Jackie Earle Haley lights up the screen as Watchmen's Rorschach. Photo courtesy Warner Bros.
Watchmen comic die-hards always knew that whatever actor landed Rorschach for the cinematic adaptation would have a gratifying career bounce. Sure enough, Jackie Earle Haley's breakout performance as the crime-fighter with the shifting mask has been rewarded with critical acclaim and a plum new role: Nightmare on Elm Street's metal-clawed killer, Freddy Krueger.
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Can Haley jump-start a mostly moribund franchise? We'll have to wait until the gory results are in to know for sure. But given the pathos he brought to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' antiheroic psychopath in Watchmen, the odds are slightly in his favor.
He's going to need all the help he can get from the new Freddy Krueger crew, which begins filming the remake of the original Nightmare on Elm Street this May in Chicago, according to the Risky Biz blog.
Director Samuel Bayer is known mostly for directing Nirvana's breakthrough video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit," while writer Wesley Strick is behind floppy adaptations like The Saint and Doom.
This time, Haley is going to have to work hard beneath not a mask but an all-new prosthetic makeup as he takes over the dream-stalking serial killer role previously handled by Robert Englund.
"On Monday we start the process of 'creating' Freddy's makeup," writes Platinum Dunes producer Brad Fuller on his blog. "Jackie is going in to have his contact lenses fit as well as a head cast created so we can create the make up to fit perfectly on his face. Normally I don't go to these fittings, but I am so excited about this film, I don't want to miss anything. I won't be able to take pictures but I will post later in the week to tell you how it went."
The good news? Haley's got eight Freddy franchise films at his back, in case the pressure gets too heavy.
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