The Big Picture
- Mark Hamill might not have become Luke Skywalker if it weren't for Robert Englund, who encouraged him to audition for the role.
- Englund auditioned for the role of Han Solo in Star Wars before eventually finding success as Freddy Kreuger in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
- Both Luke Skywalker and Freddy Kreuger have become iconic characters in film history, and their connection behind the scenes adds an interesting twist to their legacies.
Aside from both of them being pop culture icons and immensely significant characters in the annuls of film history, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Freddy Kreuger (Robert Englund) don't have too much in common. The former is an epic hero in a sci-fi fantasy space opera, while the former is an undead, supernatural villain, who haunts and kills teenagers in their dreams. Luke is a handsome young farmboy-turned-Jedi-knight; Freddy is a charred paranormal entity who feeds off of adolescent fears. However, unlikely as it may be, one would not exist without the other— at least not in the way we've come to embrace them. Had it not been for Englund, a failed Han Solo audition, and a subsequent conversation with a young Hamill, Luke Skywalker might have been someone else entirely.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
RTeenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.
- Release Date
- November 16, 1984
- Director
- Wes Craven
- Cast
- Heather Langenkamp , Johnny Depp , Robert Englund , John Saxon
- Runtime
- 91 minutes
- Main Genre
- Horror
- Writers
- Wes Craven
Rober Englund Auditioned for Star Wars
A long time ago in a galaxy somewhere near Hollywood circa 1975, Luke Skywalker and Freddy Kreuger were hardly glimmers in the eyes of up-and-coming directors George Lucas and Wes Craven. Likewise, Mark Hamill and Robert Englund were just starting out as actors, playing one-off parts in television series and low-budget movies. Hungry for opportunity, though, they were both auditioning and one day, Englund found himself trying out for a part in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now.
Longtime friends and creative collaborators, Coppola and Lucas then had offices across the hall from each other. At the same time that Coppola was casting for his Vietnam War epic, the American Graffitidirector was also holding auditions for his next project: a fantastical and unprecedentedly cosmic saga rooted in mythology. After Coppola turned down Englund for being too old, he directed the actor across the hall to try out for a part in Lucas' daring new film. Englund ended up auditioning for a space pirate character named Han Solo. Needless to say, he did not end up getting that role either— joining the ranks of Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, and Christopher Walkenas a Han Solo could-have-been. Of course, the part eventually went to previous Lucas collaborator Harrison Ford.
Robert Englund Encouraged Mark Hamill To Try Out for Luke Skywalker
According to an interview Englund gave to Role Recall (via Yahoo), he returned to his apartment after the failed auditions, where a young and frugal Mark Hamill was crashing on his couch. Over a six-pack of Heineken, Englund described the wacky project Lucas was making, noting that its protagonist was a teenage boy. In his mid-twenties at the time, Hamill could still pass for a teen (at least by 1970s movie standards) and was intrigued. Englund encouraged him to look into it and try out for the part.
Hamill phoned his agent, set up a meeting with Lucas, and well, the rest is history. Mark Hamill became and continues to be inextricable from Luke Skywalker, reprising the role in Lucas' two other original trilogy films, Disney's sequel trilogy installments, the de-aged sequences in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, and one infamous 1978 holiday special. Although Hamill has since lent his talents to similarly iconic characters such as The Joker, The Trickster, and Fire Lord Ozai, he is still, nearly half a century later, Luke Skywalker first and foremost.
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Launched Robert Englund to Success
Englund would get his big break about a decade later when the original A Nightmare On Elm Street hit theaters in 1984. The part of Freddy Kreuger was originally given to David Warner, who dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Director Wes Craven then considered Kane Hodder, who would later portray Jason Voorhees in the Friday The 13th franchise. However, Hodder didn't work out, creating the space for Englund to audition.
In the audition, Englund presented his own take on Kreuger. Though he was not the physically imposing figure that Craven first imagined Kreuger as, Englund leaned into the character as a conniving, rat-like villain, modeling the performance off of German actor Klaus Kinski. Ultimately, the risk paid off as Englund's performance made Freddy Kreuger an instant horror icon alongside Norman Bates, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Leatherface. Though most of these horror antagonists have endured a musical chairs of actors portraying them over the years, Englund has remained a consistent Freddy, playing the part in eight consecutive films across three decades. The only other actor to portray Freddie in a proper Nightmare on Elm Street movie is Jackie Earle Haley, who donned the fedora and burn prosthetics for the 2010 remake.
Thus, Freddy is to Englund what Luke is to Hamill: the character he is best associated with, the one he's returned to time after time again, and the part that no one else can rightfully replace him as. That being noted, Englund hasn't played Freddy for 20 years now — the last time he portrayed him was in 2003's Freddy V. Jason. Unlike Hamill who continues to play Luke, Englund claims that he is retired from the role, and is open to the powers that be continuing the franchise with a new actor as Freddy. Who that will be is anyone's guess. While subsequent Elm Street projects seem inevitable, any details regarding a replacement for Englund remain unknown.
While Luke Skywalker and Freddy Krueger are seemingly disparate characters from the silver screen, their subtle behind-the-scenes connection makes an endearing amount of sense. Darth Vader— one of cinema's most definitive antagonists— is Luke's father in Star Wars, and thus responsible for his being in the diegesis. It thus feels appropriate that we have Englund, the actor behind a similarly iconic bad guy, to thank for Mark Hamill pursuing the part and conceiving Luke in a different sense, here in the real world.
A Nightmare on Elm Street is available to rent in the U.S. on Amazon Prime Video.
