Freddy Friday: Kane Hodder auditioned for role of Freddy Krueger

Did you know that the man behind the mask, Kane Hodder, was once interviewed as a potential candidate for our own Springwood Slasher Freddy Krueger for the original Nightmare on Elm Street?

The more you know my dear Fred-Heads. Welcome back to Freddy Friday!

Yes, it’s true folks. The actor who gave our special, special boy a menacing and memorable presence with also playing Jason Voorhees more times than anyone else, was interviewed by Wes Craven for the role of Freddy.

According to a 2005 interview from TV Guide with Kane Hodder, the stunt-man turned actor spoke about a meeting he had with Wes during the early pre-production days of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Hodder having suffered from a real burn accident early on in his stunt career that left the actor badly scarred, sat down with the Nightmare creator as a possible candidate for the antagonist of Craven’s new film that featured a mysterious burned villain.

Here’s what Hodder says about almost playing the iconic Dream Demon:

"“We had known each other for a long time, way before that. In fact, I did a movie with [Nightmare creator] Wes Craven a long, long time ago, called The Hills Have Eyes Part 2. You probably know that I have burn scars over almost half of my body from a fire stunt that didn’t go right, so after Hills Have Eyes 2, I had a meeting with Wes, when he was developing a character that he wanted to have looked like he had been burned. He interviewed me as a possible actor to play Freddy — he liked my physicality for what he was thinking at the time — but then they decided not to make him a big guy. Obviously, Robert was a fantastic choice.”"

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Of course, the stars of the slasher gods aligned and Robert Englund became the fedora-wearing, wise-cracking, late night delicious snack of Springwood terror while Hodder eventually became the most notorious donner of the hockey mask, Jason Voorhees. Although as fate would have it, Kane would finally get a taste of what it feels like to slip on Freddy’s glove in 1993.

In what at the time seemed like the final Friday, Jason Goes to Hell excited fans with a surprise ending — a shot of Freddy’s gloved hand pulling Jason’s mask down to hell. That Freddy glove cameo was played by none other than Hodder himself, which in turn set up the premise for Freddy vs Jason ten years later.

Although that last tidbit is pretty common knowledge amongst Freddy and Jason fans alike, it’s pretty rad to think about Hodder originally being once considered for Freddy and to come full-circle — even if was just for a body-part cameo.

I’m still trying to picture a dude as solid as Kane Hodder playing Freddy Krueger and I’m seriously having a hard time with that. Unless we’re talking Super Freddy here, in which case is an entirely different story. So yes, if a Super Freddy movie ever comes about, please hire this glorious man.

Next: Friday the 13th: Was Roy Burns ‘possessed’ by Jason Voorhees?

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