Elijah Wood Rebooting An ‘80s Horror Classic?
Elijah Wood has spoken about remaking an undeniable horror classic.
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Even though Elijah Wood is primarily known for his portrayal of Frodo Baggins in the fantasy drama Lord of the Rings film trilogy and has rarely starred in a horror film, he is an ardent supporter of the same. And as it had been some time since the actor has talked about his passion project – remaking the original A Nightmare on Elm Street – he has recently confirmed that he is still interested in the prospect as well as in developing a new adaptation of Stephen King’s Children of the Corn.
Under his production company, SpectreVision, with Daniel Noah and Josh C. Waller, Elijah Wood has brought to life many critically praised horror films and he has similar plans when it comes to remaking the original A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), written and directed by Wes Craven. In a chat with ComicBook.com, Elijah Wood shared that even though they haven’t been able to put their plans into action, they have still been talking about Elm Street, the incredible prospect of breathing life into the classic character of Freddy Krueger again and exploring the horrifying chaos he created in the franchise.
Elijah Wood added that he and his company partners are also interested in remaking Children of the Corn, but as a fresh adaptation of the short story of the same name by Stephen King and not of the 1984 film by Fritz Kiersch.
“We, personally, have talked a lot about, internally, Elm Street and how incredible it would be to play in that universe again and see that universe, to see Freddy [Krueger] and just that concept be explored again,” Wood confirmed with ComicBook.com. “That’s something that we’re fascinated in. Obviously, that is not a lesser-known, smaller thing that should be remade into a big one. But another one that I feel is exciting, I know that there’s already a remake coming out, but we still really love Children of the Corn. I feel like that would be an exciting thing to … from the ground up, taking it from the novel, not remaking the movie, but actually take the short story and flesh that out in an interesting way.”
This is not the first time that Elijah Wood has expressed his innate interest in remaking the ‘80s horror classic. Last year in a chat with ComingSoon.net, Wood shared that while he wanted to revive the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, which last saw a remake of the original in 2010, he has been facing difficulties due to the Elm Street franchise’s complicated rights distribution. While New Line Cinema holds the rights to the character of Freddy Krueger, creator Wes Craven’s estate has been willing to develop a new installment.
At the time, the actor clarified that due to these tangled rights of multiple parties to the franchise, he and Noah haven’t been able to approach anyone. He had also shot down any possibility of him playing the role of Freddy as he has plans of bringing back Robert Englund, who played the character of the monstrous murderer in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, for his remake. According to Elijah Wood’s plans, while they will be exploring different stories in subsequent films, the remake needs to establish a renewed Elm Street universe with Englund as Freddy in the first film. He also established that unlike previous remakes and sequels in the franchise, his film, or the ones after it, won’t serve as an origin story of the horror icon Freddy Krueger.
While Elijah Wood has not confirmed whether the original film’s complicated rights that had them stumped previously is still an issue, based on the rave reviews earned by the previous films under his production company we can still daydream about the deliciously horrifying ways in which he plans to bring back the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise to the big screen.
