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Michael Leavy is a force to be reckoned with. The co-writer and direct of Stream as well as producer of Terrifier has placed himself in the running to become the next Freddy Krueger. What began as a grass roots campaign is now a full steam ahead machine.
Leavy just released his short video, Freddy’s Back, showcasing why he should be next in line to wear the glove. The eerie similarities between Leavy and Robert Englund are uncanny. The two have a similar look that helped Leavy land a role as a younger Englund when they shared the screen on Fear Clinic (2014).
Furthermore, Leavy’s charisma as Krueger transports audiences back to the 1984 film that started it all. While he delivers humor, Leavy isn’t afraid to go dark. Very dark. Stemming from his love of the character, as well as his skill as an actor and jack of all trades behind the camera, Leavy has a multidimensional approach to Krueger that makes him one hell of a choice.
iHorror had the chance to interview Leavy on what his journey to the glove has been like. Catch up on what he had to say, and let us know in the comments if you think Leavy should be the next Freddy Krueger!
iHorror: You and your brother Jason grew up loving horror movies from a young age. What did you enjoy specifically about the Elm Street franchise?
Michael Leavy: What we’ve always loved about A Nightmare on Elm Street was that the possibilities and horrors of it were practically limitless. The dream world is a place where anything can happen. It’s where dreams are made, but it’s also where nightmares can thrive. From a storytelling standpoint, there’s so much you can do with that, and that was something we always found fascinating growing up.
But what really made the franchise terrifying to us was how it took the places where you’re supposed to feel safest and completely violated them. Your mind, your thoughts, even your own bedroom. Those are supposed to be the few places where you have some sense of privacy and security, and A Nightmare on Elm Street takes all of that away. There’s something incredibly intrusive and unsettling about that idea. You can’t just lock your door or hide under the covers. Eventually, you have to fall asleep.
And that’s what makes Freddy Krueger such an incredible boogeyman. He’s not just chasing you through a dark alley or lurking outside your window. He’s inside your head. He knows what frightens you, but he also knows what makes you happy, what you love, and what matters most to you. And he can twist all of those things and use them against you. He can make you vulnerable in ways you might not even realize until it’s too late.
To me, that’s what makes Elm Street so special. The same limitless imagination that makes dreams so wonderful is exactly what makes Freddy’s nightmares so terrifying.
iHorror: What about Freddy Krueger makes him stand apart from other horror villains in the genre?
Michael Leavy: What makes Freddy so unique is that he’s much more than just a guy with a weapon chasing people around. He’s intelligent, charismatic, sadistic, darkly funny and completely unpredictable. There’s a personality behind the monster, and that’s something Robert Englund brought to the character so brilliantly.
Freddy doesn’t just want to kill you. He wants to get inside your head, break you down and make you afraid long before he ever raises that glove. He enjoys what he does, and I think that’s part of what makes him so disturbing. He’s having fun while you’re living through your worst nightmare and unlike a lot of horror villains who remain silent or hidden behind a mask, Freddy engages with his victims. He talks to them, taunts them, toys with them and uses their own fears against them. For audiences, he can make you laugh one second and absolutely terrify you the next.
To me, that’s what makes him such a fascinating character. It’s that combination of humor, cruelty, intelligence and genuine menace. You never quite know what he’s going to say or do next, and underneath all that personality, he should always feel dangerous, because he is.
iHorror: In your short video Freddy’s Back, you dialed your portrayal backwards in the timeline to revisit the darker side of Freddy. When wearing the glove, where did you draw your darkness from?
Michael Leavy: For me, it started with remembering who Freddy Krueger is underneath all that personality. As the franchise evolved, Freddy became more outspoken, more humorous and larger than life, which is part of what made him such an iconic character. But I’ve always been drawn to the darker, more sinister Freddy from those earlier films, when there was a real sense of dread surrounding him. He wasn’t always standing front and center. Sometimes he was lurking in the shadows, and just the thought of him being there was terrifying.
That’s the feeling we somewhat wanted to bring back with “FREDDY’S BACK”. We wanted to lean into the atmosphere, the suspense and that sense of unease that made those early films so effective. Freddy can absolutely have fun with his victims. He can crack a joke, deliver a great one-liner and enjoy every second of what he’s doing. But I think the humor needs to be calculated, because Freddy himself is calculated. He’s not cracking jokes just to entertain an audience. He’s entertaining himself, often at someone else’s expense. And there’s something deeply disturbing about a character who finds genuine pleasure in another person’s fear and suffering.
That’s really where I drew the darkness from. I approached him as someone who is completely comfortable with how twisted he is. He doesn’t need to constantly announce how dangerous he is or fill every moment with dialogue. Sometimes the most frightening thing Freddy can do is stand there in the shadows, watching you, knowing that he’s in complete control of the nightmare.
I wanted Freddy to feel unpredictable again. Dangerous and confident. Like you could never quite relax around him, even when he was smiling or making you laugh, because you had no idea what he might do next.
iHorror: What would your Freddy bring to the Elm Street universe?
Michael Leavy: First and foremost, I would want Freddy to feel like, well… Freddy. I’m not interested in completely reinventing the character just for the sake of making him different. Robert Englund created something legendary, and I would want to build upon that foundation while bringing my own choices and ideas to the role to modernize it and keep it fresh.
I think there’s still so much you can do with Freddy, both as an actor and from a storytelling perspective. He’s frightening, charismatic, darkly funny, cruel and unpredictable. Those qualities don’t have to compete with one another. When they’re balanced correctly, they actually make each other more effective.
One thing I’d really want to emphasize is bringing back that sense of genuine danger. I want audiences to enjoy Freddy’s personality, but I also want them to have genuine fear seeing him appear. He should be entertaining, absolutely, but he should never feel safe. He needs to make audiences feel uneasy. Even when he’s smiling, you should be wondering what he’s about to do next.
I definitely have some specific ideas about how I’d approach Freddy that I haven’t shown publicly, and that’s intentional. With “FREDDY’S BACK”, I wanted to stay close to the foundation of the character we as audiences already know and love, while giving them a glimpse of what I could bring to the role. I didn’t want to put my entire interpretation out on social media. There are certain things I’m saving for if I ever got lucky enough for an actual opportunity to audition. There’s a danger in showing too much, because part of what makes Freddy so frightening is his unpredictability. The more familiar audiences become with every little choice and every trick, the less surprising he becomes. I’d rather keep some of those things in my back pocket and, hopefully, get the opportunity to show them in an audition room where they belong.
Ultimately, I want to honor the Freddy that audiences have known and loved for decades, because if you lose what makes him Freddy in the first place, then are you even making a A Nightmare on Elm Street movie? To me, the exciting part is building upon that incredible foundation while bringing something fresh to the character that both longtime fans and a new generation can get excited about all while still having that feeling of, “Yeah… that’s Freddy.”
iHorror: How have fans reacted to your enthusiasm about wanting to play the next Freddy Krueger?
Michael Leavy: Honestly, the response has been overwhelming in the best possible way. When I first started putting these videos out there, a big part of it was simply wanting to get my name out there for something that, outside of my close family and friends, most people probably didn’t even know I could do, let alone that I was interested in pursuing. And I realized that if I didn’t put it out there myself, how would anyone ever know? I didn’t want to keep waiting around and wondering, “What if?” So I decided to do something about it, put myself out there and see what happened, so I just had some fun.
What I never could have anticipated was how many people would get behind the idea. Fans started sharing the videos, making their own posts, spreading #LeavyForKrueger and even creating a petition that’s grown to thousands of signatures. I didn’t ask anyone to start a petition. That happened because people genuinely wanted to see me get the opportunity, and that’s something I don’t take lightly.
One of the most meaningful parts has been hearing from longtime Elm Street fans, especially those who have told me they couldn’t imagine anyone other than Robert Englund playing Freddy. For some of those same people to say they’d be excited to see me get a shot at it is an incredible compliment. I know how much Robert and this character mean to them, because I feel the same way.
And then people started asking to see me in the full makeup. That’s really what inspired us to make “FREDDY’S BACK”. But when we decided to do it, we were very intentional about the makeup. I’ve been told for years that I naturally resemble Robert Englund, so we didn’t want to just put me in a prosthetic or a mask designed to make me look like him. We wanted the appliances to be used around my own face, preserving and accentuating my natural features and expressions beneath the burns. The idea wasn’t to make me look like Robert. It was to show what Freddy Krueger could look like through me, naturally. And beyond the realistic appearance, we wanted him to feel dangerous again, bringing back some of that darker, nightmarish atmosphere from the original film.
The response to “FREDDY’S BACK” has been incredible, and honestly, it’s been humbling, exciting and a little surreal to watch all of this unfold. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who’s watched, commented, shared, created or signed the petition, or simply helped spread the word. None of this would have reached as many people as it has without them.
iHorror: Elm Street alums have sounded off their support including; Monica Keena, Lochlyn Munro, Ronee Blakley, and Lisa Wilcox. Has Robert Englund reached out since you began campaigning?
Michael Leavy: It’s been extremely surreal. To have the support and encouragement of people like Lisa Wilcox, Monica Keena, Lochlyn Munro and Ira Heiden, who are all part of the Nightmare on Elm Street legacy, is incredibly humbling. These are talented people who have actually been part of a franchise my brother and I grew up loving, so to have their friendship and them getting behind me and wanting to see me get this opportunity means more than I can really put into words. I’m incredibly grateful to every one of them.
As for Robert, I haven’t personally reached out to him about any of this. I have tremendous respect for him, both as an actor and as someone I’ve had the privilege of working with, and I wouldn’t want him to feel obligated in any way to weigh in. I’ve seen some likes from his social media account on a few of my posts, which was pretty cool to see. I have nothing but admiration for Robert, and I’m incredibly grateful for the experiences we’ve had working together and hopefully, we’ll get the chance to work together again sometime in the near future.
iHorror: You have the advantage of not only being an actor, but also a writer, director, and producer of horror movies. Was it a challenge juggling all of these competing voices in your head while filming Freddy’s Back.
Michael Leavy: I actually think having experience on both sides of the camera is an advantage. As a writer, director and producer, I’ve learned to look at a scene from a much bigger perspective. I’m thinking about the story, the atmosphere, the pacing and, most importantly, what the audience should be feeling in that moment. All of that informs the choices I make as an actor.
But I also think it’s important to know when to turn that part of your brain off. When I’m performing, I don’t want to be so caught up in the technical side of filmmaking that I lose the character or the moment. At some point, you have to trust the preparation, trust the people around you and just commit to the performance.
That’s exactly why having my brother Jason right there directing “FREDDY’S BACK” was so important. We’ve worked together for years, and there’s a level of trust and understanding between us that allows me to let go of those other responsibilities. I knew he understood the vision we had for Freddy and the tone we wanted to capture, so I could focus on what I was there to do, just perform and play. And with a character like Freddy, that’s a pretty fun position to be in.
I think that’s one of the biggest benefits of having a great team around you. Filmmaking is collaborative, and when you trust the people you’re working with, you can give yourself the freedom to take chances, experiment, let go and really commit to the moment. That’s when some of the best stuff happens.
iHorror: Robert spent at least three hours in the makeup chair when transforming into character. It was then followed by an hour-long removal of the appliances. How was your makeup chair experience?
Michael Leavy: It’s funny because this actually wasn’t my first experience spending hours in a makeup chair in connection with Robert Englund. When I worked with him on “Fear Clinic”, I played a younger version of his character, Dr. Andover, and also doubled a few scenes for his character Black, which involved extensive prosthetic makeup.
I remember sitting in the makeup trailer getting worked on for hours when suddenly Robert came in, only needing a quick powder. He looked over at me and joked that I was paying my dues. Then, about fifteen minutes later, he smiled, said, “See you at lunch, kid,” and walked out while I still had hours left in the chair. It’s really a fond memory I have from earlier in my career when I was starting out.
So when it came time to get into the Freddy makeup for “FREDDY’S BACK”, I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting myself into! But yes, it was still a long process. Since this was our first time actually applying these particular prosthetics, there was definitely a learning curve. It took about four to four and a half hours to get everything on, and then another hour and a half to remove it all. I think I’m still pulling glue out of my ears and hair as we speak!
But there’s something really exciting about watching a character come to life piece by piece. You sit there as yourself, and gradually, as the appliances are applied and everything starts coming together, you begin to see Freddy looking back at you in the mirror.
And again, what made this experience especially exciting was that we weren’t trying to recreate Robert’s exact appearance as Freddy. We wanted the makeup to work with my own facial features and expressions so I could still perform naturally underneath it. Seeing that approach come together was incredibly rewarding.
And once the glove went on, that was it. It was time to have some fun.
iHorror: For decades now fans have wanted to see Krueger’s life portrayed on screen. His actions in life are arguably more horrific than anything he ever did while wearing the glove. Do you think you would be just as convincing, and comfortable, portraying a human Fred Krueger?
Michael Leavy: Absolutely. In fact, I think exploring Fred Krueger before he became the Freddy we all know could be one of the most disturbing directions you could take the character.
The supernatural Freddy is terrifying because he can do practically anything to you inside a dream. But human Fred Krueger is frightening for a completely different reason. There’s no dream world, no supernatural abilities, no elaborate nightmare to hide behind. He’s just a deeply disturbed, sadistic human being, and there’s something incredibly unsettling about that kind of evil existing in the real world.
As an actor, that’s the sort of challenge I would really want to sink my teeth into. You have to find the psychology behind someone like that without ever trying to excuse or justify what they’ve done. It’s about understanding how the character thinks, what makes him tick and what makes him so dangerous, even before he ever puts on the glove.
And I think there’s a real opportunity to explore the contrast between the two versions of Freddy. The supernatural version is larger than life. He’s theatrical, charismatic and completely in control of his nightmare world. But who was he when he was just a man? What parts of that personality were already there? How much of the monster we know existed long before he became something supernatural?
As far as being comfortable portraying that side of him, I don’t think the material itself is supposed to be comfortable. It shouldn’t be. Ultimately, I think the most frightening thing about exploring Fred Krueger’s past would be reminding audiences that he was already a monster long before he became one in their nightmares.
iHorror: Now that the video has been released and fans are still clamoring for more, where do we go from here?
Michael Leavy: That’s a great question, and one I’ve been asking myself lately! When I first started putting myself out there for Freddy, I had no idea where any of this would lead. I just knew that this was something I genuinely wanted to pursue, and get out there. I didn’t want to look back years from now wondering what might have happened if I’d never taken that chance.
What started with a few videos has turned into something much bigger than I ever anticipated. The fans have been incredible, and the response to “FREDDY’S BACK” has only made me more excited about the possibilities.
But for me, the goal hasn’t changed. I’d love the opportunity to audition for Freddy Krueger. That’s what all of this has really been about. I’m not expecting anyone to simply hand me the role because a video got some attention or a petition gathered signatures. I want the chance to get in that room, show them what I can do and let the work speak for itself. It must be earned.
And I think that’s an important distinction, because as much as I love what we accomplished with”FREDDY’S BACK”, it was never meant to be my entire interpretation of the character. It was a glimpse. There are still plenty of ideas and choices I haven’t shown anyone yet, and I’d love the opportunity to explore those in the right setting.
As for what’s next, I’m going to keep creating, keep doing the work and see where this journey takes me. The support from the fans has already made this an incredibly rewarding experience, regardless of what happens. But I’m certainly not ready to close the book on it.
And if the opportunity ever comes to step into Freddy’s world for real, believe me, I’ll be ready.
Until then, as Freddy might say … sweet dreams.