A Nightmare On Elm Street boosted Johnny Depp’s acting career, but before he got the role of Glen, there were other actors interested in playing the character. Wes Craven’s career in the horror genre began in 1972 with The Last House on the Left, a low-budget exploitation film that was met with heavy censorship but was generally well-received by critics. A couple more films came after that, but his big break happened in 1984 with A Nightmare on Elm Street, a slasher film that introduced the audience to a one-of-a-kind killer named Freddy Krueger.
A Nightmare On Elm Street follows four teenagers haunted by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), a man with a very specific plan: terrorize his victims in their dreams, so once he kills them there, they also die in real life. The sole survivor of Krueger’s attacks is Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) who, sadly, saw her friends die at the hands of Krueger. Among the victims was Nancy’s boyfriend, Glen (Depp), who had the most visually shocking death as he was dragged by Krueger into his bed, from which a giant hole was formed and then gallons of blood came out from it. Glen appears one last time at the end of A Nightmare on Elm Street, in a sequence that is revealed to be yet another dream.
Glen Lantz was Johnny Depp’s first role, after which came a number of movies from different genres that have given him the chance to show his range. However, Depp wasn’t the only actor interested in playing Glen, and many other big names were in consideration for it, and some had to be turned down due to money issues. Here are the actors who almost played Glen in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
A Nightmare on Elm Street: Charlie Sheen Could Have Played Glen
Before Johnny Depp was cast as Glen, Charlie Sheen came close to playing Nancy’s boyfriend. Casting director Annette Benson revealed that they offered the part to Sheen, but he passed on it as his agent demanded twice of the weekly wage, and their budget wasn’t enough to cover it. However, Sheen later shared that he didn’t turn it down due to money, but because he didn’t interpret the script correctly. The same year A Nightmare on Elm Street was released, Sheen appeared in the movies Red Dawn and Silence of the Heart, and he went on to appear in a number of films, but he’s best known for playing Charlie Harper in the TV series Two and a Half Men. Mark Patton has said he auditioned for the role and that he was one of the final two, but he later joined the franchise when he was cast as Jesse Walsh in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge.
Other names that have been mentioned over the years to have been interested in playing Glen are John Cusack, Brad Pitt, and C. Thomas Howell, though Benson has failed to recall any of them auditioning. John Cusack had only appeared in one movie before A Nightmare on Elm Street came out, and in 1984 had a small role in John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles, but his big break came in 1985 with Rob Reiner’s The Sure Thing. Brad Pitt, just like Depp, was an unknown actor at the time, and his first movie (though as an extra) was the comedy Hunk. Although he appeared in various movies and TV shows in the 1980s, his big break came in 1994 when he played Louis de Pointe du Lac in Interview with the Vampire. C. Thomas Howell had appeared in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Outsiders, and in 1984 appeared in the movies Tank, Grandview, U.S.A, and Red Dawn, this last one alongside Charlie Sheen.
Johnny Depp reportedly accompanied his friend, Jackie Earle Haley, to audition for A Nightmare on Elm Street, but he was the one who got a role in the movie. Funny enough, Jackie Earle Haley was cast as Freddy Krueger in the 2010 remake. Johnny Depp didn’t stay far from the horror genre after A Nightmare on Elm Street, appearing in various Tim Burton movies, most notably Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd. It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Glen, and even if it hadn’t been Johnny Depp’s first role, he would have eventually made his way through the film industry.