'Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story' Interview

Moviefone speaks with Robert Englund about 'Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares.' "We beat ourselves up over parts we didn't get, that's an actor's nightmare."

Releasing on Screambox and digital beginning June 6th is the new documentary 'Robert Englund.

What is 'Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story' about?

'Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story' chronicles the life and career of classically trained actor and director Robert Englund, who has become one of the most revolutionary horror icons of our generation. Throughout his career, Englund starred in many well-known movies, but shot to super-stardom with his portrayal of supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ franchise. This unique and intimate portrait captures the man behind the glove and features interviews with Englund and his wife Nancy, Heather Langenkamp (‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’) and more.

Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story

NR2 hr 10 min Jun 6th, 2023

Showtimes & Tickets

Watch Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story Online

Who appears in 'Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story'?

Directed by Gary Smart (‘Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood’).

New Nightmare’ was ahead of its time, and what playing Freddy Krueger has meant to him.

Robert Englund in the documentary film, 'Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story,' a Cinedigm release. Photo courtesy of Cinedigm.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about participating in this documentary and what it was like for you personally to look back on your life and your career?

Robert Englund: Well, I ran into these guys from Cult Screenings, and I'd been approached several times by different people, especially in this new world we live in with the blogosphere and everything, to do something. Almost instantly, Gary Smart and Chris Griffiths and I hit it off because they're sort of like walking IMBD guys. They're film fans. They're fanboys like me. I don't want to say I was testing them, but when I was getting to know them in a pub in the UK, I would be fighting for the name of an actor that I loved and they would go, "A Raisin in the Sun’ among other things, my first movie starring role. It's 50 years since then, and I'm off to do another movie in October and I have a movie coming out this year. It's this tale of a working actor, and the ups and downs and the misses. In fact, since we've done the documentary, I've gotten the question about what were the ones that got away and stuff like that. I've ed a couple more. I realize, as actors, we beat ourselves up on those parts we didn't get, even if they turned out to be flops, which in my case a couple of them did, and a couple of them weren't made even though they were huge projects. You beat yourself up for months after that, and you don't sleep well and then it's gone. It's in the ephemera. I realize that's part of surviving too, is having to let go of that stuff. My wife berates me because I still complain about a film I directed and movies that I was up for before she even knew me and we've been together 35 years. I realize that's an actor's nightmare.

Robert Englund in the documentary film, 'Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story,' a Cinedigm release. Photo courtesy of Cinedigm.

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MF: For years there has been a rumor that you auditioned for Luke Skywalker in ‘Star Wars,’ but the film confirms that you were actually considered for Han Solo and helped get Mark Hamill an audition for the movie, can you talk about that?

RE: I was never up for Luke Skywalker. I briefly went in the office, and I believe this is right around the time Jan Fischer. I walked in and Mark was there. I said, "Mark, I don't know, but this sounds like you." I think he got on the horn and called his agent. I think his agent gets real upset when I tell this story because she may have already submitted him. I certainly don't know about that. But I think I was the one that made Mark aware of the project. I mean, Mark was a big television star then. I tell that not as if I helped Mark get the role, but I tell it as a “once upon a time in Hollywood story.” Once upon a time in Hollywood, the guy that played Freddy Krueger lived with a girl that wrote ‘Lost Boys’ and hung out with the guy that played Luke Skywalker. It's just one of those moments of time that I think the fans love, that we all crossed paths. The people back east that think that all the horror actors hang out together at Schwab's or something. Like Freddy, Jason and Pinhead are all sitting around having a milkshake at Schwab's together.

Robert Englund in the documentary film, 'Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story,' a Cinedigm release. Photo courtesy of Cinedigm.

MF: Finally, I’ve always thought that ‘Wes Craven’s New Nightmare’ was ahead of its time and one of the best film’s in the series. Can you talk about your experience working on that movie, having the opportunity to reinvent the character at that point in your career, and what playing Freddy Krueger has meant to you?

RE: Well, I'd love to talk about it intellectually. It took the release of ‘Bruce Lee stories, and all the Hong Kong stories. It was getting all of this golden age of Hollywood gossip from the horse's mouth. Now I can have a beer with somebody on location and share one of those anecdotes with them as well. It was just a great experience for me because I was getting this oral history from the late great John Saxon.