Robert Englund has revealed he actually auditioned for Stranger Things 3 before he landed the role of Victor Creel in season 4 of the Netflix hit.
Speaking to Too Fab, the Nightmare on Elm Street actor explained he loved the show so much he auditioned to be part of the franchise before finally getting his spot on season 4.
In love with Stranger Things
Englund – who’s best know for his work playing Freddy Krueger films since 1984, except for the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot – told the publication he loves the show and is such a big fan of two actors in particular – Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour – which made him just want to ‘be part of’ it.
He said: ‘I had been up for a role in Season 3 that I didn’t get and I was disappointed, because I love the show.
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‘I began as a huge fan of Millie Bobby Brown and I’m a big fan of David Harbour, I thought he brought some great rough edges to the show and the guy could be an action star, he’s tall and big and throws a mean punch.
‘He stole the show in Black Widow. I wanted to be part of the show because I loved it so much and I loved the kids.’
The 75-year-old American actor originally went for the role of Mayor Kline in season 3, but that role eventually went to Cary Elwes instead.
Englund explained: ‘I went in for the mayor and I think they changed the way they wanted him. When I went in, they kind of wanted him like the mayor in ‘Jaws,’ they wanted him kind of corrupt, almost like a cheap used car salesman.
‘They told me the mayor in ‘Jaws’ and I imagined some guy in a plaid jacket and I played him older and greedy and I think they needed someone younger because I think he gets blackmailed because he has a mistress … so I wasn’t right for that.’
Journey to Victor Creel
However, the actor eventually got on the show when he landed the role of Victor Creel – Vecna/Number 1’s dad – but it wasn’t without its trials getting there – including audition videos while he was in the bathtub.
He explained: My wife’s filming me on a smartphone, sitting on the toilet seat. I had to audition. I’m not sure, at the time of the audition, that I even knew how extensive the makeup was going to be on my eyes. I put on a white bathrobe and I sat against some white tile, so it looked like I might be in an asylum and wearing an old bathrobe.’
There was a method in Englund’s madness as he wanted to prove he could ‘do justice to the rhythms the writers had put into this incredible monologue that tells the story of the Creel family and of his children, Henry and Alice, and his wife Virginia and this terrible haunting of the house they moved into.’
Revelation of Vecna
Of course, Englund did get the role however he revealed he actually didn’t know Vecna was going to turn out to be his character’s son – we all didn’t see it in fairness.
‘I hadn’t really guessed that Henry was going to be Vecna, but I did know that [Victor] idolized his children and he was incredibly damaged and in denial about the horrors that happened in World War II,’ he explained.
‘So I just tried to get the dialogue going, I hadn’t really memorized it but I was familiar with it, so I improvised a little bit.
‘I kind of consolidated it a little bit, but I wanted them to see that I knew it was important that I tell that story. I knew there were going to be flashbacks, it wouldn’t all be me, but my only worry was having the emotion going between the narration of the flashbacks and the actual seeing me in my cell, to have it match up.’