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Trivia / Freddy vs. Jason

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  • Creator's Apathy: Ronny Yu admitted that he didn't care for either franchise. Ironically, that's what landed him the role as director.
  • Creator Backlash:
    • Following its release, both Monica Keena and Katharine Isabelle had rather choice words about the film, with Keena in particular saying that she thought the screenplay was terrible, and that she only really signed on for the money and to raise her profile. Isabelle's problems were mostly to do with the fact that she didn't get along with director Ronny Yu, who tried to force her to do a nude scene even though she had specifically requested a "no nudity" clause when she signed on. Isabelle was further disappointed in her character and the film at large, calling it "shallow" and saying she had expected more.
    • Various cast and crew members of this and other films in the Friday the 13th and Elm Street series have said in interviews that they wish they could have stepped in to try and change a few decisions by Yu, such as Jason's sudden fear of water, or allowing Kia's character to call Freddy a faggot.
      • Of the Friday and Elm Street cast and crew members, director Wes Craven and past Jason Voorhees actor Kane Hodder are among the more notable alumni to have spoken out against the film. The former deriding it as lacking imagination and being all style and no substance, and the latter, while he didn’t hate Ken Kirzinger, felt that this take on Jason didn’t do anything to make it stand out from what he’s done before, especially after being told they were going in a different direction for his recasting.
  • Executive Meddling: Kane Hodder was given the boot after playing Jason for 15 years as the studio wanted the character to tower over Freddy and have more expressive eyes.
  • Focus Group Ending: In the original ending, after Freddy and Jason are defeated, Lori and Will are back at her home making love for the first time. Will becomes violent in the middle of it, and then grows blades out of his fingers. Lori screams as he slashes her to death. The test audiences thought the acting in the scene was terrible, and were confused about what it meant, asking questions like "Does this mean Freddy won? Where's Jason? Is this a dream? Is Will turning evil and is now some sort of Son-of-Freddy?" It was then replaced with the current ending, where Jason walks out of the water holding Freddy's decapitated head, and Freddy winking at the audience. However, the novelization uses the original version with Lori and Will.
  • Missing Trailer Scene: The scene of Lori saying "Place your bets!" from the trailer does not appear in the film.
  • The Other Darrin:
    • Ken Kirzinger was used as Jason instead of Kane Hodder because his eyes were softer and more sympathetic, allowing the audience to have more empathy for Jason. Word of God also stated that he wanted an actor that could tower over Freddy.
    • Paula Shaw replaces Betsy Palmer as Pamela Voorhees.
  • Promoted Fanboy: Writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift were huge fans of both franchises and wanted to do the characters justice for this movie.
  • Saved from Development Hell: Back when the two franchises were owned by different studios, the project was held up because Paramount (who owned Friday the 13th) and New Line Cinema (who owned A Nightmare on Elm Street) each wanted to license the other's character and make the film their way. After the sale of the Friday rights to New Line, the project sat in Development Hell for years as New Line went through several different scripts. The studio eventually hired writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, who produced the script that was turned into the film by throwing out every other script before theirs and working from a set of rules that respected both franchises. The whole story - and it's a doozy, especially when you read about the many different scripts New Line went through - is a special feature on the DVD of the film. In Crystal Lake Memories, Robert Englund states that the subject of all the assorted scripts that were possibilities at one time or another could be the subject of an entire documentary itself.
  • Throw It In!: Kia's mocking remarks to Freddy were apparently improvised, which means that Robert Englund tilting his head in confusion at being called a "faggot" was his genuine reaction.
  • Troubled Production:
    • Plans for a Nighmare-Friday the 13th crossover film had been in the works since 1987, with an early draft of The New Blood being a penned as Nightmare 13 - Freddy vs Jason. However, neither Paramount Pictures nor New Line Cinema could come to a licensing agreement, and the project eventually stagnated.
    • After the critical and financial failure of Jason Takes Manhattan, original Friday director Sean S. Cunningham purchased the rights to the franchise and took them to New Line Cinema to begin work on a crossover film. Several different scripts were solicited, but production was put on hold yet again when Wes Craven returned to New Line to direct New Nightmare. Cunningham subsequently produced Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday as a means to set-up a crossover, but production was delayed yet again after the project's biggest advocate, New Line's President of Production Michael De Luca, stepped down. Cunningham than produced Jason X in the hopes of keeping the franchise fresh in audiences' minds, but a lack of support for the finished film led to it sitting on the shelf with incomplete visual effects before being released in 2002 with the lowest grossing box office of the series thus far.
    • Production finally resumed in late 2002, with the numerous earlier scripts being disposed and a new script by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift being commissioned by New Line executives who hoped for a "fresh start" for the long-stagnant project. Director Ronny Yu was hired after the critical and financial success of Bride of Chucky despite his unfamiliarity with the franchises in question.
    • Casting proved an additional headache. Katharine Isabelle and Brad Renfro were originally cast as the leads, but were both let go, the former prior to principal photography and the latter a week into filming. Isabelle was eventually given a supporting part more in-line with her desired performance, and Jason Ritter was cast in Renfro's stead. Isabelle clashed with Yu multiple times during filming due to his attempting to pressure her into performing a nude scene despite a prior "no nudity" clause in her contract, an incident Isabelle considered "distasteful" and considerably soured her opinion of the project.
  • Word of God: Writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift have stated that Jason wasn’t afraid of water in the original script, but rather he was afraid of drowning instead.

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