- November 9, 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of its release Nightmare on Elm Street
- The horror classic, starring Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp, also marked the film debut of Johnny Depp
- Here, Englund, Langenkamp and Depp reflect on the film and its impact
Ever since the 1984 edition Nightmare on Elm Streetthe killer Freddy Krueger terrorizes the audience. While Robert Englund made a name for himself as a sadistic child killer who stalked teenagers – particularly the film’s final girl, Nancy Thompson, played by Heather Langenkamp – while they slept, the now-iconic first installment of the long-running horror franchise also marked Johnny Depp’s film debut.
In the film written and directed by the late Wes Craven, Depp — who famously wore a No. 10 shirt with the bottom cut off, revealing the actor’s body in one scene — played Nancy’s boyfriend, Springwood High student Glen Lantz. [Caution: spoilers ahead] Despite a series of terrifying nightmares, Glen refuses to believe they are being haunted by the ghost of Freddy — who was previously killed by Glen’s parents after a series of childhood murders — before being killed himself after dozing off while watching TV.
According to an oral history from 2014, sa Supit was revealed that Charlie Sheen was originally cast in the role. But then he proved too expensive, forcing Craven to find an alternative actor. Depp, now 60, was in the band at the time and was recommended by another cast member who forwarded his headshot to the director. After auditioning for the musician, Craven’s 14-year-old daughter eventually chose him to play Nancy’s boyfriend, and the director recalled her saying, “He’s gorgeous.”
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At the time of filming, Depp — who starred in a string of Tim Burton films and earned three Academy Award nominations for best actor Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Finding Neverland and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street — he was only 21 years old. And according to Langenkamp, 60, he was very green on set.
In the same Sup interview, Langenkamp, who was 20 when the film premiered, recalled that “Johnny was very nervous” and that “all the sound cues freaked him out” at one point during filming.
Having previously worked in industry NightmareLangenkamp also joked with PEOPLE that she feels like a veteran compared to Depp. “When I climbed up Nightmare on Elm StreetI was doing several TV movies a week and smaller projects. I’ve been on sets before. And I always think about my experience opposite Johnny Depp, who was literally on his first job ever,” she recalled. “And so I felt like a seasoned pro next to him because he’d never really been on set.”
Nick Corri, Amanda Wyss, Johnny Depp and Heather Langenkamp on the set of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ in 1984.
New Line Cinema/Getty
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Despite all the nerves, Depp became close with Englund, who shared Sup that “Johnny Depp was the most polite young actor I’ve ever worked with.”
Later, while speaking with PEOPLE, Englund, 77, recalled how the two unwittingly scared a restaurant employee during a lunch break on set. After getting “sick of the catering,” the couple went out to eat. “We just couldn’t take it anymore. No more peanut butter and jelly and macaroni and cheese,” Englund said, revealing the two “went across the street to a Thai restaurant.”
The problem was that Englund was still in his full Freddy costume. “We walked into this darkened Thai restaurant and we were sitting there, we were in the back toward the kitchen and a guy came out of the back kitchen,” he recalled. “I remember he had a window in the door and I took my hat off and the door opened and that fluorescent light from the kitchen spilled out and lit me up. And I just looked up at the guy and not thinking – I was playing with my chopsticks, I think – and the poor guy dropped an entire tray of food for that other group of people waiting to be served and ran back to the kitchen.”
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When it comes to Depp’s famous death scene, the production team used a contraption that rotated the bedroom before tons of blood spilled into the room. It was something he described as an “amazing effect” during an interview with him on set Party tonightsaying although “the room was spinning” it was “no big deal”.
Of course, that’s when Depp was seen wearing his now-iconic cropped top, a fashion trend that resurfaced decades later. In 2023 NSS magazine noted that “if it weren’t for Gen Za, who are now loving the square silhouette of the crop top again, it would have been forgotten.” Additionally, GQ reported around the same time that “the short-sleeved T-shirt has become a central theme in recent months”, with their modern take worn by Depp and other ’80s stars “a more advanced version of the ribbed white tank top” but still “complete with with lots of hot cultural references”.
And in the world of horror, Depp’s signature outfit remains in the pop culture zeitgeist, with a nod to his shirt appearing in Scream — another Craven slasher classic — as well as Netflix The Creepy Adventures of Sabrinaand recently, Agatha All together on Disney+.
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In 2015, after Craven’s death at the age of 76, Depp reflected on his time Nightmare on Elm Street. Per Diversityasked about the director during a Q&A at the time, the actor said: “Wes Craven was the guy who gave me my start, from my perspective, for almost no particular reason.”
“I read the scenes with his daughter when I was auditioning for the part. I was a musician at the time. I wasn’t really acting. It wasn’t something that was close to my brain or my heart, which mostly remains to this day,” he continued. . “But Wes Craven was brave enough to give me the part based on his daughter’s opinion. I guess she read with a bunch of actors, and after casting, she said, ‘No, that’s the guy.’ ”
Depp added: “I always think about her for putting me in this mess, and certainly Wes Craven for being very brave to give me this gig. But he was a good man – so rest in peace, old Wes.”
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Source: HIS Education