Freddy Krueger Actor Robert Englund Has a Surprising Star Wars Story

One of the craziest missed connections in Hollywood history is the idea that A Nightmare on Elm Street star Robert Englund had a chance to play Luke Skywalker in 1977’s Star Wars. Granted, this isn’t like an Eric Stoltz thing where they got the movie into production and had to change — but the proximity of an iconic actor with an iconic character that seems totally off-brand for him is a wild one. During a recent conversation with People, he recalled the story as clearly and succinctly as he could — important, since a prior, shorter version of the story had gone viral, causing Mark Hamill to correct some of the misconceptions in it.

While hoping to get cast for Apocalypse Now, directed by George Lucas’s longtime friend Francis Ford Coppola, a casting agent suggested Englund should instead try to read for the “space movie that they were casting across the hall.” According to Englund, nothing ever came of it — all they did was take a Polaroid of him and send him on his way — but he was struck by the name “Luke Skywalker,” which he said was “just the coolest name in the world.”

Englund famously recommended Hamill for the role, although Hamill later said that his agent already had him up for it by then.

“I’m a character actor, so I never thought of it for me, but when I went back to my apartment, there was Mark with a Heineken in his fist watching Bob Newhart. I told him about it, and he got on the phone and called his agent,” Englund told People. “Now his agent, I believe she already had him up for the role,” Englund recalls. “And that may be true, I don’t know, but I know that Mark hadn’t heard about it yet. And I did tell him about it, and he got on the phone. That’s the story.”

In Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story, “A classically trained actor and director, Robert Englund has become one of the most revolutionary horror icons of our generation. Throughout his career, Englund starred in many well-known movies, but shot to super-stardom with his portrayal of supernatural serial killer Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. This unique and intimate portrait captures the man behind the glove and features interviews with Englund and his wife Nancy, Lin Shaye, Eli Roth, Tony Todd, Heather Langenkamp, and more.”

Stay tuned for updates on the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Hollywood Dreams and Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story is streaming on Screambox and Digital HD.