This not addressed to the haters according to Fuller’s twits, I mean Tweats. Whatever, read it or not. This movie is probably as dreadful as that Friday was. The leaked script was horrendous. So, hate on haters, I say.
It’s a wrap, the new Elm Street is in the can!
3:34am, July 12, 2009
It’s over – at least shooting is. I feel like I just ran a marathon. Though I will never know the actual feeling of finishing a marathon – I reckon this is what it feels like. Week after week of night shoots, distant locations and extreme weather, all taking its toll on all of us. Many of my other marathoners share the same 1000 yard stare I’ve got going. All of us simply spent.
But all that effort, time and pain was for a great cause. We did it all for Freddy. To realize our dream of bringing him back… the way we remember him. Scary, mean and nasty. Now I know it will be hotly debated here, but I can tell you I am proud of what we did. Proud that Jackie Earle Haley was uncompromising in his desire to create a Freddy that is uniquely his own creation. Proud of Andrew Clement for his desire to create a look that will shock and scare you. You will surely recognize Freddy, but he is distinctively different, more real, and more burned. Jackie and Clement spent four hours a day painstaking applying all the make-up, appliances, texture before coming to shoot. And when we were all done at the end of the day they had to stay for at least another hour to take it off. For those of you keeping score at home that is 5 hours a day, on top of 12 hour shooting days. Those among you who are so closed-minded that you can’t fathom anyone else playing the role, you are idiots. So much time and effort put into bringing Freddy back and you dismiss him before you’ve seen his efforts, it’s just stupidity. See what we’ve done and then pass judgment; but there isn’t a person out there who can tell me Jackie isn’t a terrifying, inspired, awesome Freddy. I am grateful to Bloody Disgusting for its early support of that idea and can confidently tell you that choice was simply inspired.
Sam Bayer suffered for this movie. He pushed himself so hard that I worried that he couldn’t maintain his pace, yet he did. No one had more sleepless nights than Sam – replaying the day’s events over and over in his head, questioning how to make it scarier, better. We would often have breakfast together before shooting and he was never content. If he was concerned that he could improve on a scare, he and our first ad, Myron, would figure out our schedule so we could shoot the scene until Sam felt it was as good as it could be. Sam has very high standards and he was unrelenting. He brought all his experience to those nightmares and they are outstanding – if you aren’t familiar with his work, check him out on YouTube, he is a great visual artist.
Making movies is like riding a unicycle down a steep hill. And when I read this back it seems like this movie was a dream shoot. Not true – we had all sorts of challenges on every level, but what was great about making this film was that we all had the same goal in mind. It really felt like a team effort to get to the finish line. And for me personally, when the end did come I didn’t want it to.
I know the blog has been quiet lately, but after I’ve rested a bit I will start posting more.
A couple other things. Pay attention to Comic Con, we will have a couple of surprises for you there. If everything goes as planned we will reveal something special there.
Also, I am twittering and posted a few behind-the-scenes photos, so keep checking here and Twitter for updates.
One, two…
