Movies
RUMOR #634: Billy Bob Thornton to Play Freddy Krueger?
Let this be the day of terrible rumors – and hopefully by days end we’ll have put this one to rest. JoBlo is reporting that Robert Englund was on Loveline last night promoting his upcoming film, JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER, and during his appearance he claimed that he had heard that Oscar-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton was a name being thrown around to play Freddy Krueger in the remake of A NIGHTMARE ONE ELMS STREET. Englund has been known to “invent” stories that he thinks would be cool. With New Line Cinema hiring Wesley Strick to write the screenplay just a few weeks ago, it seems highly unlikely that any casting talk is underway. File this one under “ridiculous rumor” until further noted.
Up next from The People’s Joker director Vera Drew is a found footage movie titled Trandemic, and it’s being made possible by the Transgender Film Center Found Footage Feature Fund.
Deadline notes in a report this afternoon that Vera Drew’s Trandemic is the very first recipient of the award, created to “support micro-budget feature filmmaking by transgender creators.”
The outlet explains, “Applications were first evaluated by the Transgender Film Center and partner representatives, with finalists then presented to Duplass Brothers Productions, who selected the winning project.” Vera Drew will receive a $25,000 cash grant to bring Trandemic to life, with the project being described as a “cosmic found footage horror-comedy.”
Deadline further details, “The award package also includes creative advisory support from Duplass Brothers Productions; mentorship with Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice; a final script review from Duplass before production; development guidance from Kevin Nicklaus of Sandstone Artists; 15 days of in-kind post-production services from Aesthetica Post, including conform, color grading, light VFX, DCP delivery and festival-ready masters; a $37,000 post-sound package from Aura Sound and Color; and festival submission waivers from Transgender Film Center and partner festivals, including Fantastic Fest.”
“I’m so wildly stoked and honored to be receiving this grant from the Trans Film Center and Duplass Brothers Productions,” Vera Drew said in a statement. “Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass reinvented the found footage genre with the Creep franchise, so their support means the world to me as I gear up to do the same with my sophomore feature film Trandemic.”
“There were so many incredible projects submitted to us, I wish we could have picked every one of them,” Mark Duplass said. “But here’s the good news … everyone who built their projects to be made at a $25k budget? The hard part is already done. They can now go out, crowdfund it, and bring it to the world at a time when auteur-driven found footage horror is having a real moment.”