Harry here, and I can't help but love Robert Englund. He's one of the very few honest to goodness modern Horror Characters with real patootin' personality. And he loves the genre ta boot. Here he tells Hannibal a bit about what he's up to and getting into. here ya go....
Dear Harry
Hannibal here once again. I already send you this email a while ago, but maybe you didn't get it or I didn't send it correctly. Anyhow, I think this is pretty cool news, since it has been a while since Robert Englund directed anything.
While working at the Brussels International Filmfestival, my 'confrère' Munchkin and I were given the privilege, nay, the pleasure to interview the great Robert Englund (aka. Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street). The man was the nicest guy you can imagine, very talkative and passionate about his work. Smart too. He was in Brussels as one of the members of the international jury (Christopher Lee and Dario Argento were there as well).
At one point, we asked him a question about the only feature he has ever directed, the so-so 976-EVIL, and Englund provided us with some great stories about that film. Among other anecdotes, he told us that the final product is not at all what he had in mind. Some producer took the film away from him and recut it to his liking. Understandably, Englund was rather disappointed, and didn’t want to do a film for a big studio ever again.
So what’s the news, you might ask. Well, it looks like Englund will be directing a new film after all. But not in the States. He will do this film in Spain for Brian Yuzna’s independent production company The Fantastic Factory (which so far has produced a series of low/moderate-budget films such as Faust: Love of the Damned, Arachnid, Dagon, Darkness and the upcoming Beyond Re-Animator, which Yuzna will direct himself). The films are all shot in Spain (sometimes with Spanish actors as well), and offer the director a decent budget and complete creative freedom. This is exactly what Englund wants. Unfortunately, he hasn’t told us what the project was going to be, but but I'm sure the Factory will help him find a decent script.
But that’s not all. It looks like Robert wants to get into producing as well. Apparently, he was very impressed with two films he saw at the festival, and he wants to bring them home for a (*shudder*) U.S.-remake. (Harry, this may be material for another "REMAKE THIS" article.) The films that are going to be remade are the Danish thriller Kat and Hideo "Ring" Nakata’s Dark Water (Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara). Englund and his agent have already purchased the rights, so this'll probably happen very soon. No word if the films are going to go theatrical or straight-to-video.
Finally, Englund once again verified that Freddy Vs. Jason is finally going to happen. The script is all done, and it looks like everybody (including New Line) is happy with it. He told us that they'll use James Robinson's script and that Rob Bottin will direct.
that's it for now, I'll be back next year,
best regards,
Hannibal
