KEN KIRZINGER: If Hollywood calls, I’m coming.
ROBERT ENGLUND: I don't know if there's going to be a half a dozen “Freddy vs Jasons.” I think they are trying to put a little more fresh blood in to our franchises, into both the “Friday the 13th” franchise and the “Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise. The only true rumor I’ve heard is a rumor of a prequel to “Nightmare on Elm Street,” the original. That's the only rumor I’ve heard that I give any credence to right now.
KEN KIRZINGER: They may not team Freddy and Jason together again but if the fans want the characters up on the screen, they'll find something.
ROBERT ENGLUND: It's easier on Ken. Ken's a stunt coordinator. He just flew back from working on - I call it “Pitch Black 2.” It's called “Riddick,” you know? He's been working with Vin Diesel up there. Ken can take this stuff, but I’m getting old. I'm an old surfer and I was a gymnast so I could do a lot of the stuff when I was younger. But I can only snap my head a couple of times now and I can't get out of bed. When you see Jason on fire, it's really Ken. When you see Freddy flying the air, it's not me.
KEN KIRZINGER: He’s being generous there and I have to say one thing. When they hired me on this movie they made a point of saying, "You know Ken, you’re an actor in this movie. We are going to have a stunt double for you." And there's a scene where Jason's on fire and I wanted to do all that and this very good friend of mine ended up doubling me. He did do that fire scene. But the fight scenes and stuff like that, I did.
ROBERT ENGLUND: Ken did a lot more. I'll tell you one great thing. We both worked 24 hour days and they're shuttling us back and forth between first and second unit. Now Ken's a big guy, a tough guy, but he's got a lot of stuff on him. They sprayed us both down with this anti-flammable stuff, which is toxic. And between the glue and the makeup and the colostomy bags and everything else we've got, Ken and I are exhausted. It's the middle of the night and everybody on the set is high from these fumes. Now they do my close-up and I work with all the fire and the flame bars and the walls but my makeup literally seared itself to my temple. It got so hot and I didn't know it because I’m covered up in the Freddy makeup. It didn’t feel that bad. But when I got in to remove the makeup, it had literally bonded itself to the side of my face. So now they turn around and they are shooting over my shoulder. I'm by the camera so I’m safe, and they are shooting Ken now. And Ken has some distance between him and the back wall, but they are going to torch the back wall. I have the dialogue in this scene and Ken just… Jason doesn't talk a lot (laughing). Ken doesn't worry about dialogue but he’s got these really intricate marks because they've got to light his good eye and they have to get that glean off of the mask. He’s got to try and get the machete up just perfect to glint the light off of it to see the flame. They say, "Action," and the whole wall... Do you remember that night?
KEN KIRZINGER: I remember it.
ROBERT ENGLUND: Well Ken can’t see it. It's like 15 to 20 feet of a wall of fire right behind Ken. Now on "Action" Ken gets to start to walk towards me, but they start [the fire] just before "Action." I’m sitting there and all I want to do is run and grab him because I see this thing coming behind Ken (laughing). And Ken's just doing this real John Wayne/Jason strut coming at me. After about four of those takes the whole room heats up. Now Ken and I are beginning to complain a little bit. I said, "Ken, you've got to go to the monitor. You've got to see what's behind you. I have to tell you, you're going to think twice about this."
KEN KIRZINGER: They had two doubles doubling for two of the other actors who were in that set and their wigs actually started to melt.
NEXT PAGE: CGI, Difficult Scenes and Transitioning from Stunt Work to Acting
