37:59,039 --> 01:38:01,041
He said,
"I want you to be my Jason."

2261
01:38:01,041 --> 01:38:03,377
It was devastating for me.

2262
01:38:03,377 --> 01:38:07,114
A very low point in my career
that I had busted my ass

2263
01:38:07,114 --> 01:38:10,217
for almost 15 years
playing that character.

2264
01:38:10,217 --> 01:38:12,987
Nobody wants to
take the accountability for it.

2265
01:38:12,987 --> 01:38:15,189
And just replaced

2266
01:38:15,189 --> 01:38:18,291
and not even given
the courtesy of saying why.

2267
01:38:18,291 --> 01:38:23,163
Nobody ever to this day
has told me a decent reason why.

2268
01:38:23,163 --> 01:38:25,666
Just how shitty, man,

2269
01:38:25,666 --> 01:38:27,401
because
they were both so excited

2270
01:38:27,401 --> 01:38:29,503
and waiting years
for this to happen.

2271
01:38:29,503 --> 01:38:33,073
And, you know, obviously,
Robert still got to do the film,

2272
01:38:33,073 --> 01:38:34,608
but I'm sure even for him,

2273
01:38:34,608 --> 01:38:37,978
it wasn't what he had always
thought it was going to be.

2274
01:38:37,978 --> 01:38:41,248
Robert has been quoted as saying

2275
01:38:41,248 --> 01:38:43,317
that he always had pictured it

2276
01:38:43,317 --> 01:38:45,786
not so much as
Freddy versus Jason,

2277
01:38:45,786 --> 01:38:48,255
but England versus Hodder.

2278
01:38:48,255 --> 01:38:51,091
That would have been nice,
but at the same time,

2279
01:38:51,091 --> 01:38:53,827
I can't expect him
not to do the movie.

2280
01:38:53,827 --> 01:38:55,228
I think Ken did a great job.

2281
01:38:55,228 --> 01:38:58,332
It's just, we wanted,
we wanted Kane.

2282
01:39:01,568 --> 01:39:03,771
When I was eight years old,

2283
01:39:03,771 --> 01:39:05,272
Nightmare on Elm Street
was on TV.

2284
01:39:05,272 --> 01:39:07,041
And I remember just thinking,
"Oh, my god,

2285
01:39:07,041 --> 01:39:09,043
this is like the scariest thing
I've ever seen."

2286
01:39:09,043 --> 01:39:11,645
I couldn't sleep.
I had circles under my eyes.

2287
01:39:11,645 --> 01:39:13,514
I'd lost about ten pounds.

2288
01:39:13,514 --> 01:39:16,282
My doctor, Dr. Sergio,
said, you know,

2289
01:39:16,282 --> 01:39:17,918
"What's going on with you?
What's, what's the matter?"

2290
01:39:17,918 --> 01:39:18,986
And I said, "I can't tell you.

2291
01:39:18,986 --> 01:39:20,054
You won't understand."

2292
01:39:20,054 --> 01:39:21,455
And I guess I eventually said,

2293
01:39:21,455 --> 01:39:24,124
"Well, there's this guy.
He's really scary.

2294
01:39:24,124 --> 01:39:25,326
He comes in the middle
of the night

2295
01:39:25,326 --> 01:39:27,761
in your dreams and kills you."

2296
01:39:27,761 --> 01:39:30,197
And he was like, "From that
Nightmare on Elm Street movie?

2297
01:39:30,197 --> 01:39:32,266
My wife watches those movies.
They're not real."

2298
01:39:32,266 --> 01:39:33,634
And I was like, "They're not?"

2299
01:39:33,634 --> 01:39:35,402
I guess his recommendation
to my mother

2300
01:39:35,402 --> 01:39:38,505
was to find a picture
of Robert Englund

2301
01:39:38,505 --> 01:39:40,174
and a picture of Freddy Krueger

2302
01:39:40,174 --> 01:39:43,110
and to put them
side by side near my bed.

2303
01:39:43,110 --> 01:39:45,179
And so every night
before I went to sleep,

2304
01:39:45,179 --> 01:39:47,147
I used to like look at
both of them and say like,

2305
01:39:47,147 --> 01:39:48,549
"Okay, that's the real guy.

2306
01:39:48,549 --> 01:39:50,550
That's...
that's the fake guy.

2307
01:39:50,550 --> 01:39:52,452
And he's not real.
He's not real. He's not real."

2308
01:39:52,452 --> 01:39:55,055
And I remember
one of those nights thinking,

2309
01:39:55,055 --> 01:39:56,223
"You know what,
I'm going to be an actress

2310
01:39:56,223 --> 01:39:57,523
when I grow up someday,

2311
01:39:57,523 --> 01:39:58,925
and I'm never
going to make movies

2312
01:39:58,925 --> 01:40:01,728
that scare little kids."
But I did.

2313
01:40:03,430 --> 01:40:05,165
Go to hell!

2314
01:40:05,165 --> 01:40:07,134
Freddy vs. Jason.

2315
01:40:07,134 --> 01:40:09,003
Freddy vs. Jason.

2316
01:40:09,003 --> 01:40:11,071
It was a hard shoot
because I was getting old,

2317
01:40:11,071 --> 01:40:13,607
and I did a lot of my own stunts
in that movie.

2318
01:40:13,607 --> 01:40:16,477
And it was cold
because we had to go to

2319
01:40:16,477 --> 01:40:17,710
Camp Crystal Lake,

2320
01:40:17,710 --> 01:40:19,346
and they could only find one
in Vancouver,

2321
01:40:19,346 --> 01:40:21,048
so we were up there in the cold.

2322
01:40:21,048 --> 01:40:22,683
I can tell you
the first day I saw him

2323
01:40:22,683 --> 01:40:24,050
on set in makeup

2324
01:40:24,050 --> 01:40:27,187
was still jarring
and somewhat traumatic for me,

2325
01:40:27,187 --> 01:40:29,590
which worked, you know,
for my role and my character

2326
01:40:29,590 --> 01:40:31,191
and all of that.

2327
01:40:31,191 --> 01:40:34,428
I guess my saving grace
in that is that...

2328
01:40:34,428 --> 01:40:35,429
I killed him.

2329
01:40:38,898 --> 01:40:42,269
So my eight-year-old self
would be proud of me.

2330
01:40:42,269 --> 01:40:44,772
Ken and me
were able to hide wetsuits

2331
01:40:44,772 --> 01:40:46,407
underneath our wardrobes.

2332
01:40:46,407 --> 01:40:49,043
But the actors, you know,
young Jason Ritter,

2333
01:40:49,043 --> 01:40:50,611
and the beautiful
Monica Keena, you know,

2334
01:40:50,611 --> 01:40:54,048
she has to be this sexy,
femme fatale survivor girl.

2335
01:40:54,048 --> 01:40:57,217
There's nowhere for them
to hide anything.

2336
01:40:57,217 --> 01:40:59,119
And there would never
be a day that went by

2337
01:40:59,119 --> 01:41:01,188
that he wouldn't make sure
that I had a coat on.

2338
01:41:01,188 --> 01:41:02,556
He was always sort of
thinking of me

2339
01:41:02,556 --> 01:41:06,760
even before himself,
which was very, very special.

2340
01:41:06,760 --> 01:41:08,327
They put in a hot tub.

2341
01:41:08,327 --> 01:41:10,330
And so after every take,

2342
01:41:10,330 --> 01:41:11,432
we'd run and jump
in the hot tub.

2343
01:41:11,432 --> 01:41:13,367
It was right on the set.
Monica and...

2344
01:41:13,367 --> 01:41:15,235
and Jason Ritter would pop in.

2345
01:41:15,235 --> 01:41:18,305
But we also had
in the water for safety,

2346
01:41:18,305 --> 01:41:20,574
we had Navy SEALs,

2347
01:41:20,574 --> 01:41:23,943
in those state-of-the-art
high-tech wetsuits

2348
01:41:23,943 --> 01:41:25,112
that are that thick.

2349
01:41:25,112 --> 01:41:26,246
All those guys wanted to do

2350
01:41:26,246 --> 01:41:28,482
is get in the hot tub
with Monica.

2351
01:41:28,482 --> 01:41:31,718
So that was Freddy, Jason,
Jason Ritter, Monica Keena,

2352
01:41:31,718 --> 01:41:33,587
and a couple of Navy SEALs
in a hot tub.

2353
01:41:33,587 --> 01:41:37,391
It was like some
demented orgy, you know.

2354
01:41:37,391 --> 01:41:39,993
With over 1,000 career kills,

2355
01:41:39,993 --> 01:41:43,130
he's come back to life
seven times,

2356
01:41:43,130 --> 01:41:50,871
hailing from Elm Street,
Freddy Krueger.

2357
01:41:50,871 --> 01:41:52,439
You've never seen
an audience so gleeful.

2358
01:41:52,439 --> 01:41:54,475
It was like you combined Freddy

2359
01:41:54,475 --> 01:41:58,011
and you combined Jason
and you combined WWE wrestling.

2360
01:41:58,011 --> 01:42:03,317
It was like the most gleeful,
cinematic, orgasmic experience,

2361
01:42:03,317 --> 01:42:06,186
and the audience just went nuts.

2362
01:42:06,186 --> 01:42:08,121
That was big hit.

2363
01:42:08,121 --> 01:42:09,990
And that was a big
international hit as well,

2364
01:42:09,990 --> 01:42:12,559
and it still looks great
on a flat-screen

2365
01:42:12,559 --> 01:42:15,929
late at night with
cold pizza and warm beer.

2366
01:42:15,929 --> 01:42:17,130
It holds up.

2367
01:42:18,732 --> 01:42:19,833
In the 2000s,

2368
01:42:19,833 --> 01:42:23,137
I was offered a lot of
low-budget products.

2369
01:42:23,137 --> 01:42:24,905
Time to work.

2370
01:42:28,242 --> 01:42:29,543
I call him up and I'm like,

2371
01:42:29,543 --> 01:42:31,645
"Robert, there's this film
that I'm working on,"

2372
01:42:31,645 --> 01:42:32,846
and he goes,
"What's the name of it?"

2373
01:42:32,846 --> 01:42:34,248
I go, "It's called
Zombie Strippers."

2374
01:42:34,248 --> 01:42:35,549
He goes, "I'll do it."

2375
01:42:35,549 --> 01:42:36,916
And I'm like, "What do you mean,
you'll read it?"

2376
01:42:36,916 --> 01:42:38,519
"No, no, no. I'll do it.

2377
01:42:38,519 --> 01:42:40,487
With a name like that,
it's gotta be good, right?"

2378
01:42:40,487 --> 01:42:43,757
Come on, let's do it,
undead motherfuckers!

2379
01:42:43,757 --> 01:42:44,892
It was also great for me

2380
01:42:44,892 --> 01:42:47,127
to work with a lot of
the new young directors

2381
01:42:47,127 --> 01:42:48,128
that were starting out.

2382
01:42:48,128 --> 01:42:50,297
Tim Sullivan, Adam Green,

2383
01:42:50,297 --> 01:42:51,932
and they're really talented
young guys,

2384
01:42:51,932 --> 01:42:53,800
and they respect the genre.

2385
01:42:55,102 --> 01:42:56,103
He didn't make me feel like

2386
01:42:56,103 --> 01:42:57,804
I was a first-time filmmaker.

2387
01:42:57,804 --> 01:42:59,139
He completely trusted me,

2388
01:42:59,139 --> 01:43:02,075
which made it so much easier
to direct him.

2389
01:43:02,075 --> 01:43:03,677
Shall we get started?

2390
01:43:03,677 --> 01:43:06,079
In Funhouse Massacre,
Robert played our Warden Kane.

2391
01:43:06,079 --> 01:43:07,748
Welcome to
no man's land, Miss Quinn.

2392
01:43:07,748 --> 01:43:09,148
Definitely
the most high-profile actor

2393
01:43:09,148 --> 01:43:10,751
at that point
I'd ever worked with.

2394
01:43:10,751 --> 01:43:11,785
This guy comes in

2395
01:43:11,785 --> 01:43:14,755
and he just takes his craft
that serious.

2396
01:43:14,755 --> 01:43:16,690
It's just like, every character
means something to him,

2397
01:43:16,690 --> 01:43:18,791
and he wants to contribute
and stuff like that.

2398
01:43:18,791 --> 01:43:19,693
And that's what we did.

2399
01:43:19,693 --> 01:43:21,495
I learned
a little from him, you know,

2400
01:43:21,495 --> 01:43:24,565
and I hope I passed on
a little wisdom myself.

2401
01:43:25,566 --> 01:43:26,867
- Action!
- Ride back.

2402
01:43:28,001 --> 01:43:29,603
Come on, guys, a lot of energy.

2403
01:43:31,638 --> 01:43:32,706
Come on!

2404
01:43:32,706 --> 01:43:35,175
I had done
Detroit Rock City in 1998.

2405
01:43:35,175 --> 01:43:37,844
And at that point,
I woke up one day

2406
01:43:37,844 --> 01:43:41,248
and I was like,
I wanted to write and direct.

2407
01:43:41,248 --> 01:43:42,549
When I made that decision,

2408
01:43:42,549 --> 01:43:46,887
it just so happened
that a guy named Chris Koban,

2409
01:43:46,887 --> 01:43:49,623
who ended up
co-writing Maniacs with me,

2410
01:43:49,623 --> 01:43:51,525
got the right from
Herschel Gordon Lewis

2411
01:43:51,525 --> 01:43:53,227
to remake all his films.

2412
01:43:53,227 --> 01:43:55,596
And I knew from the beginning

2413
01:43:55,596 --> 01:43:58,298
there was only one person
that could play Mayor Buckman.

2414
01:43:58,298 --> 01:44:00,901
He said, "I had... I
want to remake 2000 Maniacs

2415
01:44:00,901 --> 01:44:02,469
with Robert Englund as Buckman."

2416
01:44:02,469 --> 01:44:04,538
- I said, "Done.
- Let's do it."

2417
01:44:04,538 --> 01:44:06,106
B mark.

2418
01:44:06,106 --> 01:44:11,411
Miss Peaches says y'all might
be inclinin' to leave town.

2419
01:44:11,411 --> 01:44:13,746
Tim had approached me way back

2420
01:44:13,746 --> 01:44:16,049
during, I think,
Nightmare 3 or 4.

2421
01:44:16,049 --> 01:44:17,484
He was working for
Michael De Luca,

2422
01:44:17,484 --> 01:44:19,353
the producer then at New Line.

2423
01:44:19,353 --> 01:44:20,587
And I'm like, "Hey, Robert.

2424
01:44:20,587 --> 01:44:21,822
He goes, "How ya doing,
Sullivan?", you know.

2425
01:44:21,822 --> 01:44:24,725
I go, "Well, I need you
to play Buckman."

2426
01:44:24,725 --> 01:44:27,427
"I'll only do it
if it's Hee-Haw on acid,

2427
01:44:27,427 --> 01:44:28,695
and I want to play him

2428
01:44:28,695 --> 01:44:31,298
as like a perverted
Colonel Sanders."

2429
01:44:31,298 --> 01:44:33,600
Welcome to Pleasant Valley.

2430
01:44:33,600 --> 01:44:35,535
And what was exciting
was getting to see

2431
01:44:35,535 --> 01:44:38,171
a great Robert Englund
performance not in the makeup.

2432
01:44:38,171 --> 01:44:39,373
See, we gave him an eyepatch

2433
01:44:39,373 --> 01:44:40,807
and a scar
and all kinds of stuff,

2434
01:44:40,807 --> 01:44:43,110
but I wanted to see
Robert's face.

2435
01:44:43,110 --> 01:44:45,478
Well, don't be
a wet ding-dong, fellas.

2436
01:44:45,478 --> 01:44:47,114
He comes totally prepared,

2437
01:44:47,114 --> 01:44:49,549
he works really hard
on the material.

2438
01:44:49,549 --> 01:44:51,318
He really
understands the content.

2439
01:44:51,318 --> 01:44:54,054
He asks a million questions,
just like I do.

2440
01:44:54,054 --> 01:44:56,456
You know what I mean?
We're both studied actors.

2441
01:44:56,456 --> 01:44:59,425
You know, we've had
a lot of experience and...

2442
01:44:59,425 --> 01:45:01,028
but also a lot of schooling.

2443
01:45:01,028 --> 01:45:02,529
A mark. B mark.

2444
01:45:02,529 --> 01:45:05,766
I love the detail of the work
and so does Robert.

2445
01:45:05,766 --> 01:45:10,370
Seems we have to impress a
little etiquette upon you.

2446
01:45:10,370 --> 01:45:12,639
Ladies and gentlemen, shall we?

2447
01:45:12,639 --> 01:45:14,775
I played his wonderful wife,

2448
01:45:14,775 --> 01:45:16,843
Miss Granny Boone,
who is, I like to say

2449
01:45:16,843 --> 01:45:18,545
is a cross between
Scarlett O'Hara

2450
01:45:18,545 --> 01:45:20,080
and a black widow spider.

2451
01:45:20,080 --> 01:45:22,215
It's your maker, now, bitch.

2452
01:45:27,788 --> 01:45:29,589
2001 Maniacs
was a very tough shoot.

2453
01:45:29,589 --> 01:45:31,758
I think we shot the movie
in like 18 or 20 days,

2454
01:45:31,758 --> 01:45:33,994
and it was a huge cast
and lots of kills.

2455
01:45:33,994 --> 01:45:36,530
And we, I mean, we did the movie
barely for a million dollars.

2456
01:45:36,530 --> 01:45:37,831
So it was just
one of those things

2457
01:45:37,831 --> 01:45:39,232
that everyone's doing it
for the love of movies.

2458
01:45:39,232 --> 01:45:43,103
Yee-haw!

2459
01:45:45,105 --> 01:45:46,340
I think the problem we had

2460
01:45:46,340 --> 01:45:49,175
was our original set
burned down in Hollywood.

2461
01:45:49,175 --> 01:45:51,645
And they moved to Georgia.

2462
01:45:51,645 --> 01:45:56,016
They found this village
in Georgia,

2463
01:45:56,016 --> 01:45:58,385
where they'd moved all these
antebellum, you know,

2464
01:45:58,385 --> 01:46:01,088
buildings from
the 19th and 18th century.

2465
01:46:03,490 --> 01:46:06,226
Welcome to Pleasant Valley.

2466
01:46:06,226 --> 01:46:09,196
My cautioning to Tim was,

2467
01:46:09,196 --> 01:46:10,931
because we lost that set,

2468
01:46:10,931 --> 01:46:13,333
that's money
that's gone up in flames.

2469
01:46:13,333 --> 01:46:15,602
That's time
that we'll never get back.

2470
01:46:15,602 --> 01:46:17,003
And I said to Tim,

2471
01:46:17,003 --> 01:46:19,005
"This looks better
than Hollywood's.

2472
01:46:19,005 --> 01:46:20,540
This is all real."

2473
01:46:20,540 --> 01:46:22,476
Robert was a part of it.

2474
01:46:22,476 --> 01:46:26,079
And Robert stayed with it
through thick and thin.

2475
01:46:26,079 --> 01:46:27,748
We had this big finale,

2476
01:46:27,748 --> 01:46:30,450
which originally
was this big fight scene,

2477
01:46:30,450 --> 01:46:32,753
and we had three nights
scheduled for this.

2478
01:46:32,753 --> 01:46:36,423
And the Teamsters came
one night and shut us down.

2479
01:46:36,423 --> 01:46:38,125
Yeah, we were doing it
under the radar.

2480
01:46:38,125 --> 01:46:40,160
Unions are unions.

2481
01:46:40,160 --> 01:46:41,995
And I am suddenly told

2482
01:46:41,995 --> 01:46:45,432
that the three nights I had
for this finale

2483
01:46:45,432 --> 01:46:46,967
would now be one.

2484
01:46:46,967 --> 01:46:49,770
The ending
of Maniacs was pretty hectic.

2485
01:46:49,770 --> 01:46:51,371
Talk about being made
on a shoestring.

2486
01:46:51,371 --> 01:46:52,773
You know, there were a lot of,

2487
01:46:52,773 --> 01:46:55,642
a lot of details that were
difficult to complete.

2488
01:46:55,642 --> 01:46:57,778
I did not know what to do.

2489
01:46:57,778 --> 01:46:59,913
And Robert was like,
"Wait a minute."

2490
01:46:59,913 --> 01:47:03,316
And he and Lin Shaye
took me aside and they...

2491
01:47:03,316 --> 01:47:05,085
they said,
"Let's think about this.

2492
01:47:05,085 --> 01:47:07,721
Why don't we just do something

2493
01:47:07,721 --> 01:47:10,757
where it's like
a gauntlet of maniacs, you know,

2494
01:47:10,757 --> 01:47:13,460
the main two characters
have to walk through

2495
01:47:13,460 --> 01:47:15,327
this maze of all the maniacs,

2496
01:47:15,327 --> 01:47:17,898
but every joke they said before

2497
01:47:17,898 --> 01:47:22,636
will now be turned
into a tragic truth."

2498
01:47:22,636 --> 01:47:23,969
We were under...
under pressure.

2499
01:47:23,969 --> 01:47:25,505
I mean, God, I don't think
we ever did

2500
01:47:25,505 --> 01:47:28,275
more than two or three takes.

2501
01:47:28,275 --> 01:47:31,411
That was Robert
coming to the rescue.

2502
01:47:31,411 --> 01:47:32,746
It's not just a monster movie.

2503
01:47:32,746 --> 01:47:35,749
It was really about avenging
what was done to us

2504
01:47:35,749 --> 01:47:38,118
during the Civil War.

2505
01:47:38,118 --> 01:47:40,687
And gratefully I think we got
a wonderful end to the film,

2506
01:47:40,687 --> 01:47:44,124
and I think the Teamsters
were fine and dandy.

2507
01:47:44,124 --> 01:47:44,991
I love Lin Shaye.

2508
01:47:44,991 --> 01:47:46,626
I've worked with Lin
several times.

2509
01:47:46,626 --> 01:47:48,762
We did a film together
called The Midnight Man.

2510
01:47:48,762 --> 01:47:50,464
And again, the reason
I wanted to do it

2511
01:47:50,464 --> 01:47:51,565
was because of Robert.

2512
01:47:51,565 --> 01:47:52,566
He called me up on the phone

2513
01:47:52,566 --> 01:47:54,201
and was pitching
this movie to me.

2514
01:47:54,201 --> 01:47:56,603
That's a nice little
traditional horror movie

2515
01:47:56,603 --> 01:47:57,671
in the vein of, you know,

2516
01:47:57,671 --> 01:47:59,473
the game
children shouldn't play.

2517
01:47:59,473 --> 01:48:00,874
I remember
we had a scene together

2518
01:48:00,874 --> 01:48:03,777
in The Midnight Man,
which was my idea, actually.

2519
01:48:03,777 --> 01:48:05,946
But Robert was
so thrilled with it because

2520
01:48:05,946 --> 01:48:08,615
it was sort of that we were
family in the moment.

2521
01:48:08,615 --> 01:48:10,684
And we're actually
very hostile towards each other

2522
01:48:10,684 --> 01:48:12,452
and I end up killing him.

2523
01:48:19,359 --> 01:48:22,562
I like him.

2524
01:48:22,562 --> 01:48:25,264
We... we became really, we...
I really like him.

2525
01:48:25,264 --> 01:48:28,635
He's a great person
as well as a wonderful actor.

2526
01:48:28,635 --> 01:48:31,505
You have no idea
who you're dealing with.

2527
01:48:31,505 --> 01:48:32,772
So how will this play out?

2528
01:48:32,772 --> 01:48:33,840
How will this work?

2529
01:48:33,840 --> 01:48:35,475
You won't like what you see,

2530
01:48:35,475 --> 01:48:37,777
I promise you that.

2531
01:48:37,777 --> 01:48:40,180
The rise of
Leslie Vernon, Behind the Mask.

2532
01:48:40,180 --> 01:48:41,715
It's a great little film.

2533
01:48:41,715 --> 01:48:44,751
And it deconstructs horror
on so many levels.

2534
01:48:44,751 --> 01:48:47,087
When I first got
the script for Behind The Mask,

2535
01:48:47,087 --> 01:48:50,657
one of the big selling points
was this is going to be

2536
01:48:50,657 --> 01:48:54,561
Robert Englund
not playing the nemesis.

2537
01:48:54,561 --> 01:48:55,996
This is him playing the hero,

2538
01:48:55,996 --> 01:48:58,865
which goes against type
completely.

2539
01:48:58,865 --> 01:49:02,269
His name
is Leslie Mann Cousteau,

2540
01:49:02,269 --> 01:49:03,969
from Reno, Nevada.

2541
01:49:03,969 --> 01:49:05,171
The approach was to go to Robert

2542
01:49:05,171 --> 01:49:06,740
for the role of Eugene.

2543
01:49:06,740 --> 01:49:09,876
Robert sort of prophetically and
wisely said,

2544
01:49:09,876 --> 01:49:12,279
"Well, I don't know if
that's really the role for me."

2545
01:49:12,279 --> 01:49:13,880
And I think you had had
more of a conversation with him

2546
01:49:13,880 --> 01:49:16,216
about how that actually
came about, didn't you, or...?

2547
01:49:16,216 --> 01:49:18,118
No.

2548
01:49:18,118 --> 01:49:19,352
Okay, good toss.

2549
01:49:19,352 --> 01:49:20,487
It was a chance for me

2550
01:49:20,487 --> 01:49:23,255
to do a little salute
to Donald Pleasance.

2551
01:49:24,657 --> 01:49:25,992
What Robert brought to the table

2552
01:49:25,992 --> 01:49:27,827
was, yeah, I could do
the Eugene thing.

2553
01:49:27,827 --> 01:49:29,829
I could be the retired killer,
and everybody would expect that.

2554
01:49:29,829 --> 01:49:30,797
And this, by the way,

2555
01:49:30,797 --> 01:49:32,599
was before he'd seen frame one

2556
01:49:32,599 --> 01:49:34,034
of anything
that we'd been working on.

2557
01:49:34,034 --> 01:49:35,669
He didn't know what
he'd gotten himself into.

2558
01:49:35,669 --> 01:49:37,637
But he just jumped in.

2559
01:49:37,637 --> 01:49:39,539
That's not true. He told me he
loved the script.

2560
01:49:39,539 --> 01:49:40,974
And it was entirely the script.

2561
01:49:40,974 --> 01:49:43,109
I said
frame one, not the script.

2562
01:49:43,109 --> 01:49:46,046
The script was, yeah, brilliant.
Of course.

2563
01:49:46,046 --> 01:49:47,280
That's better.

2564
01:49:47,280 --> 01:49:48,281
We got really lucky

2565
01:49:48,281 --> 01:49:51,651
because he is
an unbelievable professional.

2566
01:49:51,651 --> 01:49:54,521
But then he also took
everybody under his wing.

2567
01:49:54,521 --> 01:49:56,089
The kids were great.

2568
01:49:56,089 --> 01:50:00,193
I saw scenes with Nathan Baesel,
who played Leslie Vernon.

2569
01:50:00,193 --> 01:50:02,796
That's a wonderful,
wonderful performance.

2570
01:50:02,796 --> 01:50:05,098
He pulled me aside
after one of the takes,

2571
01:50:05,098 --> 01:50:08,034
and he said,
"You're just fantastic.

2572
01:50:08,034 --> 01:50:11,771
You know, you remind me
of the young Anthony Perkins.

2573
01:50:11,771 --> 01:50:13,173
Has anyone ever told you that?"

2574
01:50:13,173 --> 01:50:18,945
And after hearing that,
I felt like I could do anything.

2575
01:50:18,945 --> 01:50:20,914
He became
an unconscionable prick.

2576
01:50:20,914 --> 01:50:22,148
He was absolutely intolerable

2577
01:50:22,148 --> 01:50:23,282
- to be around.
- I felt like

2578
01:50:23,282 --> 01:50:25,885
I had been, you know, knighted.

2579
01:50:26,987 --> 01:50:27,887
Leslie!

2580
01:50:28,989 --> 01:50:30,323
No more.

2581
01:50:30,323 --> 01:50:31,458
It ends here.

2582
01:50:31,458 --> 01:50:33,226
Presence alone was enough.

2583
01:50:33,226 --> 01:50:35,462
He could have just walked in
and cashed the paycheck

2584
01:50:35,462 --> 01:50:37,364
but he plugged himself in fully,

2585
01:50:37,364 --> 01:50:39,132
a hundred percent
right from the beginning.

2586
01:50:39,132 --> 01:50:41,234
Seeing him pop up on the screen

2587
01:50:41,234 --> 01:50:45,171
ultimately does nothing
but elevate the status

2588
01:50:45,171 --> 01:50:47,273
of Behind the Mask.
That's his...

2589
01:50:47,273 --> 01:50:50,943
ultimately his gift to the...
to the project.

2590
01:50:50,943 --> 01:50:52,445
Is that what you meant?

2591
01:50:52,445 --> 01:50:54,214
Yeah.
Thanks for saving me again.

2592
01:50:56,683 --> 01:50:59,585
Please, don't kill me.

2593
01:50:59,585 --> 01:51:00,654
That's my line?

2594
01:51:00,654 --> 01:51:02,288
- Yeah.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

2595
01:51:02,288 --> 01:51:04,357
Last Showing, I know that's
the English way of saying

2596
01:51:04,357 --> 01:51:05,791
the midnight movie.

2597
01:51:05,791 --> 01:51:08,193
I wanted to call it at least
for American audiences

2598
01:51:08,193 --> 01:51:09,629
Midnight Movie,

2599
01:51:09,629 --> 01:51:12,298
and I knew that movie
was low budget,

2600
01:51:12,298 --> 01:51:15,535
but I also knew we were
in the confines of one set

2601
01:51:15,535 --> 01:51:17,504
and this very small cast.

2602
01:51:17,504 --> 01:51:20,005
You're not allowed
in here anymore.

2603
01:51:20,005 --> 01:51:22,976
I corrected the aspect
on your screen three.

2604
01:51:22,976 --> 01:51:24,010
He's so good in that.

2605
01:51:24,010 --> 01:51:26,880
Just a very complete character.

2606
01:51:26,880 --> 01:51:30,517
Please do not hurt her again.

2607
01:51:30,517 --> 01:51:32,118
Allie! Allie, this.

2608
01:51:32,118 --> 01:51:32,952
This is the guy.

2609
01:51:32,952 --> 01:51:34,387
I saw what you did.

2610
01:51:34,387 --> 01:51:35,989
I've called the police.

2611
01:51:35,989 --> 01:51:37,389
It was a rough shoot

2612
01:51:37,389 --> 01:51:38,058
because the movie theater
we were working on,

2613
01:51:38,291 --> 01:51:39,726
we were supposed
to have it until noon.

2614
01:51:39,726 --> 01:51:43,129
I remember the Minion movie
was so big

2615
01:51:43,129 --> 01:51:47,767
this mall cinema in Chester
had an extra-early screening.

2616
01:51:47,767 --> 01:51:49,636
Finn and I,
we have blood all over us,

2617
01:51:49,636 --> 01:51:52,038
and it's like a quarter to 11;
there's an 11 a.m. screening.

2618
01:51:52,038 --> 01:51:54,340
And we walk through the lobby.

2619
01:51:54,340 --> 01:51:56,609
All the schoolchildren
are coming to see

2620
01:51:56,609 --> 01:51:57,744
their Minion movie.

2621
01:51:57,744 --> 01:51:59,179
And as they walk in,

2622
01:51:59,179 --> 01:52:01,848
Emily Barrington,
Finn Jones, and Robert Englund

2623
01:52:01,848 --> 01:52:04,384
are walking out
drenched in blood, you know.

2624
01:52:04,384 --> 01:52:07,520
These poor little
English schoolgirls

2625
01:52:07,520 --> 01:52:09,989
going to see the Minions
and instead,

2626
01:52:09,989 --> 01:52:11,891
they see the three of us
walking out, you know.

2627
01:52:11,891 --> 01:52:13,359
I'm really proud.

2628
01:52:13,359 --> 01:52:14,994
It's some of the best work
I've done in years.

2629
01:52:14,994 --> 01:52:18,130
And that's because of
Phil Hawkins giving me freedom

2630
01:52:18,130 --> 01:52:20,166
and also giving me
really good notes

2631
01:52:20,166 --> 01:52:22,102
and letting me discover stuff.

2632
01:52:22,102 --> 01:52:23,737
I talk about this film
all the time

2633
01:52:23,737 --> 01:52:27,273
because I want
more people to see it.

2634
01:52:27,273 --> 01:52:29,909
There's an effects artist
slash writer slash director

2635
01:52:29,909 --> 01:52:31,311
named Robert Greene Hall.

2636
01:52:31,311 --> 01:52:33,179
He called me up and he said,

2637
01:52:33,179 --> 01:52:35,048
"Hey, your old buddy Robert
is coming over for a life cast.

2638
01:52:35,048 --> 01:52:36,249
You wanna come say hi?"

2639
01:52:36,249 --> 01:52:37,150
I'm like, "Sure."

2640
01:52:37,150 --> 01:52:38,752
It's a movie called Fear Clinic

2641
01:52:38,752 --> 01:52:40,719
that Rob had co-written
and was set to direct.

2642
01:52:45,458 --> 01:52:47,494
The webisode portion
of Fear Clinic

2643
01:52:47,494 --> 01:52:48,661
came out great.

2644
01:52:48,661 --> 01:52:50,396
And it was so hard

2645
01:52:50,396 --> 01:52:52,866
because we were learning
to tell segmented stories.

2646
01:52:52,866 --> 01:52:55,902
We had, you know,
you only get 15, 20 minutes

2647
01:52:55,902 --> 01:52:58,171
for each little webisode.

2648
01:52:58,171 --> 01:53:01,875
But the effects were brilliant,
and we had a wonderful cast.

2649
01:53:01,875 --> 01:53:03,977
Kane was part of that project.

2650
01:53:03,977 --> 01:53:05,879
Robert Hall had it
all in his head,

2651
01:53:05,879 --> 01:53:08,748
but he didn't necessarily
share that all with us.

2652
01:53:08,748 --> 01:53:10,216
He brought us together and said,

2653
01:53:10,216 --> 01:53:13,186
"You know, never had you guys
face off in the big movie,

2654
01:53:13,186 --> 01:53:14,888
so let's kind of have
a face-off in this,"

2655
01:53:14,888 --> 01:53:16,589
and that was kind of fun.

2656
01:53:16,589 --> 01:53:18,324
When we got to the film,

2657
01:53:18,324 --> 01:53:20,360
we got Corey Taylor
from Slipknot.

2658
01:53:20,360 --> 01:53:22,796
It's okay. Ma'am,
I need you to come with me.

2659
01:53:22,796 --> 01:53:24,264
I walk onto set.

2660
01:53:24,264 --> 01:53:25,732
And I was like, "Oh, this is
gonna be cool, you know,

2661
01:53:25,732 --> 01:53:26,833
being in a fucking movie."

2662
01:53:26,833 --> 01:53:28,001
And I turn around,

2663
01:53:28,001 --> 01:53:30,403
and holy shit,
there's Robert Englund.

2664
01:53:30,403 --> 01:53:31,638
He was very cool.

2665
01:53:31,638 --> 01:53:35,642
And I'm just staring at him
the entire time, like

2666
01:53:35,642 --> 01:53:37,377
such a fucking fanboy, dude.

2667
01:53:37,377 --> 01:53:39,846
And it was like,
I was like, "Oh, okay."

2668
01:53:41,380 --> 01:53:43,349
I'm infected,
as well as everybody else,

2669
01:53:43,349 --> 01:53:45,485
from this sort
of hyperbolic chamber

2670
01:53:45,485 --> 01:53:49,189
that removes people's
paranoias and fears.

2671
01:53:49,189 --> 01:53:50,889
But the idea was that within

2672
01:53:50,889 --> 01:53:54,160
that kind of coffin-like device,

2673
01:53:54,160 --> 01:53:57,597
there's a residue
of everyone's fears.

2674
01:53:57,597 --> 01:53:59,666
No. Blake.

2675
01:53:59,666 --> 01:54:01,166
Blake!

2676
01:54:01,166 --> 01:54:02,368
What... what's happening?

2677
01:54:03,837 --> 01:54:05,371
One of the things we built

2678
01:54:05,371 --> 01:54:09,108
was a huge, pulsating cocoon,
and it eats...

2679
01:54:09,108 --> 01:54:10,309
at the climax of the film,

2680
01:54:10,309 --> 01:54:12,045
it eats this fear creature
that we had made,

2681
01:54:12,045 --> 01:54:14,112
and it spits out Robert.

2682
01:54:14,112 --> 01:54:17,450
And it never crossed my mind
that he would be naked.

2683
01:54:17,450 --> 01:54:18,351
He had to be naked, right?

2684
01:54:18,351 --> 01:54:19,719
I mean, why would he
have clothes on

2685
01:54:19,719 --> 01:54:21,054
when he gets spit
out of this cocoon?

2686
01:54:21,054 --> 01:54:25,258
So Robert just drops his clothes

2687
01:54:25,258 --> 01:54:27,026
and he's just
standing there naked

2688
01:54:27,026 --> 01:54:28,561
in front of the whole crew.

2689
01:54:28,561 --> 01:54:31,130
I'm an old man now.
I don't care, you know.

2690
01:54:31,130 --> 01:54:33,499
I got man... we call 'em
man tits now.

2691
01:54:33,499 --> 01:54:35,969
And he gets down on the floor
in a fetal position.

2692
01:54:35,969 --> 01:54:37,237
He goes, and he goes,

2693
01:54:37,237 --> 01:54:38,171
"Steve, Steve.
Get over here."

2694
01:54:38,171 --> 01:54:39,672
Because... because
the cocoon was covered

2695
01:54:39,672 --> 01:54:43,610
with this weird kind of
spiderwebby, silicone meshy,

2696
01:54:43,610 --> 01:54:44,844
slimy stuff, and he goes,

2697
01:54:44,844 --> 01:54:46,779
"You got to cover up
my cock and balls."

2698
01:54:46,779 --> 01:54:48,748
And I'm like, "What?"

2699
01:54:48,748 --> 01:54:50,483
You could see
my massive manhood.

2700
01:54:50,483 --> 01:54:52,652
Oh, my fucking god.

2701
01:54:52,652 --> 01:54:54,087
What do I do now?

2702
01:54:54,087 --> 01:54:55,855
It was very, very cold.

2703
01:54:55,855 --> 01:54:57,123
That's the hard part.

2704
01:54:58,691 --> 01:55:00,059
Fuck.

2705
01:55:00,059 --> 01:55:01,661
So I think that might be

2706
01:55:01,661 --> 01:55:03,996
one of the highest or lowest
points of my career.

2707
01:55:03,996 --> 01:55:07,433
I had to slime up Robert's cock.

2708
01:55:07,433 --> 01:55:10,335
You know what
the cold does to one's manhood.

2709
01:55:10,335 --> 01:55:12,472
It only took about that much.

2710
01:55:12,472 --> 01:55:14,841
Sorry, Robert.

2711
01:55:14,841 --> 01:55:16,242
As long as
I'm going to be naked,

2712
01:55:16,242 --> 01:55:17,943
you know,
I want to be bountiful.

2713
01:55:17,943 --> 01:55:20,079
You know.

2714
01:55:20,079 --> 01:55:22,815
You shrivel up
and my body parts go inside me

2715
01:55:22,815 --> 01:55:24,751
to live where it's warm.

2716
01:55:24,751 --> 01:55:25,752
Wednesday...

2717
01:55:26,886 --> 01:55:28,922
A Nightmare on Goldbergs Street.

2718
01:55:28,922 --> 01:55:31,624
One, two,
Freddy's coming for Shmoo.

2719
01:55:31,624 --> 01:55:32,725
- No.
- Huh?

2720
01:55:32,725 --> 01:55:35,061
I had waited a long time.

2721
01:55:35,061 --> 01:55:37,463
And my agent, Joe Rice,

2722
01:55:37,463 --> 01:55:41,000
his favorite show with his
family was The Goldbergs.

2723
01:55:41,000 --> 01:55:43,303
He'd been approached
by Adam Goldberg.

2724
01:55:43,303 --> 01:55:46,239
It's such an '80s
self-referential show itself.

2725
01:55:46,239 --> 01:55:49,275
It's almost a Valentine
to the 1980s.

2726
01:55:49,275 --> 01:55:51,110
Robert Englund
takes on The Goldbergs.

2727
01:55:51,110 --> 01:55:53,279
I had such fun doing that show.

2728
01:55:53,279 --> 01:55:56,316
Even though I respect
the character of Freddy Krueger,

2729
01:55:56,316 --> 01:56:00,452
I think I was finally able to
have fun with it a little bit.

2730
01:56:00,452 --> 01:56:02,655
I get to work with
Wendy McLendon.

2731
01:56:02,655 --> 01:56:05,291
I was such a fan of hers
since Bridesmaids

2732
01:56:05,291 --> 01:56:07,360
and I knew all my stuff
was going to be with her.

2733
01:56:07,360 --> 01:56:10,563
And there was this great gag
about how every time I swore

2734
01:56:10,563 --> 01:56:12,130
or said anything dirty,

2735
01:56:12,130 --> 01:56:14,166
we knew it was going to be
bleep-bleeped out.

2736
01:56:14,166 --> 01:56:16,502
This is getting
way too touchy-feely

2737
01:56:16,502 --> 01:56:20,505
- for this cowboy.
- Time to die!

2738
01:56:20,505 --> 01:56:21,975
She's not afraid of Freddy.

2739
01:56:21,975 --> 01:56:24,110
And at the end,
she just goes off on a rant.

2740
01:56:24,110 --> 01:56:25,945
She just leaves me
standing there.

2741
01:56:25,945 --> 01:56:29,115
And the original ending was
I would just turn to the camera

2742
01:56:29,115 --> 01:56:31,951
and go, "Now that's some
prime time bitch."

2743
01:56:31,951 --> 01:56:34,219
I say the around here, lady.

2744
01:56:34,219 --> 01:56:36,755
Not anymore, Mister Kroger.

2745
01:56:36,755 --> 01:56:38,358
Krueger. It's Krueger.

2746
01:56:38,358 --> 01:56:39,459
Hah!

2747
01:56:41,294 --> 01:56:42,662
Stranger Things,

2748
01:56:42,662 --> 01:56:45,898
the scary season
or the horror season,

2749
01:56:45,898 --> 01:56:50,269
I was invited to do an episode.

2750
01:56:50,269 --> 01:56:52,271
I was feeling great about it
because I had read

2751
01:56:52,271 --> 01:56:54,139
for the Cary Elwes role,

2752
01:56:54,139 --> 01:56:56,943
the mayor in season three,

2753
01:56:56,943 --> 01:56:58,745
and didn't get it.

2754
01:56:58,745 --> 01:57:00,380
I had been, I was disappointed

2755
01:57:00,380 --> 01:57:01,880
because I loved the show
so much.

2756
01:57:01,880 --> 01:57:02,915
It's not that he didn't get it.

2757
01:57:02,915 --> 01:57:04,517
It's that somebody else
did get it.

2758
01:57:04,517 --> 01:57:06,886
I mean, you know.
I mean, actors.

2759
01:57:06,886 --> 01:57:08,621
There's only one role.

2760
01:57:08,621 --> 01:57:11,023
There's only one...
only one actor is gonna get it.

2761
01:57:11,023 --> 01:57:14,960
And then, when they
asked me to do this role,

2762
01:57:14,960 --> 01:57:18,931
I COVID auditioned
in my own plain,

2763
01:57:18,931 --> 01:57:23,068
all-white little bathroom,
and I made it look kind of just,

2764
01:57:23,068 --> 01:57:25,371
you know, my... my character
against the all-white.

2765
01:57:25,371 --> 01:57:27,340
But anyway,
they liked it, you know.

2766
01:57:27,340 --> 01:57:30,710
I had it learned,
was all ready to go, you know,

2767
01:57:30,710 --> 01:57:32,844
chomping at the bit,
get my plane ticket

2768
01:57:32,844 --> 01:57:34,013
and then COVID,

2769
01:57:34,013 --> 01:57:36,082
and then COVID and then COVID.

2770
01:57:36,082 --> 01:57:39,252
So we finally shot it
late spring, early summer.

2771
01:57:39,252 --> 01:57:40,920
He has this long speech.

2772
01:57:40,920 --> 01:57:44,657
And after it,
he got like a love note

2773
01:57:44,657 --> 01:57:46,291
from one of the other
cast members saying,

2774
01:57:46,291 --> 01:57:48,227
"I didn't even know
that was good.

2775
01:57:48,227 --> 01:57:50,663
I didn't even know
that that character

2776
01:57:50,663 --> 01:57:54,233
was interesting until you did
that amazing performance

2777
01:57:54,233 --> 01:57:55,902
and just blew us all away."

2778
01:57:55,902 --> 01:57:57,702
It does have
this sort of dusting

2779
01:57:57,702 --> 01:58:01,174
all over season four
of frame of reference

2780
01:58:01,174 --> 01:58:02,407
of Nightmare on Elm Street.

2781
01:58:02,407 --> 01:58:04,377
You know,
I think Wes, Wes Craven

2782
01:58:04,377 --> 01:58:06,312
would have been very pleased.

2783
01:58:06,312 --> 01:58:09,382
You know, what else is fun
about being in Stranger Things

2784
01:58:09,382 --> 01:58:12,351
is all those parents
that come to Comic Cons

2785
01:58:12,351 --> 01:58:14,687
and ask for the autograph,
you know,

2786
01:58:14,687 --> 01:58:15,721
and they bring their kids

2787
01:58:15,721 --> 01:58:18,257
who don't know
who the hell I am, you know.

2788
01:58:18,257 --> 01:58:21,327
But now that I'm showing up
in these cameos,

2789
01:58:21,327 --> 01:58:23,796
it's kind of fun
that I'm crossing that...

2790
01:58:23,796 --> 01:58:25,364
that generational boundary.

2791
01:58:25,364 --> 01:58:27,834
He just nailed it.

2792
01:58:27,834 --> 01:58:29,035
"That's Freddy Krueger.

2793
01:58:29,035 --> 01:58:30,303
That's the guy
that played Freddy Krueger.

2794
01:58:30,303 --> 01:58:32,705
I told you you'd like him,"
you know.

2795
01:58:32,705 --> 01:58:35,541
No, I assure you.

2796
01:58:35,541 --> 01:58:38,177
I am still very much in hell.

2797
01:58:54,927 --> 01:58:57,362
Robert Englund!

2798
01:59:08,975 --> 01:59:10,977
You're all my children now.

2799
01:59:10,977 --> 01:59:12,778
There are horror
conventions every weekend

2800
01:59:12,778 --> 01:59:14,046
all over the world.

2801
01:59:14,046 --> 01:59:15,148
And one thing I think

2802
01:59:15,148 --> 01:59:16,716
the internet
and social media has done,

2803
01:59:16,716 --> 01:59:19,050
it's really, really brought
the horror culture

2804
01:59:19,050 --> 01:59:20,419
and horror audience together.

2805
01:59:20,419 --> 01:59:21,621
When you see the film,

2806
01:59:21,621 --> 01:59:23,723
you're probably
way too young to see it.

2807
01:59:23,723 --> 01:59:26,092
So you spend
the rest of your whole life

2808
01:59:26,092 --> 01:59:28,928
at Comic Cons
and things like that

2809
01:59:28,928 --> 01:59:32,598
trying to recapture
that original excitement.

2810
01:59:32,598 --> 01:59:34,400
And they're happy to revisit it,

2811
01:59:34,400 --> 01:59:37,303
hoping the lighter
still has gas in it.

2812
01:59:41,174 --> 01:59:43,976
Robert has a connection
with his fans

2813
01:59:43,976 --> 01:59:46,245
that few others have.

2814
01:59:46,245 --> 01:59:50,216
I've heard of kind of
superstar icons

2815
01:59:50,216 --> 01:59:53,219
who literally don't even
look at you

2816
01:59:53,219 --> 01:59:55,987
when you come buy...
buy the autograph.

2817
01:59:55,987 --> 01:59:58,157
I'm always amazed at actors

2818
01:59:58,157 --> 02:00:01,093
that sit there
like they're miserable

2819
02:00:01,093 --> 02:00:03,095
that they have to be there.

2820
02:00:03,095 --> 02:00:04,330
Nobody's making you be there.

2821
02:00:04,330 --> 02:00:05,998
So don't do it
if you don't like it.

2822
02:00:05,998 --> 02:00:08,768
You got to be careful about
meeting the people you like

2823
02:00:08,768 --> 02:00:11,137
because sometimes
they'll disappoint you.

2824
02:00:11,137 --> 02:00:14,307
Robert handles the fans great.

2825
02:00:14,307 --> 02:00:16,275
I love how he interacts
with people.

2826
02:00:16,275 --> 02:00:17,944
If I could sum it up,

2827
02:00:17,944 --> 02:00:20,246
it really does come down to
all of his personal appearances

2828
02:00:20,246 --> 02:00:23,983
and the fact that he's
so fetching a personality

2829
02:00:23,983 --> 02:00:26,986
and fun,
and loves the character.

2830
02:00:26,986 --> 02:00:30,356
Never, ever have
I seen him rush through

2831
02:00:30,356 --> 02:00:31,991
signing an autograph
for somebody.

2832
02:00:31,991 --> 02:00:34,627
Anybody who went to a convention

2833
02:00:34,627 --> 02:00:37,597
where Robert Englund was at

2834
02:00:37,597 --> 02:00:40,900
would leave feeling,
"He's my friend."

2835
02:00:40,900 --> 02:00:43,069
You don't feel stupid as a fan

2836
02:00:43,069 --> 02:00:45,171
when your time
has finally arrived

2837
02:00:45,171 --> 02:00:46,973
and you've waited forever.

2838
02:00:46,973 --> 02:00:48,774
He looks right at you

2839
02:00:48,774 --> 02:00:50,643
the whole time
he's speaking to you,

2840
02:00:50,643 --> 02:00:53,546
and... whether it's 30 seconds
or two minutes...

2841
02:00:53,546 --> 02:00:55,648
and for that moment,
you are the most important.

2842
02:00:55,648 --> 02:00:57,617
There's nobody else
in that room.

2843
02:00:57,617 --> 02:01:01,554
I think he completes
what his fans expect from him,

2844
02:01:01,554 --> 02:01:03,589
and then gives them
a little bit extra

2845
02:01:03,589 --> 02:01:07,059
that is surprising and gracious.

2846
02:01:07,059 --> 02:01:08,527
It's part of the gift.

2847
02:01:08,527 --> 02:01:10,630
It's part of the experience
people are looking for

2848
02:01:10,630 --> 02:01:12,565
at a convention.
And they get it.

2849
02:01:12,565 --> 02:01:13,699
I always like when we're sitting

2850
02:01:13,699 --> 02:01:15,501
close to each other, because,

2851
02:01:15,501 --> 02:01:17,903
the banter that we have
with the fans,

2852
02:01:17,903 --> 02:01:21,340
then the banter with each other
that the fans enjoy...

2853
02:01:21,340 --> 02:01:23,175
you know, it's always fun.

2854
02:01:23,175 --> 02:01:25,544
It makes their week or their...

2855
02:01:25,544 --> 02:01:28,948
their year to be able to
meet Robert Englund.

2856
02:01:28,948 --> 02:01:33,519
So, horror
has exploded exponentially

2857
02:01:33,519 --> 02:01:37,056
in a way that I don't think
anyone ever really saw coming.

2858
02:01:37,056 --> 02:01:40,893
And it's great to see Robert
getting the love from the fans.

2859
02:01:43,963 --> 02:01:47,500
You know, when my son
recently died of brain cancer,

2860
02:01:47,500 --> 02:01:49,068
he was the first to call me

2861
02:01:49,068 --> 02:01:52,104
and he would always
offer me great advice about,

2862
02:01:52,104 --> 02:01:55,875
you know, how to move forward
and, you know, get, you know,

2863
02:01:55,875 --> 02:01:59,345
just be strong, and offered,
you know, he was always like,

2864
02:01:59,345 --> 02:02:02,014
"Heather, Heather, Heather."

2865
02:02:02,014 --> 02:02:04,350
You know, he always says
my name like seven times

2866
02:02:04,350 --> 02:02:06,319
before he tells me
what he's gonna tell me.

2867
02:02:06,319 --> 02:02:09,221
And it's always, you know,

2868
02:02:09,221 --> 02:02:11,957
it always comes from
this humongous heart

2869
02:02:11,957 --> 02:02:13,426
that he has for people.

2870
02:02:13,426 --> 02:02:17,163
I've never seen him
leave somebody without a smile.

2871
02:02:17,163 --> 02:02:19,565
The fact that the fans
are still there for him,

2872
02:02:19,565 --> 02:02:21,467
there's still power
to all of the things

2873
02:02:21,467 --> 02:02:22,735
that he's done before.

2874
02:02:22,735 --> 02:02:24,503
And anything
that he does after that

2875
02:02:24,503 --> 02:02:26,672
is going to have
that kind of weight,

2876
02:02:26,672 --> 02:02:28,808
so it's, to me,
it's a testimony to his talent.

2877
02:02:28,808 --> 02:02:30,676
It's a testimony
to the characters

2878
02:02:30,676 --> 02:02:32,745
that he helped bring to life.

2879
02:02:32,745 --> 02:02:35,114
There's nothing
that endures more

2880
02:02:35,114 --> 02:02:38,317
than something that is simple
and yet sophisticated.

2881
02:02:38,317 --> 02:02:39,785
It endures,

2882
02:02:39,785 --> 02:02:42,288
and that's the kind of
character he... he created,

2883
02:02:42,288 --> 02:02:44,690
and-and audiences
loved him for that.

2884
02:02:44,690 --> 02:02:46,926
What he can do
with words is alchemy.

2885
02:02:46,926 --> 02:02:49,662
I'm a huge fan of
the man Robert Englund,

2886
02:02:49,662 --> 02:02:51,397
of the actor Robert Englund.

2887
02:02:51,397 --> 02:02:53,366
There really is nothing
like sitting in a theater

2888
02:02:53,366 --> 02:02:55,101
and watching a movie
on the big screen.

2889
02:02:55,101 --> 02:02:57,837
And when you see something
like a Robert Englund,

2890
02:02:57,837 --> 02:02:59,739
who is bigger than life
in his own way,

2891
02:02:59,739 --> 02:03:02,308
created a character
that for whatever reason,

2892
02:03:02,308 --> 02:03:04,744
people have just devoured.

2893
02:03:04,744 --> 02:03:07,046
There are iconic horror actors:

2894
02:03:07,046 --> 02:03:10,950
Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff,
Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee.

2895
02:03:10,950 --> 02:03:13,152
Robert is definitely
in the latter category.

2896
02:03:13,152 --> 02:03:15,654
There's a weird thing
that happens

2897
02:03:15,654 --> 02:03:17,690
with these monsters we love.

2898
02:03:17,690 --> 02:03:19,358
Karloff is
the great example, I think,

2899
02:03:19,358 --> 02:03:22,595
where no matter
how heinous he is

2900
02:03:22,595 --> 02:03:24,864
or his character is on screen,

2901
02:03:24,864 --> 02:03:26,766
there's a separate
little part of our brain

2902
02:03:26,766 --> 02:03:29,335
that says, "I love this guy."

2903
02:03:29,335 --> 02:03:32,638
There's a likability
that in no way impinges

2904
02:03:32,638 --> 02:03:37,009
or weakens the frightening
power of the performance.

2905
02:03:37,009 --> 02:03:38,177
But you kinda feel good.

2906
02:03:38,177 --> 02:03:40,713
And I think Robert is absolutely
one of those guys.

2907
02:03:40,713 --> 02:03:43,649
I think we just, we like him.

2908
02:03:43,649 --> 02:03:45,418
Karloff was in his mid-40s,

2909
02:03:45,418 --> 02:03:48,421
worried about where
his career was going,

2910
02:03:48,421 --> 02:03:50,589
or more importantly,
wasn't going

2911
02:03:50,589 --> 02:03:55,327
when Frankenstein fell out
of the clear blue sky for him.

2912
02:03:55,327 --> 02:03:57,430
He talked about
"My dear old monster"

2913
02:03:57,430 --> 02:03:59,732
and said "I owe him everything."

2914
02:03:59,732 --> 02:04:01,700
And I have to say
the same thing really.

2915
02:04:01,700 --> 02:04:04,703
An actor's greatest enemy
is anonymity.

2916
02:04:04,703 --> 02:04:08,441
And if you have anything that
puts you on anybody's radar,

2917
02:04:08,441 --> 02:04:10,609
you should be
eternally thankful.

2918
02:04:10,609 --> 02:04:12,578
Years and years ago,
I met and became

2919
02:04:12,578 --> 02:04:14,680
a very close friend of
Vincent Price.

2920
02:04:14,680 --> 02:04:17,883
And I said to him one day,
"Vincent, isn't it frustrating

2921
02:04:17,883 --> 02:04:21,754
that you got sort of typecast
into this one kind of thing?"

2922
02:04:21,754 --> 02:04:23,756
And he said, "Oh, my dear, no.
Are you kidding?"

2923
02:04:23,756 --> 02:04:25,191
You know, he said,
"First of all,

2924
02:04:25,191 --> 02:04:27,526
I've been able to
keep working all the time,

2925
02:04:27,526 --> 02:04:30,029
which a lot of actors
don't get that opportunity.

2926
02:04:30,029 --> 02:04:33,065
And do I enjoy the iconic
stage aspect of it?

2927
02:04:33,065 --> 02:04:35,234
Of course I do.
I mean, I'm an actor.

2928
02:04:35,234 --> 02:04:36,469
You know, who wouldn't?"

2929
02:04:36,469 --> 02:04:38,804
And I think
it's absolutely perfect

2930
02:04:38,804 --> 02:04:41,440
that Robert should be considered

2931
02:04:41,440 --> 02:04:43,809
among the pantheon of the stars,

2932
02:04:43,809 --> 02:04:46,912
any of those that have captured
the public's imagination

2933
02:04:46,912 --> 02:04:48,814
in such a way that
they want to keep seeing

2934
02:04:48,814 --> 02:04:50,583
more and more and more of them.

2935
02:04:54,553 --> 02:04:55,788
You can't control a career.

2936
02:04:55,788 --> 02:04:57,490
I have friends that are

2937
02:04:57,490 --> 02:05:00,226
infinitely more talented
than I am

2938
02:05:00,226 --> 02:05:02,394
that made terrible mistakes

2939
02:05:02,394 --> 02:05:07,132
saying no at the wrong time,
saying yes too many times

2940
02:05:07,132 --> 02:05:11,303
to underpaid artistic projects
that nobody ever saw.

2941
02:05:11,303 --> 02:05:14,473
And it hurts their reputation
because those movies all bombed.

2942
02:05:14,473 --> 02:05:17,142
But by sticking with
the horror genre,

2943
02:05:17,142 --> 02:05:20,513
by being loyal to it,
now I'm playing

2944
02:05:20,513 --> 02:05:24,149
the old scientist,
the old priest,

2945
02:05:24,149 --> 02:05:26,752
the guy that tells you
the legend of whatever

2946
02:05:26,752 --> 02:05:28,888
the backstory is,
and I enjoy them.

2947
02:05:28,888 --> 02:05:31,223
And because I've been
around the genre so long,

2948
02:05:31,223 --> 02:05:32,925
I know how they're...
I know how to play them.

2949
02:05:35,094 --> 02:05:38,430
I remembered at some point,
that as a child,

2950
02:05:38,430 --> 02:05:40,499
I too, was a horror fan.

2951
02:05:40,499 --> 02:05:42,468
And I remembered
little Robbie Englund

2952
02:05:42,468 --> 02:05:44,703
going to his godfather's house,

2953
02:05:44,703 --> 02:05:47,439
and he had entire rooms
in his home

2954
02:05:47,439 --> 02:05:49,308
full of coffee table books.

2955
02:05:49,308 --> 02:05:51,210
And I remember getting
this big coffee table book

2956
02:05:51,210 --> 02:05:53,445
about Life magazine
goes to the movies,

2957
02:05:53,445 --> 02:05:56,582
and in the golden age
of horror section,

2958
02:05:56,582 --> 02:05:58,851
looking at pictures
of Frankenstein

2959
02:05:58,851 --> 02:06:00,753
and the little girl
by that river

2960
02:06:00,753 --> 02:06:02,655
before he breaks her,

2961
02:06:02,655 --> 02:06:06,792
and an entire page of
the makeups of Lon Chaney,

2962
02:06:06,792 --> 02:06:08,627
and being fascinated
with that as a kid.

2963
02:06:08,627 --> 02:06:10,563
And yet that had all gone away.

2964
02:06:10,563 --> 02:06:12,531
I had erased all of that.

2965
02:06:12,531 --> 02:06:15,200
I'd erased that Robbie Englund,

2966
02:06:15,200 --> 02:06:18,137
that boy who mowed lawns
so he could go see

2967
02:06:18,137 --> 02:06:21,073
Angry Red Planet
and Forbidden Planet,

2968
02:06:21,073 --> 02:06:24,243
who stayed up until midnight
to watch

2969
02:06:24,243 --> 02:06:27,780
the Late Late Show
of Frankenstein unedited.

2970
02:06:27,780 --> 02:06:30,282
And at some point, that all
came rushing back to me.

2971
02:06:30,282 --> 02:06:32,084
And I realized

2972
02:06:32,084 --> 02:06:34,486
those are the teenagers,
those are the young adults now,

2973
02:06:34,486 --> 02:06:36,555
that I mean so much to

2974
02:06:36,555 --> 02:06:39,525
because they're preserving
that experience

2975
02:06:39,525 --> 02:06:41,594
of sitting in the dark
and feeling alive

2976
02:06:41,594 --> 02:06:44,797
by being frightened,
by being scared.

2977
02:06:44,797 --> 02:06:47,466
I started to respect it
on a whole different level.

2978
02:06:47,466 --> 02:06:48,834
And I said to myself,

2979
02:06:48,834 --> 02:06:51,737
"All right, I'll be.
I'll step a little bit..."

2980
02:06:51,737 --> 02:06:52,871
and I came out saying,

2981
02:06:52,871 --> 02:06:55,641
and I wouldn't be
presumptuous by saying

2982
02:06:55,641 --> 02:06:56,842
that I could fill their shoes,

2983
02:06:56,842 --> 02:06:59,244
but I'd step into the shoes
a bit

2984
02:06:59,244 --> 02:07:01,280
of the late Klaus Kinski...

2985
02:07:01,280 --> 02:07:02,815
of the late Vincent Price.

2986
02:07:02,815 --> 02:07:04,817
And nobody else was doing it.

2987
02:07:06,352 --> 02:07:11,924
It's just been a great
happy accident to my career.

2988
02:07:11,924 --> 02:07:15,628
I'm having this great afterlife
as an actor within the genre.

2989
02:07:15,628 --> 02:07:17,396
And I'm just grateful for that

2990
02:07:17,396 --> 02:07:19,264
because it's just something
I never would have expected.

2991
02:07:19,264 --> 02:07:20,766
Something I wasn't planning.

2992
02:07:20,766 --> 02:07:22,267
It's just something
that happened.