I've watched the career of Sci-Fi staple and voice over veteran Thomas Dekker for some time now, in his short career he has amassed an impressive list of credits from guesting at a young age on Star Trek: The Next Generation to his staring roll in the FOX series TERMINATOR: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. This summer he adds another trophy to his growing list of iconic roles as part of the scream-scene cast in the Hollywood resurrection of Wes Craven's classic horror juggernaut A Nightmare On Elm Street. This 'new nightmare' is another in a line of re-envisioned franchise restarts cast in the same bloody vein as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th by Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes. Where films like 'Chainsaw' surpass their elders in style and story, others like the latest 'Friday' leave throngs of die hard gore fans disappointed and angered over the hack job their characters suffer. So what does the boiler room hold for us and young Mr. Dekker? I spoke with him this morning about stepping into a dream job and coming face to face with one the most famous horror icons in history.
Hi Thomas, tell me first off if you are a fan of the original series and then how does this remake compare? How much can you tell us?
"Well I can tell you that I'm horror obsessed in general since I was a kid, so of course I knew 'Nightmare,' I knew all of them, I have the box set, my two favorites were the original and 'Dream Warriors.' I grew up on all these sort of horror movies. So I had just got done doing a movie called 'All About Evil,' which is a sort of horror cult send-up, the day I came back from that I auditioned for this. And you know that I've done reboots and remakes before, my TV show was a reboot, I kind of get nervous about how its going to pay homage to the original work, and I have to say as we were shooting it, mind you it was this big beautiful production, but I wasn't real sure how it was going to turn out in the end; then I saw the finished cut finally a couple of weeks ago and I have to say I was very impressed and pleasantly surprised. A lot of the iconic moments have definitely been recreated and done justice, but also I think that there is a kind of elegance to it that maybe was lacking in the original movies. I think that everything from the actors to the pacing of the film is very elegant, and A Nightmare on Elm Street as a story is deserving of that, so I'm very happy with it."
This film does seem packed with notable young stars, a horror brat pack.
"Definitely, and I have to tell you man, when you do a horror remake you don't expect to be in the company of such talented people, all of us around the same age, it was really an honor to watch all these actors do their thing because they are all really, really good at what they do."
Jackie Earle Haley has to be one of the creepiest people on screen, how was it working with him in and out of the Freddy character?
"He's the nicest dude! In fairness, Kyle Gallner (Quentin) and Rooney Mara (Nancy) had more to shoot with him than I did, most of my stuff was with Katie Cassidy (Kris), but in the brief stuff that we did shoot together he was great, but in any case it was just weird in a way, rather than scary. It was weird to be around him in that make up and running from him because I watch the original movie so much, even though Jackie's portrayal is totally different from Robert Englund's its like you are in a movie you've watched before. That's a strange sort of feeling, to be Freddy's new victim."
How was it working with first time director Samuel Bayer? He's well known for directing music videos, you being an emerging musician did you pick his brain?
"Sam and I got on really well, and I really like him a lot. Sam is, and I'm sure he'd say the same thing, he's a lunatic, but in the most beautiful wonderful way. He's got this incredible energy and extremely passionate, I think certainly because it's his first film. He's a master at visuals and that was sort of second nature, but I think he became more interested in performance and pacing and score and maybe all the things he wasn't so used to? because being a music video director, and for one as great as he is the visuals are going to come naturally, but everything else was really his passion project. You gotta understand, even with the large budget we had, this was a pretty tough shoot; there was a lot to get, and a lot of expectation and high standards to meet of course."
Right, you have an entire built in fan base looking at every thing you do with a critical eye.
"Exactly! I remember there was a sequence that ended up being cut and replaced with a different one, but there was one that involved a lot of extras, like 100 something extras, and it was a party scene, I remember we were mid-shooting, I think it was only the third week of making the movie and there were certain extras who were already making up their own assumptions, saying things like' Why is Katie Cassidy playing Nancy? She's blonde and Nancy was a brunette.' and Katie isn't even in that role, Rooney is playing Nancy, so there was all this sort of weird minutia that you realize as you're making it and the level of pressure from everybody. Sam dealt with all that very well and very gracefully and I really liked working with him."
So how long do you last in the movie? Do we get to see much of you are you an early victim?
"2 1/2 minutes!" (Laughs) "Its really fast."
In the opening credits, eh?
"Opening credits before you even see Jackie's name!" (Laughs) "No, I'm in it for plenty of time, I'm around the third to go. I was in Chicago for the whole two months of shooting the movie, my stuff was spaced out shooting over that period, so I was there for the whole time but had a lot of time off and that's when I made my new record on my laptop in a hotel room."
So its all done?
"Yes! We just finished mixing! But I have to be sort of elusive about this, because we're going in a new direction with the music that I think will surprise you. We're going to have to wait and see on that one!"
Well, then, that mystery will have to be solved in our next interview! See Thomas Dekker in A Nightmare On Elm Street opening this Friday April 30th nationwide. You can also pick through his body of his work on his Internet Movie Data Base page and keep an ear out for his new album!
www.nightmareonelmstreet.com/
