'Nightmare on Elm Street' returns

"I just think there's something incredibly ingenious and universally frightening about Wes Craven's idea for Freddy Krueger," said Toby Emmerich, New Line's production chief. "The 'Nightmare' films are profoundly disturbing on a deep, human level because they're about our dreams. It's why we thought that we could reach an especially broad audience with a new film, since the feeling of having your dreams being invaded was something that would translate to any country and any culture."

When Emmerich initially sat down several years ago with New Line founder Bob Shaye and longtime New Line production executive Richard Brenner, the questions everyone asked were: Could we do a new version? And should we do a new version? "And the answer we all had was . . . 'Hell, yes,' " Emmerich says. "The whole idea was to find a way to reinvent the series and use contemporary filmmaking and storytelling to bring the series into the modern era."

Readying the script

Emmerich hired Wesley Strick (best known for penning Martin Scorsese's "Cape Fear") to write the script for the new film, having been a big fan of a script Strick wrote for a unproduced prequel to "Seven," the David Fincher thriller that was a huge hit for New Line in the mid-1990s. The studio brought in another writer, Eric Heisserer, who did a rewrite before the studio was ready to move ahead with the project. It has a budget of roughly $27 million, modest by today's standards but more than the first four "Nightmare" films put together.

All along, Emmerich relied heavily on Bay's expertise, especially in terms of key creative choices. The men have not only worked on various New Line film projects together, they went to Wesleyan University, graduating a year apart in the mid-1980s, right after the release of the first "Nightmare" film. Bay was a strong advocate in the hiring of filmmaker Sam Bayer, a veteran music video and commercials director who despite nearly two decades of experience making rock videos and winning MTV Video Music Awards and Clios has never directed a feature film before. (He is best known for directing Nirvana's groundbreaking "Smells Like Teen Spirit," having also directed clips for the likes of the Offspring, Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica, Sheryl Crow, Green Day, the Strokes and Justin Timberlake.)