Surprise! He's burned and he wears a sweater!
No matter how iconic the look of Freddy may be, it's hard not to want a peek at everyone's favorite sarcastically creepy dream terror, especially with Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen) in the iconic role. A new, dark and horrifying image has arrived online and that's so dark it's hard to see if it's Haley or just a publicity still of Robert Englund during his days as Freddy.
As the photo shows, Freddy has kept his signature hat and striped sweater. The only part of Freddy that will be slightly altered is his face, though it will maintain a grotesque appearance reports IGN from their recent set visit. The filmmakers are taking a darker approach with the remake, as discussed by producer Brad Fuller:
I think that our dreams are much closer to the first film than anything else. These nightmares are truly nightmares and that's one of the things that [director] Sam Bayer is so great about. We all have nightmares, but it's a difficult thing to communicate what they feel like, and I think that's what Sam is really doing an amazing job with.
Haley also thinks the remake is going to darker places:
I think we're focusing less on the camp and a little bit more of the scarier side. More of a serious side. And there's definitely, I think, a little more focus on, you know, what makes this guy who he is...I'm playing a boogeyman, you know? So that's what I'm really trying to embrace, but at the same time find out what makes this boogeyman tick. So there is room to look at his past and to see what's happened and to see what makes him who he is — to see what's made him the boogeyman that he is. But I think it's really important that Robert Englund and New Line have done such a fine job over the years of creating this world and this character. It's fun to kind of re-envision but at the same time we need to remain true, to a point, of who Freddy is and what the franchise represents. It's neat to get to re-envision it, but at the same time you don't want to go so far that we've left out what makes it so cool.