Johnny Depp launched his movie career with Wes Craven's A Nightmare On Elm Street. The late, great Wes Craven wrote and directed the 1984 film and drew on a number of influences while creating the iconic villain of A Nightmare On Elm Street, Freddy Krueger. The initial idea came from a series of articles about people dying in their sleep with no explanation, particularly one chilling account of a teenager trying desperately to stay awake and dying shortly after falling asleep.
While creating A Nightmare On Elm Street's Freddy, Craven drew on a childhood memory of watching a drunken man from a window, who noticed the young Craven and stared back to frighten him. The director figured an early fear of mankind would be of bears and other wild animals, so Freddy's razor-finger glove evokes an animal's claw. His red and green sweater came from another article revealing those colors are difficult for the human eye to process together, making the killer a painful optical effect. Initially, Craven wanted Freddy to be older and sought to cast character actor David Warner (The Omen), but when this fell through Robert Englund was cast as Freddy Krueger for the dark energy he brought during an audition.
As for Johnny Depp, A Nightmare On Elm Street was the young actor's first movie role. Producers initially sought Charlie Sheen (Two And A Half Men) for the part of Glen Lantz, the boyfriend of lead character Nancy, but his salary was more than the low-budget production could afford. Glen was written to be more of a jock character, but it was Craven's teenage daughter who vouched for Depp's star quality.
Who Was Johnny Depp’s Nightmare On Elm Street Character?
For most of A Nightmare On Elm Street, Depp's character tries to act as a voice of reason, arguing Freddy couldn't possibly exist. His character finds out the hard way that Stranger Things inspiration Freddy Krueger is very real when he accidentally falls asleep and the slasher sucks him down into his own bed. A torrent of blood is soon unleashed from the bed, covering the whole room in gore. There was originally more to this scene, with Glen's lifeless body floating back out of the hole and dropping to the bed, but this was cut. Another deleted scene revealed Freddy broke a finger off his glove so it would be found on Glen's body as a taunting message for Nancy's sheriff father.
Depp would soon land roles in Platoon and the TV series 21 Jump Street, launching his career. He would return to the Nightmare franchise for a tongue-in-cheek cameo in 1991's Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. Craven also wanted him to make a cameo as himself in 1994's New Nightmare but couldn't work up the courage to ask - Depp later said he would have appeared if asked. Following Craven's passing in 2015, the actor paid tribute to the director for giving him his first break in A Nightmare On Elm Street and setting him on the road to stardom.
Other Major Stars Who Got Their Starts In Nightmare On Elm Street
Aside from Johnny Depp, several other big-name actors owe their early successes to the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise. Among these is Patricia Arquette, who played the dream-powered Kristen in A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 and went on to star in the likes of the NBC series Medium and the movie True Romance. Laurence Fishburne of The Matrix fame had a small role in Nightmare On Elm Street 3 as a hospital orderly and now has an extensive resume including NBC's Hannibal. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare gave Breckin Meyer his start before Clueless made him famous. Finally, the 2010 remake of the original A Nightmare On Elm Street starred Rooney Mara as Nancy, and she has since had good success with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Carol, A Ghost Story, and Nightmare Alley. All told, the extensive A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise has not only delivered some great horror over the years, but it's also given rise to several big stars, including Johnny Depp.