A Nightmare on Elm Street with Nicolas Cage

A film about a former child killer who invades teenagers' dreams and kills them in their sleep.

Odds are he's rocking out to "Dream Weaver," by Gary Wright

The Set-Up

Wes Craven had recently made the film Swamp Thing which tanked at the box office. As he was thinking about his next project, he read an article about former Cambodian refugees of the Khmer Rouge who died in their sleep for no discernible reason. I wrote a short story about the genesis of the movie here:

https://flapperhouse.com/2017/05/18/the-monster-study-fiction-by-andrew-davie/

The Execution

The film not only became incredibly successful, spawned six sequels, a crossover, and a remake, but along with Halloween, revolutionized the horror film genre. This film had a major impact on me throughout my life. I remember having a conversation with my third-grade teacher about how all of my creative writing that year focused on Freddy Krueger, the antagonist from the franchise. 

What might have been

The role of Glen was originally offered to Charlie Sheen before being accepted by then-unknown Johnny Depp. Since Cage's agent had introduced Depp to the casting director, it allowed Cage to audition. The role of Glen was not memorable in and of itself, but it provided Depp an opportunity to break into the film industry and become one of the most successful actors of the last thirty-plus years. However, who knows what would have happened had Nic Cage played the part. Would either he or Depp have achieved the heights they were able to achieve? Would Cage have gone a different route entirely?

"That's 'The pen is mightier.'"

                                        "I'll be takin' these Huggies and whatever cash you got."