Jason Ritter - Will
Monica Keena - Lori
Kelly Rowland - Kia
Lauren Lee Smith - Gibb
Chris Marquette - Linderman
Odessa Munroe - Heather
Katherine Isabelle - Jenny
Paula Shaw - Pamela Voorhees
Brendan Fletcher - Jacob
Gary Chalk - J.D.
Joshua Mihal - Carlos
Jake Kaese - Billy
Jesse Hutch - Trey
Chris Gauthier - Shack
NEWS 3/31/03- After years of false starts, (and 3 directors and about a dozen writers) New Line signed Hong Kong director Ronny Yu (The Bride With White Hair, Bride of Chucky) to helm this film from a scripts by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, making this their first produced script. Jason Ritter (son of actor John Ritter) is the lead character. R&B star Kelly Rowland (of Destiny's Child) has a supporting role. Paula Shaw (II) has been cast as Pamela Voorhees, a role originally played by Betsy Palmer. To many people�s disappointment Kane Hodder (who had long been one of the film�s biggest supporters) was not cast as Jason. The filmmakers said that they wanted someone with more �sympathetic eyes� and (continuing the tradition of casting stunt men as Jason) cast Ken Kirzinger. The film was shot in Vancouver BC from September 9, 2002 to December 5, 2002. The film is being produced by Sean S Cunningham Films, no word yet on whether Cunningham himself will receive Executive producer�s credit. Some reports stated that the film will be shot on HD video (like Star Wars Episode II) others say that it will be shot on 35mm film and transferred to HD for post production (like Jason X.) According to the spoilers that I have read online (and I do try to avoid spoilers) the film will be set in the �film world� where people know Freddy and Jason as legends or killers (as opposed to the �real world� like Wes Craven�s New Nightmare where everyone knows Freddy and Jason as movie characters.) The IMDB lists Harry Manfredini (All the Friday films except for part 8) and Charles Bernstein (I) (Nightmare 1) as the musical composers but I will believe Bernstein�s involvement when I see it someplace more reliable (they also list Wes Craven as executive producer.) The film is slated to come out August 15, 2003. Rumors were that the teaser trailer would be attached to either New Line�s Final Destination 2 or Willard. I haven�t seen either film but think that if it were on either one I would have read about it online and I haven�t yet.
Probably the third longest anticipation period in movie history. The second being Dune and the first being Star Wars Episode I. The groundwork for this one was laid back in1993 when New Line bought the rights to the Friday the 13th franchise from paramount. Having already killed Freddy Kruger they had planned on killing Jason and than teaming them up. Unfortunately Jason Goes to Hell was met with less than stellar box office receipts. Since horror was experiencing a major lack of interest New Line decided to cancel the Freddy vs Jason project. No one but some hard core genre fans really noticed that they stopped hearing about the film. In 1996 Scream exploded onto the scene and all of a sudden horror was hot property again. New Line dusted off the old Freddy vs Jason project.
Unlike a lot of the post-scream projects which went from concept the screen rather quickly, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Halloween H2O come to mind, the execs at New Line had trouble finding a script that suited what they wanted. Reportedly they are currently on their 6th draft of the Freddy vs Jason script.
One rather disturbing rumor that I have heard about one of the Freddy vs Jason scripts is that it takes place in the real world, much like Scream. As much as I loved Scream and Wes Craven's New Nightmare I think that the only place to set this movie is in the movie world. What I mean is that in the real world when a character says Freddy Kruger or Jason Voorhees people will say something like "What that guy from those slasher movie; he's just a movie character he can't really hurt you." In the Movie world when somebody says Freddy or Jason people would respond "What that guy who supposedly killed all of those kids; he's just an urban legend." All I can say to New Line is please set this one in the movie world, not the real world.
�"It�s a definite. It�s a greenlight. It won�t happen until after the strike and until after Jason X comes out (in August). Rob Bottin was pulled (off as director) because of budget problems. Then I believe they were going to go with Guillermo Del Toro, who I love. I loved Cronos and Mimic. But he�s busy with Blade 2. Now I think that one of the guys who wrote the first Blade is rewriting Freddy Vs. Jason. And I believe that part of his deal is that he�s also going to direct it. So, Freddy Vs. Jason probably won�t even start until the end of 2001."
Englund did not mention Blade's director Stephen Norrington. He obviously has just heard little bits of stuff and does not know exactly what is going on inside of New Line. He said that Blade's writer will be writing and may direct. That would be David S. Goyer. Goyer will be making his directing debut on a film called Zigzag (2001). Depending on how that one turns out could determine if he will direct. If the Screenwriters Guild strike happens it will be this summer (2001). Jason X is slated for an August release. If Jason X makes some money (and the strike is settled by than) we can expect New Line to push this one into production. If Jason X tanks New Line will probably cancel the project, or put it on hold. Even if they do start production in late 2001 it means that the earliest that this movie could be released will be late summer 2002 and even that's pushing it. More realisticly it could be October 2002 or even Spring 2003. My god I will be 23 that year, where does the time go.