Welcome back to Behind The Scenes Saturday! Last week was all about Jason Voorhees and his origins. This week pays tribute to the film that made an entire generation afraid to sleep. Directed by the legendary Wes Craven, A Nightmare On Elm Street brought a legendary villain, a strong heroine, and a unique slasher film that gained a spectacular amount of fame over the last 35 years! 

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com)

(GORE WARNING!!!)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• When Robert Englund (Freddy) wore Freddy’s glove for the first time, he accidentally cut himself.
• The original look for Freddy included teeth showing through his flesh, sores with pus pouring out of them, and part of his skull showing through his head. The film’s makeup artist, David B. Miller told director Wes Craven that he couldn’t make an actor up that way and have it convincing. So, those ideas were abandoned.
• Originally, Freddy was written as a child molester. However, there was a series of child molestations in California around the same time. The filmmakers didn’t want to be accused of exploiting those situations, so they just made Freddy a child murderer. Although, it’s still argued among horror fans whether or not Freddy was a child molester. 
• Heather Langenkamp (Nancy) beat Jennifer Grey, Demi Moore, Courtney Cox, Tracey Gold, and Claudia Wells, among over 200 other actresses for the role of Nancy.
• Freddy’s makeup took about three hours to apply.

• Wes Craven wanted a stuntman to play the part of Freddy instead of an actor. After testing many stuntmen, Craven realized he needed an actor for the part.
• The scenes in the boiler room were filmed in the basement of the Lincoln Heights jail in Los Angeles. After production wrapped, the jail was condemned due to asbestos.
• One reason Johnny Depp was cast as Nancy’s boyfriend, Glen was because Wes Craven’s daughter thought he was dreamy.
• While coming up with Freddy’s weapon, Wes Craven wanted it to be unique, easy to transport, and didn’t cost a lot to make. After studying primal fears, he learned that one of the most common fears among different cultures was getting attacked by animal claws. In the original script, fishing knives were connected to the gloves, but later change.
• In the beginning scene when Freddy was making his glove, Freddy was actually played by special effects artist, Charles Belardinelli. Charles was the only one who knew how to cut the glove and insert the blades.

• Wes Craven was told that this was the first film to use a breakaway mirror.
• The script was written in 1981, but Wes tried to sell it to a major studio for three years before New Line Cinema finally bought it.
• Freddy’s sweater was originally red and yellow. Then, Wes read an article about red and green being the two most contrasting colors, and changed Freddy’s look.
• The special effects team thought it was very unusual that Heather Langenkamp wanted to take the famous “Freddy Phone” prop home with her after filming.
• For the role of Glen, Charlie Sheen, John Cusack, Brad Pitt, Kiefer Sutherland, Nicolas Cage, and C. Thomas Howell were all considered.

• A deleted scene included a bloody Glen rising from the hole in his bed after being sucked into it.
• To avoid distraction on set, cinematographer Jacques Haitkin wore an eyepatch while filming.
• In one of the deleted scenes, Nancy’s mother (Ronee Blakley) revealed to her that she and the other neighborhood kids had siblings that Freddy murdered before the parents all killed him.
• During a scene where Nancy is running to her house to escape Freddy, Heather Langenkamp actually cut her foot so bad, she needed stitches. When you see Nancy limping to her house, it was due to a genuine injury. You can also see the bandage on her foot when she tries to run up the “goo stairs”.
• For Tina’s (Amanda Wyss) death scene, it was filmed on a rotating set. With the camera bolted down and the cameraman strapped to a chair, they were able to perfectly capture Tina rolling up the walls and onto the “ceiling”. For the shot where Tina and Rod (Jsu Garcia) are reaching out to each other, Amanda was on the floor, and Jsu was the one upside down.