We’ve known for awhile now that a remake of the classic slasher flick A Nightmare on Elm Street was in the works, but just a couple of weeks ago at Comic Con the people at Platinum Dunes who are in charge of the property seemed to indicate that it was going nowhere fast. Meanwhile Freddy Krueger’s creator Wes Craven has been telling everyone that even he’s heard nothing about the project. Now though, the guys at JoBlo say not only is it happening but they know who will replace horror icon Robert Englund as Krueger.
They caught Englund on the syndicated radio show Lovelines last night, where he dropped the bomb that he’d heard Billy Bob Thornton might be up for the part. That’s right, the Oscar winning actor who is afraid of antique furniture may soon be the clawed nightmare haunting your dreams.
Of course Englund may be wrong, even he seemed to indicate this was just gossip. Still, it’s an exciting notion. I mean, if you have to replace a horror icon, why not replace him with an Oscar winner. Granted, he’s not a very scary Oscar winner. I have an easier time imagining Billy Bob Thornton in a remake of The Ghost and Mr. Chicken than I do picturing him chasing around teenagers in a hardcore slasher flick. Even when he’s playing an unredeemable asshole, he’s still a sort of loveable version of an unredeemable asshole. Come ladies, admit it, you totally get the whole fuck me Santa thing. But lovable or not, Billy Bob certainly has a thing for the weird. Perhaps he could make it work.
