With Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, Johnny Depp began his film career. The renowned villain of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Krueger, was created by the late, great Wes Craven, who also wrote and directed the 1984 movie. Craven drew inspiration from a variety of sources. The initial inspiration came from a number of tales of people passing away while they slept, especially one horrifying account of a youngster who tried valiantly to stay awake but passed away shortly after dozing off.
When inventing the character of Freddy in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven drew inspiration from a memory of observing a drunk man from a window, who saw the young Craven and frightened him by staring back at him. Freddy’s glove with razor-sharp fingers is meant to resemble an animal’s claw since the director anticipated that early man would be afraid of bears and other wild animals. His red and green sweater was inspired by a different article that explained how challenging it is for the human eye to comprehend those colours together, giving the killer a horrific optical impact. Craven intended Freddy to be older at first, so he tried to cast character actor David Warner (The Omen), but when that didn’t work out, he cast Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger because of the sinister vibe he brought to an audition.
As for Johnny Depp, his debut motion picture role was in A Nightmare on Elm Street. The role of Glen Lantz, the lover of the main character Nancy, was originally intended for Charlie Sheen (Two And A Half Men), but his price was too much for the low-budget movie. The character of Glen was intended to be more of a jock, but it was Craven’s teenage daughter who attested to Depp’s star potential.
Who Was Johnny Depp’s Nightmare On Elm Street Character?
For the majority of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Depp’s character tries to speak with some sense, claiming Freddy is impossible to have been. When his character unintentionally nods off and the slasher drags him into his own bed, he learns the hard way that Freddy Krueger, the inspiration for the Stranger Things series, is definitely real. The bed quickly bursts into a stream of blood, splattering the entire room. Glen’s lifeless body was supposed to float back out of the hole and land on the bed in an earlier version of this scene, but it was removed. In a scene that was cut, Freddy was seen severing a finger from his glove and leaving it on Glen’s body as a cruel joke on Nancy’s sheriff father.
Depp’s career will soon take off once he was cast in the films Platoon and 21 Jump Street. In 1991’s Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, he would make a lighthearted cameo return to the Nightmare series. Depp later claimed that he would have appeared if asked. Craven also wanted him to make a cameo as himself in 1994’s New Nightmare but lacked the nerve to ask. The actor paid tribute to Craven after the director passed away in 2015 for giving him his big break in A Nightmare on Elm Street and launching him into stardom.
Other Major Stars Who Got Their Starts In Nightmare On Elm Street
In addition to Johnny Depp, several other well-known actors credit the Nightmare on Elm Street series for helping them launch their careers. Patricia Arquette, who portrayed the dream-powered Kristen in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, is one of them. Patricia Arquette then appeared in such television shows and films as True Romance and Medium. With a long CV that includes NBC’s Hannibal, Laurence Fishburne of The Matrix fame played a minor hospital attendant in Nightmare on Elm Street 3. Breckin Meyer got his start with Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare before Clueless made him famous. Last but not least, Rooney Mara played Nancy in the 2010 remake of the original A Nightmare On Elm Street, and she has since enjoyed success in films including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Carol, A Ghost Story, and Nightmare Alley. In total, the large A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise has produced some excellent horror throughout the years and given rise to a number of prominent actors, including Johnny Depp.
