Sung Kang is already known for playing a pretty iconic character in the Fast & Furious franchise, but it turns out the actor has a particular love for the horror genre, and has one character that he would love to play on film if given the chance. I’d say we’re probably about due for another attempt at rebooting the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, so how about Sung Kang playing Freddy Krueger?
Sung Kang recently directed his first feature, a horror-comedy called Shaky Shivers and he spoke with Collider about the project, as well as his general love of horror movies that he had growing up. He has a particular love for the prosthetics work of the ‘80s that brought so many classic characters to life. And now that he’s had a small taste of that himself, following his joining the Obi-Wan series cast, he thinks he might be up for being transformed into the Nightmare on Elm Street villain if given the chance. Kang said…
I’d love to play Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street. That character was just so fun. Having experience with prosthetic makeup and sitting in the chair for four hours like I did in the Obi-Wan series in Star Wars, that’s the only part that I kind of wonder if I have the stamina to sit in the makeup chair for months. But that character was so fun! That sweater, to this day, is so iconic, and the knife fingers. That’d be on the bucket list for sure.
There are few horror movie villains on the same level as Freddy Krueger, to be sure. His choice of clothing, the sweater and the hat, the burned body, and then, on top of that, the glove full of blades, all combine to make a an iconic character… even to those of us who were supposed to be too young to watch the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.
The last Nightmare on Elm Street movie was the 2010 reboot that starred Jackie Earle Haley as the slasher role made famous by Robert England. That movie didn’t launch a new franchise. While it actually made more money than most Freddy Kreuger movies, general consensus was the new Nightmare on Elm Street was terrible, and thus it all remained pretty quiet in Springfield since then. There was talk a few years ago of yet another Nightmare on Elm Street reboot, but we haven’t heard much recently. Even if that particular project has died, it’s likely only a matter of time before we see Freddy again.
Kang admits that he’s not sure he has the stamina for the prosthetics that it would take to become Freddy Krueger. At the same time, as somebody who loves the craft, he’d probably be much more willing to go through with it all than a lot of people.