History Trivia / ANightmareOnElmStreet4TheDreamMaster

** Creator/WesCraven was asked to write a script for the fourth film. His idea involved time travel through dreams, and was rejected by New Line. The fact that Craven was still angry at New Line for the fact that his original script in ''Dream Warriors'' was rewritten did not help the situation.

** In one of the earlier drafts of the film, Rick and Alice were twins, and Rick [[spoiler:was supposed to live]].
** According to the ''Never Sleep Again'' documentary, [[spoiler:Rick]]’s death was originally going to be much different. [[spoiler:In the original storyboards, the elevator he was in was going to crumble apart, and he was going to fall into an endless abyss, but by the time they were ready to create the effects for that scene, the filmmakers had pretty much used up the entire budget at that point, so they had to come up with something different on the fly that was cheaper to do, so that’s how we wound up with the scene of Rick fighting an invisible Freddy in that “dojo”.]]

** Renny Harlin, then an unknown director from Finland, was incredibly enthusiastic about directing and wanted the job so badly, mainly because he was so impoverished and had a hard time adjusting to life in the US, but also because he was a huge fan of the series. On the other hand, the producer Robert Shaye had doubts about him since the first meeting they had. Even though Shaye made it clear he was dead set against hiring Harlin, Harlin would not give up and made a habit to show up every day at New Line talking the staff and basically pestering Shaye into giving him the job. Shaye begrudgingly hired Harlin because of the writers' strike that was forcing production on the film to begin as soon as possible and he was unable to find anyone else. Shaye stated he hired Harlin because he felt that due to Harlin's youth and big frame, he would be able to handle long hours of shooting and if worse came to worse, Shaye could fix whatever they didn't like in the editing room when the movie was done. He also admitted another motive was because Shaye and the executives noticed during Harlin's frequent visits, he was wearing the same clothing every day and started to smell bad. Shaye felt that at the least, by giving Harlin a job, Harlin would be able to bathe.

** Fortunately, things did get easier during post-production. Shaye liked what he saw during editing and relented his control over the final product. Additionally, when he saw the final product, he liked it enough to admit he was wrong. Harlin stated that on the day of the premiere when he was celebrating with Shaye, Harlin had called his mom and Shaye happened to see him talking to her and asked to speak to her himself; all so he could tell Harlin's mom how great of a job he did on the film abd praising him as a filmmaker which made her cry tears of joy. The two have since made up and are on good terms. The film itself was well received by many film critics and went on to become the highest grossing entry in the franchise until ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' took the spot in 2003 and helped launch Harlin's career in the US, even earning him the job of directing ''Film/DieHard2''.

** Renny Harlin, then an unknown director from Finland, was incredibly enthusiastic about directing and wanted the job so badly, mainly because he was so impoverished and had a hard time adjusting to life in the US, but also because he was a huge fan of the series. On the other hand, the producer Robert Shaye had doubts about him since the first meeting they had. Even though Shaye made it clear he was dead set against hiring Harlin, Harlin would not give up and made a habit to show up every day at New Line talking the staff and basically pestering Shaye into giving him the job. Shaye begrudgingly hired Harlin because of the writers' strike that was forcing production on the film to begin as soon as possible and he was unable to find anyone else. Shaye stated he hired Harlin because he felt that due to Harlin's youth and big frame, he would be able to handle long hours of shooting and Shaye could fix whatever they didn't like in the editing room when the movie was done. He also admitted another motive was because Shaye and the executives noticed during Harlin's frequent visits, he was wearing the same clothing every day and started to smell bad. Shaye felt that at the least, by giving Harlin a job, Harlin would be able to bathe.

** Renny Harlin, then an unknown director from Finland, was incredibly enthusiastic about directing and wanted the job so badly, mainly because he was so impoverished and had a hard time adjusting to life in the US, but also because he was a huge fan of the series. On the other hand, the producer Robert Shaye had doubts about him since the first meeting they had. Even though Shaye made it clear he was dead set against hiring Harlin, Harlin would not give up and made a habit to show up every day at New Line talking the staff and basically pestering Shaye into giving him the job. Shaye begrudgingly hired Harlin because of the writers' strike that was forcing production on the film to begin as soon as possible and he was unable to find anyone else. Shaye also admits he hired Harlin because he felt that due to Harlin's youth and big frame, he would be able to handle long hours of shooting and Shaye could fix whatever they didn't like in the editing room when the movie was done. He also admitted another motive was because Shaye and the executives noticed during Harlin's frequent visits, he was wearing the same clothing every day and started to smell bad. Shaye felt that at the least, by giving Harlin a job, Harlin would be able to bathe.

* ContestedSequel: This movie is divided among fans on what they think. There is a set of fans that view this as the downfall of the series and the point where Freddy became too comical. Another set of fans however enjoy this quite a bit and think its a good, if not flawed sequel that has some strong points. Regardless of what this movie certainly has a better reputation then either of [[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet5TheDreamChild the following]] [[Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare two sequels]]
* MagnumOpusDissonance: Not so much a '''Magnum Opus''' ''per se'', but Creator/WesCraven has said on the ''Never Sleep Again'' documentary that this was his favorite of the sequels, citing it mostly for its creative imagery. The fandom, however, is more [[ContestedSequel divisive]] on it.

** Renny Harlin, then an unknown director from Finland, was incredibly enthusiastic about directing and wanted the job so badly, mainly because he was so impoverished and had a hard time adjusting to life in the US, but also because he was a huge fan of the series. On the other hand, the producer Robert Shaye had doubts about him since the first meeting they had. Even though Shaye made it clear he was dead set against hiring Harlin, Harlin would not give up and made a habit to show up every day at New Line talking the staff and basically pestering Shaye into giving him the job. Shaye begrudgingly hired Harlin because of the writers' strike that was forcing production on the film to begin as soon as possible and he was unable to find anyone else. Shaye also admits he hired Harlin because he felt that due to Harlin's youth and big frame, he would be able to handle long hours of shooting. He also admitted another motive was because Shaye and the executives noticed during Harlin's visits, he was wearing the same clothing every day and started to smell bad. Shaye felt that at the least, by giving Harlin a job, Harlin would be able to bathe.

** Fortunately, things did get easier during post-production. Shaye liked what he saw during editing and relented his control over the final product. Additionally, when he saw the final product, he liked it enough to admit he was wrong. Harlin stated that on the day of the premiere when he was celebrating with Shaye, Harlin had called his mom and Shaye happened to see him talking to her and asked to speak to her himself; all so he could tell Harlin's mom how great of a job he did on the film which made her cry tears of joy. The two have since made up and are on good terms. The film itself was well received by many film critics and went on to become the highest grossing entry in the franchise until ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' took the spot in 2003 and helped launch Harlin's career in the US, even earning him the job of directing ''Film/DieHard2''.

** Renny Harlin, then an unknown director from Finland, was incredibly enthusiastic about directing and wanted the job so badly, mainly because he was so impoverished and had a hard time adjusting to life in the US, but also because he was a huge fan of the series. On the other hand, the producer Robert Shaye had doubts about him since the first meeting they had. The only reason Shaye hired Harlin is because of the writers' strike that was forcing production on the film to begin as soon as possible.

** Shooting was mostly smooth, but the tensions between the two did complicate things. Shaye was more heavily involved in shooting than he was on previous films in the series; he would show up to set every day to make sure Harlin wasn't ruining the movie. Harlin was extremely stressed because of this, showing up to set every day basically "expecting to get fired at any given moment." When it came time to film Shaye's obligatory CreatorCameo, the two were barely even speaking to each other, thus making a small few seconds of film extremely difficult to shoot.
** Fortunately, things did get easier during post-production. Shaye liked what he saw during editing and relented his control over the final product. Additionally, when he saw the final product, he liked it enough to admit he was wrong. The two have since made up and are on good terms. The film itself was well received by many film critics and went on to become the highest grossing entry in the franchise until ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' took the spot in 2003 and helped launch Harlin's career in the US, even earning him the job of directing ''Film/DieHard2''.

** Creator/PatriciaArquette decided not to return, preferring to choose roles in more serious and prestigious films. This led to Tuesday Knight being cast in her role, for disappointment of returning actors Rodney Eastman and Ken Sagoes.
** Renny Harlin, then an unknown director from Finland, was incredibly enthusiastic about directing and wanted the job so badly- mainly because he was so impoverished and had a hard time adjusting to life in the US, but also because he was a huge fan of the series. The producer Robert Shaye, on the other hand, had doubts about him since the first meeting they had. The only reason Shaye hired Harlin is because of the writers' strike that was forcing production on the film to begin as soon as possible.
** Getting a screenplay proved a big challenge for various reasons. William Kotzwinkle was the first writer to try his hand, but only managed to turn in a rough story outline before being forced to bow out for personal reasons, resulting in Shaye turning instead to future Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland, who had a ''very'' short deadline to avoid an impending writer's strike. Against all odds, the inexperienced Helgeland managed to get a completed script submitted the day before the strike began... and then Shaye and Harlin found themselves in the nightmare scenario of having a script that, while workable story-wise, would have been far too expensive to produce on the budget typically afforded to the series. Because the writer's strike effectively precluded them from hiring any professional writers, Shaye, Harlin, co-producer Rachel Talalay and everyone else at New Line had a part in throwing the script together, with the end product being credited to Helgeland and the fictitious "Scott Pierce".
** Shooting was mostly smooth, but the tensions between the two did complicate things. Shaye was more heavily involved in shooting than he was on previous films in the series. He would show up to set every day to make sure Harlin wasn't ruining the movie. Harlin was extremely stressed because of this - he showed up to set every day basically "expecting to get fired at any given moment". When it came time to film Shaye's obligatory CreatorCameo, the two were barely even speaking to each other, thus making a small few seconds of film extremely difficult to shoot.

** Wes Craven was asked to write a script for the fourth film. His idea involved time travel through dreams, and was rejected by New Line.