Johnny Depp made his big-screen debut with Wes Craven’s 1984 slasher film A Nightmare on Elm Street. Despite not being interested in acting initially, he was able to land a supporting role in the movie, which was received pretty well at the box office. However, not only did the film famously serve as the big screen debut of the Hollywood star, but it was also a breakout hit for its director Wes Craven, who established himself as a horror director.
His films before the 1984 feature struggled at the box office and also among critics, including the DC film Swamp Thing, which received mixed reviews from critics. However, one positive outcome of working on the film was the idea that was developed into the 1984 supernatural slasher.
How Wes Craven Got the Idea For Johnny Depp’s Debut Film?
Followed by The Hills Have Eyes and The Last House on the Left, Wes Craven’s success streak was broken with the release of Deadly Blessings and Swamp Thing. Both films did not make it big at the box office and were not a hit among critics as well.
And it was while working on the 1982 DC film the idea came to him the Johnny Depp starrer A Nightmare on Elm Street. The director has shared that he had a little bit of money left and decided to take some time off to work on a script.
“I decided, since I had a little bit of money in the bank, that I would take six months off and write a script,” he said during an interview. He has also shared that things were so bad that he had to sell his goods and borrow money from his fellow filmmaker Sean S. Cunningham to pay his taxes.
As per IMDb, the director “went through all the money [he] had saved” at the time. However, while he was working on the film, he met Bob Shaye in New York, who wanted to work with him. He was interested in the idea and told him to send the first draft as soon as it gets done. And the rest is history, as the franchise would continue for decades.
Wes Craven Did Not Want to Cast Johnny Depp as Glen Lantz
As he moved ahead with the project, Wes Craven reportedly planned to cast Charlie Sheen as Glen Lantz in the movie. However, the makers were not able to pay the amount the actor demanded. After this, he was suggested to meet Johnny Depp, who was also interested in starting an acting career.
He set up a meeting with the Edward Scissorhands actor and got his headshots. However, he was not very impressed with his appearance when he met him. “I remember his fingers were yellow from constantly smoking unfiltered cigarettes, and he was greasy and pale and sickly,” Craven shared during an interview with Vulture.
While he was not interested in casting him in the film, his decision was changed after his daughter shared her opinion. He showed headshots of the actors who auditioned for the role, and his daughter picked the Pirates of the Caribbean star, saying, “He’s beautiful.”
However, things were different when Craven returned to the franchise after a decade with the 1994 film Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. The director was reportedly nervous to ask Depp to appear in the movie as he was a big star at the time. The actor later shared that he would have been pleased to star in the 1994 film.
Source: IMDb
