Video:Jackie Earle Haley A Nightmare on Elm Street Interview

Transcript:Jackie Earle Haley A Nightmare on Elm Street Interview

Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the World Premiere of New Line Cinema's A Nightmare on Elm Street presented by Warner Bros Pictures.

Jackie Earle Haley – 'Freddy Krueger' in A Nightmare on Elm Street

We've talked all about this, but we've never talked about the process of you actually getting into that makeup. What was that like?

Jackie Earle Haley: "That was pretty grueling. I mean, it started at six, six and a half hours getting into that makeup and they were still kind of making decisions on what was going on with it. We worked it down to three and a half hours. That's where it lived. And it was kind of like Chinese Water Torture, except it's like glue torture. I mean it's just this meticulous process. I mean, it's torturous. It's kind of was ironic to me to discover all these years that the only person really being tortured on these sets was Robert Englund."

Did it put you into more of a mean frame of mind to get into that?

Jackie Earle Haley: "Oh, absolutely. Actually, the feeling of this stuff was so cumbersome. And it was almost otherworldly because I would have fake fingertips over here, the knives over here, all of this glue, and then they'd put a contact lens in that I couldn't see out of this eye. I could barely see out of this one, so I kind of would withdraw inside until they needed me. It was otherworldly. And so to me that's how Freddy feels. Like, I would give them that between 'action' and 'cut'. I can't even describe it. It's the oddest thing."

You've done it once, would you do it again?

Jackie Earle Haley: "You know, if the film does real well and they want to do a sequel, they've got me for a couple more so let's see how it goes."

Tell me what sets this Nightmare apart from the other Nightmares.

Jackie Earle Haley: "You know, I think one of the things that really set it apart is 2010 sensibilities but yet still paying homage to the great sensibilities back then, so dialing it in. But one of the things is this is a much bigger film. I think back in the mid-'80s that first film, partly what was so great about it is knowing that Wes [Craven] did it for like a buck 50. You know? So it would be hard to kind of recapture that, so Sam [Bayer, the director] took it to that next level. It's almost like I can't help but wonder what Wes will think when he sees this, in terms of like, 'Wow, I wish I had that kind…' I'm wondering if he wished he had that kind of budget when he did it, you know?"

Thomas Dekker was saying he thinks this is a much darker film, that it takes the story to a much darker place. He thinks now we're ready to accept the backstory of Freddy.

Jackie Earle Haley: "I think they kind of get after it a little bit more, a little bit more detail and stuff like that. But at the same time, they're not over-laboring it. I think it's just helps to add a little bit more tension, a little bit more depth to what's going on. It helps to raise the stakes to what's going on with our young actors as they travel film to the film."

Sam Bayer has never directed feature films before – he's music videos. Could you tell while you were on the set or did it matter at all?

Jackie Earle Haley: "I think Sam did a great job. The film looks really good. You know a lot of the film I wasn't even around. It's Rooney [Mara] driving this movie with Kyle [Gallner]. And man, they did a really good job. And not just them. I mean, Thomas and Katie [Cassidy], Kellan [Lutz]…everybody was just like really awesome in this."

Everybody else was telling me they signed on to this movie because of you. How does that feel?

Jackie Earle Haley: "Wow. That's like unreal. It kind of gives me chills."

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