A Nightmare on Elm Street
Short description
A group of teenagers in a suburban town share the same recurring nightmare. In it, a disfigured man in a striped sweater and a glove fitted with knife blades hunts them. Nancy, Quentin, Kris, Jesse and Dean initially treat the dreams as a shared oddity, but when one of them dies violently, the friends understand that harm suffered while asleep carries over into waking life. Staying awake becomes the only protection, and the group tries to work out why this figure has singled them out before exhaustion overtakes them.
Samuel Bayer directed this 2010 film, his first feature, from a screenplay by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer. It is a contemporary reworking of the 1984 horror film of the same name, and Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Bradley Fuller produced it through Platinum Dunes with Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema. Jackie Earle Haley plays Freddy Krueger, with Rooney Mara as Nancy Holbrook, Kyle Gallner as Quentin Smith, Katie Cassidy as Kris Fowles, Thomas Dekker as Jesse Braun and Kellan Lutz as Dean Russell. The credited cast numbers 34 and the crew 156.
Made for a budget of 35 million US dollars, the film took in about 116 million worldwide, a return that comfortably exceeded its cost despite a mixed response. On IMDb it holds 5.2 out of 10 from roughly 115,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.5 out of 10 from a much smaller base. A film critics' rating of 3.9 out of 10 from 184 reviews places professional assessment below the audience scores on both sites.
What's left behind the scenes
- Rooney Mara disliked filming this movie so much that she almost gave up acting altogether.
- Kyle Gallner sustained an abdominal injury during filming when one of the blades on Jackie Earle Haley's glove did not bend as expected and remained protruding. Haley did not notice this and only paid attention to the detail after the scene was finished.
- Several scenes were filmed in two schools, Elk Grove High School and John Hersey High School, located in the Chicago suburbs. Over 200 students were invited as extras, with a requirement that all potential candidates be at least 16 years old.
- Initially, Amanda Crew was to play the role of Nancy, but she declined at the last moment.
- While wearing contact lenses for filming, Jackie Earle Haley damaged his corneas, causing a break in filming, as the actor's whites of his eyes were bloodshot for two weeks.
- According to Freddie, played by Jackie Earle Haley, the human brain continues to function for 7 minutes after death. This is true, but not seven minutes, but almost ten.
- The film repeats many scenes considered classic from the original 1984 film as a sign of respect for its director, Wes Craven. Unfortunately, many film critics and fans saw this not as a tribute and respect, but as plagiarism.
- The plot unfolds in the fictional town of Springwood, Ohio, but filming took place in Illinois, particularly due to financial reasons. The administrations of two local schools managed to persuade the filmmakers to shoot on their premises. Permission to film was granted on the condition that no characters would die – especially in the swimming pool scene, where students (200 people) acted as extras.
- The studio's decision to film a sequel was predetermined by the film's financial success. Jackie Earle Haley had already begun negotiations regarding his fee when the negative reaction to the film from critics and fans of the original put an end to all these plans.
- Kellan Lutz deliberately did not sleep for several days before filming began in order to get into character.
- Wes Craven once needed funding to make 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' (1984), and therefore signed away the rights to the franchise, so he had no idea that a remake was in the works. In a 2009 interview, he expressed dissatisfaction with this fact (the film had not been released at that time), as he was very fond of the original.
- John Saxon (Lieutenant Thompson from the original version) was offered a cameo appearance in the film, but the actor had to decline due to scheduling conflicts.
- At the initial stage of the project, the producers wanted to cast a relatively unknown actor in the lead role, but then they changed their minds. Jackie Earle Haley's performance in "Little Children" (2006) made a very strong impression on them, and he received the role almost immediately after the audition.
- Kyle Gallner was the first actor cast, and Katie Cassidy was the last actress to be confirmed.
- Jackie Earle Haley auditioned for the role of Glen in the original 1984 film, which ultimately went to Johnny Depp.
- The most closely guarded props in the film were Freddie's gloves. In the past, while working on previous films, gloves had gone missing. A case of a glove being stolen from the set of one of the films became widely known, after which the same glove turned up on the set of Sam Raimi's horror film 'Evil Dead 2' (1987).
- There were around 15 script variations, with the final version being a combination of four of them.
- It took the actor over 3 and a half hours to apply the makeup.
- A prequel was originally planned, but this idea was soon abandoned.
- At the very beginning of filming, applying Freddy's makeup took six hours for actor Jackie Earle Haley. Over time, the makeup artists became so proficient that the makeup time was halved.
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