You may not know the name Robert Englund straight off, but his alter ego, Freddy Krueger, is known by millions. The burned child killer of nightmares–and slasher movie greatness–became something of a legend when he debuted in Wes Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. The role of Freddy Krueger was taken on by Robert Englund, who, up through this point in his career, had been a solidly working actor. He wasn’t a superstar; he wasn’t a name. He was an actor who had appeared in a dozen feature films, as everything from the best friend to the thug, from comedy and drama to horror and sci-fi.
But things changed in 1984, when he auditioned for the role of Freddy Krueger. Not because it was some kind of calling, but because it was a job. This is one of the things you learn in Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, a documentary about Englund’s career. It will be available on Screambox and digitally beginning on June 6.
Obviously, a large part of this documentary is about Freddy Krueger and his career in horror, but it also focuses on Englund’s beginnings in theater, his non-horror roles, and how Mark Hamill wouldn’t have become Luke Skywalker without him. I spoke with Englund to discuss what we learned in the documentary–and what we didn’t.