Years before he rebooted the Halloween franchise, Rob Zombie was given the opportunity to helm the long-awaited crossover clash that was Freddy vs. Jason, but for better or worse, the cult director and White Zombie frontman ultimately passed on the project.
The Lords of Salem filmmaker wasn’t the only familiar figure approached for Freddy vs. Jason, a project that had been bubbling in development since the ‘80s. Future Lord of the Rings helmsman Peter Jackson, for instance, was asked if he’d consider doing the movie after he wrote a script for a sixth Nightmare on Elm Street pic.
Ultimately, Jackson’s Elm Street screenplay lost out to Michael De Luca’s script for Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, but after the 1991 flick underperformed at the box office, Jackson was again considered for Freddy vs. Jason. This time, however, he turned the project down, saying he was no longer interested, and it was at this point that Zombie was approached to direct.
Though the singer was still relatively new to moviemaking at the time (a few music videos aside), Zombie turned down the potentially career-boosting opportunity because he was already in pre-production on what would eventually become his feature debut, 2003’s House of 1000 Corpses.
In the end, Freddy vs. Jason was given to director Ronny Yu and was released in 2003 to mixed reviews and box office success. Since then, the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises have each received the reboot treatment before sitting out most of the 2010s. Zombie, on the other hand, remains a prolific filmmaker whose latest feature, 3 From Hell, arrived in theaters just last September.