It’s widely known in horror circles that Freddy vs. Jason didn’t feature Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees. Director Ronny Yu decided to go with Ken Kirzinger instead, allegedly saying he wanted someone taller than Hodder to tower over Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger. The decision definitely had a mixed reception, however, as many fans felt like the new actor didn’t do as good a job. As it stands, the last time Hodder played the character in a movie was in Jason X.
Whatever the case, that was quite some time ago, but Hodder recently revealed he was actually in the film! In a new interview with We Got This Covered, the actor said:
“They say I wasn’t in Freddy vs. Jason. The filmmakers didn’t even know it, but I was in that movie. There was a scene where they’re at the insane asylum or whatever, the hospital, and there’s a movie playing on a TV set – and it happens to be Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3.
And there’s a scene of Leatherface doing something, and that’s actually me as Leatherface. I was the stunt double for R.A. Mihailoff for that movie and I was stunt coordinator. And so, they’re trying not to to put me in the movie, and I was still in it and they didn’t even know it.”
In the same interview, the actor revealed why he believes fans consider him the definitive Jason:
“I think it’s only natural that people consider me ‘more Jason’ because I did four films and everybody else did one, so that works in my favor. But a lot of people just enjoyed how I played the character, I guess. Of course, that’s nice to hear because I put everything I could into playing the character, so for people to respond that I’m their favorite or whatever they want to say is gratifying because I really wanted to do the best job I could.”
It’s definitely interesting, but most fans to this day are still disappointed that the actor wasn’t in the film as Jason. A few years back, Hodder revealed that he still was never given a reason as to why he was replaced:
“I think that whoever made the decision didn’t realize that horror fans would give a shit. Their contention when they made the decision, whoever it was, was that well its a guy in a mask! Nobodys really gonna care who it is – well, thats what I’ve been told anyway. I think once they said Wow, we didn’t realize that people would be upset. Then they put out a bunch of bogus reasons, like saying I asked for too much money which is asinine. I would have never done that I never did that. I never jeopardized my playing the character by doing something stupid like that. I loved playing the character and I did it for whatever money they were going to pay.
It made me mad when I heard reports that I asked for too much money because we didn’t even get to that point! I was given the script, I had a lunch meeting with an executive at New Line and I was told I was doing it! So it was even more confusing and frustrating when I get replaced after that happens! The they said we wanted an actor with more expressive eyes – which was kind of ridiculous since Jason has only one eye and what people have always said about me is that I have expressive eyes!”
Some are also disappointed that we didn’t get that Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash movie, a film which Bruce Campbell said would have been insane.
You can see Kane Hodder next in Victor Crowley, the next film in the Hatchet franchise.
What do you think of the decision not to include Kane Hodder as Jason in Freddy vs. Jason? Do you think it should have happened? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!