Friday the 13th legend Kane Hodder nearly played Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare On Elm Street
Kane Hodder has revealed he almost played Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare On Elm Street as well as portraying Jason Voorhees in four Friday the 13th films.
Friday the 13th franchise star Kane Hodder almost landed the role of Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare On Elm Street.
The 70-year-old actor was the man behind the hockey mask playing killer Jason Voorhees in four films; Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday and Jason X.
Now, Hodder has revealed he came very close to portraying fellow slasher movie icon Freddy after working with A Nightmare On Elm Street director Wes Craven on his 1985 horror film The Hills Have Eyes Part II.
When he started his Hollywood career as a stuntman, Hodder was left with burns all over his body after a stunt demonstration went wrong and during a conversation with Craven on set, the late filmmaker told Kane that he was creating a supernatural character that had burns all over his body for which he could be perfect for.
However, Craven - who died of a brain tumour at his home in Los Angeles on August 30, 2015, aged 76 - d3ecided to use prosthetics and make-up for Freddy on-screen and Hodder ultimately lost out on the part to Robert Englund.
Appearing on the Talks From the Crypt podcast, Hodder said: "I was talking to Wes on the set one day, and he said he was developing a new character that was going to make a franchise. And he says, 'This is a character that's been burned, and I'm thinking about using an actor with real burn scars.' Which I have. And he briefly mentioned it to me on the set. He said, 'I think I'm going to call him Fred Krueger.' And then, of course, he decided to go in a different direction and do prosthetics. Because my face is not scarred, which is the whole point of Freddy. His face is all scars."
Hodder - who did wear Krueger's glove of finger knives for a scene at the end of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday - is full of praise for Englund's portrayal of Freddy and doesn't believe he would have played the child killer character as well as the V star.
He added: "I don't think I would've done it as well as Robert. I would've tended to make the character less comical. But I don't know if that would've been the right choice. Because that's kind of the popularity with Freddy; he's a smartass, and violent, and you know. I don't think it would've been as good as the way Robert did it."
Hodder has had a legendary career in the horror genre having also played Victor Crowley in the Hatchet series, as well as doing stunts as Leatherface in Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III and motion capture in the video game The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
