We’ve been hearing a lot from Friday the 13th actor Kane Hodder recently, from encouraging fans not to lose hope in there being new entries in the franchise, to his ideas for a new film. Referring to a protracted legal dispute over the rights to the series, Hodder said he’s still keen to take on his iconic role as Jason Voorhees if and when a new movie is produced and he’s now revealed why he thinks his performances were so unique.
Speaking to ComicBook.com, the actor explained as so:
“I think maybe some of the previous guys didn’t really find the role that interesting because they’re like, ‘Well, I don’t get to show my face and I don’t talk, so how hard is it going to be?’ They took it too lightly, I think, because it’s far more difficult to be scary without using either one of those tools, or your voice or your facial expressions.”
By comparison, Hodder focused on a more naturalistic performance that did not rely on props to sell the horror, including a “heavy breathing” technique. Furthermore, he thinks he could reprise the role without too much difficulty, explaining:
“I think it’s fairly natural for me…I do feel like if I got called and I started tomorrow, I could get right back into it.”
Whether or not Hodder will get the chance is hard to say right now, given the complexity of the legal case over the Friday the 13th series. If he does though, he could be in line to appear in a completed script by Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives‘ Tom McLoughlin. In the meantime, the actor’s still holding out hope of playing Michael Myers, adding to his appearances as Jason, Leatherface and, more tangentially, Freddy Krueger’s gloved hand in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.
In any case, we certainly couldn’t think of a better actor than Hodder to revive Jason, so we’ll be tracking all the latest developments in the Friday the 13th saga while hoping for a breakthrough in the rights issue soon.