Why Patricia Arquette Ditched The Freddy Franchise After A Nightmare On Elm Street 3

The "Nightmare on Elm Street" film series was a hotbed for emerging talent. Many of the directors in the franchise would go on to prolific or interesting careers. Chuck Russell, director of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" would go on to make Hollywood blockbusters like "The Mask," "Eraser," and "The Scorpion King." Renny Harlin, who directed "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master" would likewise enter the Hollywood mainstream with films like "Predator 2," "Die Hard 2," "Cliffhanger," and "Cutthroat Island." Jack Sholder, Stephen Hopkins, and Rachael Talalay also emerged from the series' directors pool. 

One can also find a few rising actors at the start of their careers throughout the Freddy Krueger movies. Famously, a young Johnny Depp starred in Wes Craven's 1984 original, and, for "Dream Warriors," Patricia Arquette made her cinematic debut. In the film, Arquette played Kristen, a teen beleaguered by Freddy nightmares. Freddy, possessed of his seemingly limitless demonic powers, manipulated Kristen's body while she slept to stage what looked like a suicide attempt. Concerned, Kristen's mother sends her to a sanitarium where she meets several other kids her age also haunted by Freddy in their dreams. Soon, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), returning from the first "Nightmare," will arrive to explain to the kids what's going on. 

Director Russell once noted that Arquette was not well-liked by the casting directors and that he fought to keep her on. Arquette doesn't remember her audition well but notes that she has notoriously auditioned poorly. The actress enjoyed her "Warriors" experience — especially the scene where she was eaten by the Freddy snake — but wasn't keen on returning for sequels. She said as much in a 2017 interview with the website Bloody Flicks. 

"A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master" mainly followed a character named Alice (Lisa Wilcox) who was said to be best friends with Arquette's Kristen from the previous movie. Kristen did return, but was now played by Tuesday Knight. Kristen and Alice, through complex mythological details I won't get into here, alternately had the ability to enter other people's dreams. "The Dream Master" was to see both Kristen and Alice exercising these powers. Arquette, however, was kind of over the franchise after one go, wanting to challenge herself as an actress. In the Bloody Flicks interview, she said: 

"They asked me to come back for [part 4] but at that time I was starting to break into kind of meatier roles. I had just done a movie of the week about teen pregnancy called 'Daddy' and I was really liking getting deeper with my work. I love the horror genre and the Freddy franchise but I was chomping at the bit to try other things as an actor."

"Daddy," incidentally, co-stars Dermot Mulroney and Danny Aiello, and can be seen on Tubi and on Freevee. After that, Arquette's acting career would take off. She appeared in the 1988 Sam Shepard movie "Far North" with Jessica Lange and showed up on episodes of "Thirtysomething," "The Outsiders," and "Tales from the Crypt." Her true breakout would come in 1993 when she appeared in Tony Scott's rambunctious flick "True Romance." She has since played the lead in the TV series "Medium" and won an Academy Award for her performance in Richard Linklater's "Boyhood." 

Her feature directorial debut, "Gonzo Girl" just debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival.