Never Sleep Again: After Decades … Mark Patton Talks Elm Street 2

Heather Wixson |

Nov 10, 2009

Today this scribe had the opportunity to visit the set of the upcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street documentary, Never Sleep Again, for one of their bigger days – actor Mark Patton who portrayed Jesse in the second franchise installment was on hand to talk about his very own Elm Street days.

Patton, who moved on from Hollywood shortly after Freddy’s Revenge, came up to Los Angeles from Mexico to talk with the team behind Never Sleep Again and was gracious enough to chat briefly with Dread Central before he got started.

Twenty-five years after Patton took on the role of Jesse, the actor now weighs in on why he thinks the Nightmare franchise still remains so popular.

Patton said, “I think NOES is so popular because the franchise taps into an idea that goes into the depths of people’s dreams and it’s very easy for people to project themselves into that situation. I know my film was very different from the first, and my whole life since then has been involved in discussion on what was going on with the second film.”

One of the bigger controversies surrounding Freddy’s Revenge was the idea of casting a “final guy” instead of a “final girl.” This is a phenomenon that Patton was keenly aware of.

“Essentially, I was playing a woman’s part and fans back then didn’t understand that,” Patton explained. “It’s like they switched the rules of the genre on fans and a lot of people couldn’t handle that so I think that’s why some people have problems with part two. I do think the new generation of fans are more open to that idea now than audiences were back then.”

Patton was also very candid in discussing his experiences on set and with director Jack Sholder.

Patton said, “I was very well treated, but there are things I do still want to address. I know they tried to find me for the DVD release but they couldn’t so there are things I do still take exception to from that release, but they really aren’t bad things. I mean – you try having a giant tongue sticking out of your mouth for 10 hours and still be in a good mood.”

“I think Jack is a wonderful man and I liked working with him, but I think they picked the wrong director for the second film. He mixed up too much of the comedy of Freddy to the point where I think he actually thought he was directing a comedy so you lose some of the magic of the first. I think there are a lot of fans that would agree with that too,” Patton added.

Directed by Daniel Farrands and Andrew Kasch, this comprehensive look at the Nightmare films is written and produced by Thommy Hutson with Heather Langenkamp serving as executive-producer, Buz “Danger” Wallick serving as director of photography, and Bill Philputt and Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton serving as associate producers.

For more on this project check out the official Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy website and the official Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy MySpace page.

To join in on the live fun as it happens, simply follow @ElmStreetLegacy on Twitter!