Then again, Englund doesnt look or sound like the character in his latest movie, either.

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I thought your performance was wonderful in this, first of all.

Well, thank you.

Youre the new kid on the block, because everyone else is already in the ensemble.

Then I fell in love with Phil, after a day and a half of working with him.

I was like, Wheres he been all my life?

I got very spoiled early on in my career in the early 70s.

He was the whitest man in the world, but he discovered our best black actors.

He didRaisin In The Sun,with Sidney Poitier and Louis Gossett, Jr and Ruby Dee everyone.

And he was marvellous.

All his familys marvellous theyre still working.

A renaissance in American independent film.

Theres a great film that he did that Im in calledHustle.

Just a terrific noir thriller.

Yes, with Burt Reynolds.

Its a Burt Reynolds film, but its not a Burt Reynolds film.

Its just a great contemporary noir based on a Steve Shagan novel hed just writtenSave The Tigerfor Jack Lemmon.

So I got spoiled.

They finish each others sentences and talk in their own code.

Phil doesnt spend a lot of time with you, but you know where you are in the frame.

Theres a great freedom in surrender with that kind of director.

I was able to lose my vanity, lose my chin, and not worry about my bald spot.

I just went with it.

Its very liberating when that happens.

Theres a lot of the film where Finn is alone, and thats what really makes the movie works.

Its the long silences, the plot accumulating.

Manifesting itself on Finns character.

And if Finn doesnt go there, the plot doesnt move.

It gave me more confidence, again, with Phil.

And I think Im about to have a fourth act!

I do reality television, I do top 10 TV shows, I do ensemble stuff.

I dont think Id be playing those if I hadnt embraced my career within the genre.

The international language of cinema.

They can barely name five Spanish actors.

They cant name five Spanish romantic comedy actors.

And no one in Spain gives a shit about American comedians, or Italy, or France.

That part of the culture doesnt translate.

But everybody can watch an action film or a horror film.

Its the language of cinema.

Thats something Ive learned, and its made me international.

His Jewish godfather at his house in San Fernando Valley.

He was one of the top salesmen for Simon & Schuster, the big publishing house.

Well, all those memories came back to me, my obsession with all those makeups, the horror.

Underneath all that, I think there was a fanboy still alive in me.

The great happy accident is the longevity of my career.

Ive got three movies coming out, and a TV show and a couple of reality shows.

Several projects in the works.

I dont think Id have this longevity without the genre.

I started my career in 1973, and I cant believe Im still here.

Id love to go work with them in Louisiana.

It was a great experience in Manchester last year.

Well, thats the UK for you!

Its interesting that your character in the film is a bit like yourself hes actually really passionate about film.

I wondered what your personal take is on modern horror.

I feel like I should be obligated to always defend practical effects, and to say, No remakes.

Only so many tales around the campfire that we have to tell.

Then we have to regurgitate them.

Our grandparents movies were all remakes of silent films we forget that, but its true.

So I understand that.

I understand that the technology of today prohibits a young person from seeing a black and white movie.

You have to drag them kicking and screaming, but they like it once theyve seen it.

That drives me fuckin crazy!

[Laughs]

I certainly think theres a place to watch great cable.

I just binge-watched a lot ofPenny Dreadful,and it was wonderful.

I was in the world of that writing, really magically.

I think thats a good thing.

Its stretching our attention spans again to the long form of storytelling on cable.

But Ang Lee, my God thats a really underrated film, a seriously underrated film.

Even more recently, the wife and I, well go and see films.

We go to the matinee so I save a little money…

Literally, as I looked over at my wife, shrapnel was coming from the spacecraft.

It felt like it was in the theatre with us.

It was just an extraordinary, extraordinary experience.

I always knew I was watching a film.

The movies a love story, pure and simple.

But it took me somewhere Id never gone before.

Ill tell you another film thats wonderful with children in the cinema:Maleficentin IMAX 3D.

Its like a 1930s illustration style, which I love, and its for grown-ups, you know?

So I think theres a time and a place for the sacred event screening.

Therell always be movies that are meant for the big screen, and they should be seen that way.

I know youre probably sick to death of talking about Freddy Krueger…

Oh no, no.

How did you feel about that?

Then Tom Hanks quotes him in some movie.

Now its all the time its a turn of phrase.

So yes, he becomes a bit diluted.

And we pushed the envelope, especially in part six we did that intentionally.

It was almost like a Warner Bros cartoon.

But he was always was a cruel clown, he always had that dark sense of humour.

And, you know, its not a docu-drama.

This is the mistake in the remake.

Freddy doesnt walk around in reality; he never walked around in reality.

He was a pathetic little man, and a child killer, and the parents burned him alive.

Well, two wrongs dont make a right.

He never went all the way to hell.

He kind of stopped in some kind of revenge purgatory.

Hes whispered about something our parents did.

The sins of the fathers.

He haunts those who whisper about him, who talk about this myth.

Freddy has some portal into their subconscious, and he lives in that dreamscape, that subconscious imagination.

Hes not walking around an alley somewhere, actually hes in your subconscious exaggerated dreamscape.

So I think that gives us leave to play big, or to play broad.

He violates that sacred place thats what hes all about.

But hes certainly larger than life for all of them, because he exists in that world.

Thats why, in the remake, I was so disappointed.

Theres that great effect they use inInception, the architectural effect, you know?

That should be the effect in the new [Nightmare On Elm Street].

But they didnt do any of that.

They just did our effects again with more money.

Its like, wait a minute: thats the reason to remakeA Nightmare On Elm St to exploit that.

Robert Englund, thank you very much.

The Last Showingis out on DVD and Blu-ray now.