In the 1980s we were gifted with eight Friday the 13th films. In the near decade since the 2009 remake, we’ve received nothing. It’s a shame considering how easy it would be to continue the franchise and how little effort anyone has put into it.
Hannibal writer Nick Antosca, however, was one of the few driving forces to getting the franchise going again before he was detached from the eventually-canceled reboot. And now he’s revealed some rather interesting details regarding what would’ve been featured in his version.
He explained that the draft of his we all know about was in the early stages, and that the finished film could’ve been much different and more perfected. He also elaborates on some of his inspiration in writing the movie, while speaking with Bloody-Disgusting:
“The Paramount Friday the 13th movies. Plus Jaws, a little bit. We just wanted to make a classic Jason movie, with kids at camp who get slaughtered, and great kills and some characters you actually enjoy hanging out with til they die. David Bruckner and I talked about how to make a consistent Jason throughout our movie, but nod to the different Jasons. I prefer supernatural Jason, personally. And I loved the imagery of him under the water.”
He continues to explain that, because the franchise has become so disjointed over the decades, they would’ve simply cherry-picked the best pieces of the overall mythology for the new film.
“We just accepted from the beginning that we would have to pick and choose elements of the mythology to make a coherent one within one movie. It’s obviously not consistent over the course of the franchise, but you have a lot to work with. We adjusted the timeline a bit to make sense.”
And speaking about timelines, the new film would’ve also taken place in the 1980s – the prime decade for the franchise itself.
“To me, that just feels right. That’s the Jason movie I want to see. It’s the same impulse that fed into ‘Stranger Things’ and a lot of 80s nostalgia that we now see popping up. It was in the air a few years ago. I’d still love to see a new Friday the 13th set in the ’80s. I’m sure there was more character work to do. There always is. The draft that got out there is a first draft, and I only ever had a chance to do one draft. I’m sure we would have kept tweaking the kills too.”
For whatever reason, the movie never came to fruition. Antosca offers a few theories as to why that may be.
“I know Platinum Dunes was ready to go, they were enthusiastic. I heard various things, Paramount changed their mind about the 80’s setting, they wanted more mythology. Also, there was some corporate changeover in the ranks there, and the people who were in charge when I was hired were no longer there. The new folks may have wanted to put their own stamp on it. It happens. I was curious to see the version they did make, and I was disappointed when that fell apart too. It shouldn’t be that hard to make a Friday the 13th movie.”
There’s definitely some unfortunate choices that Paramount made regarding this reboot. They really have no reason to take so much time in developing something that, after twelve films, nearly writes itself.
We can only hope that when New Line Cinema gets the rights back next year they make plans for a new film. The world has gone on too long without Jason Voorhees, and it’s time to make him a household name once more.