Krueger role revives actor’s career

Jackie Earle Haley knew he had to find the line between the familiar and the new to properly take over the iconic horror figure Freddy Krueger in the relaunch of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series.

“We had to dish up something the hard-core fans could kinda recognize but yet something I could make my own,” Haley says.

Since the launch of the “Elm Street” franchise in 1984, legions of fans have been scared by Robert Englund’s work as the killer who haunts dreams.

Englund’s Freddy often delivered his killing blows with a comic quip. That’s different in the new “Nightmare,” which has fewer jokes and concentrates more on the horror aspects.

“It’s a darker film,” Haley says.

It’s so dark, his research included reading a book about real serial killers. As he read, Haley began to realize Freddy is more like the “character from a campfire story,” representing unstoppable fear.

“I’ve always felt one of the most vulnerable places you are is when you are lying in your bed asleep. I’ve been awakened at times by horrific nightmares and this represents those fears,” he says.

Being cast as Freddy is the latest step in a remarkable acting comeback for Haley.

The 38-year-old was 11 when he started working as a professional actor. He hit his peak with two “Bad News Bears” films and the 1979 release “Breaking Away.”

In the mid-80s, Haley’s acting career dried up so he turned to directing television commercials. He returned to acting in 2006 with his Oscar-nominated work in “Little Children.”

“I’m of two minds,” he says. “There’s a part of me that knows it’s very real. But there is this other side of me that can’t believe this is really happening. I’m really a working actor again.”