Having starred in everything from The Lost Boys to Stand by Me, The Goonies, Gremlins, The ‘Burbs, and even License to Drive, Corey Feldman‘s legacy goes far beyond his battle with Jason Voorhees. Yet, the child star is best known among horror fans as Tommy Jarvis, the young aspiring special effects artist who is the only character to actually kill the iconic hockey-masked slasher.
In a way, the impact of Feldman’s Tommy Jarvis in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter could be likened to that of Jamie Lee Curtis in John Carpenter’s Halloween. The idea that he could reprise his role in a future Friday isn’t all that crazy, especially after the success of Halloween (2018). In fact, it would actually be pretty damn cool.
In speaking to Movieweb, Feldman makes some bold claims, telling the site that before Platinum Dunes remade Friday the 13th in 2009, the plan was to pit Tommy against Jason Freddy vs. Jason style.
“Let’s just hope they don’t make it like they did the last one, because that was terrible,” Feldman rudely asserts before diving in headfirst. “Where they messed up is they had been meeting with me about doing Tommy vs. Jason, like H20 style. That was the plan… They didn’t go that route and they went and did this awful atrocity of a reboot instead and look what you got…
“Not to talk badly about Platinum Dunes, but I had met with them prior to making that movie and they had promised me that they were going to use me and bring Tommy Jarvis back in the version that they had originally planned to make, and then that all got scratched for that ridiculous whatever-it-was,” Feldman alleges.
My own personal recollection of the developmental process was that the directive from Warner Bros./New Line Cinema was always to do a reboot and never to toy with a canonized version or even try something uniquely different.
Digressing, Feldman uses this to segue into the next Friday the 13th, and to project his involvement. It’s a concept I find extremely exciting and fully endorse.
“If they were doing things the right way and they were listening to what the fans really want, and they had their ear to the ground and the pulse of what’s going on in pop culture society, what they should do is revamp the idea of bringing Tommy back [40] years later to go up against his nemesis the same way they did with Jamie Lee Curtis and the Halloween reboot,” Feldman exclaims. “Now, of course, they’ve taken that idea and redone that five different ways… Well, all we’re asking for is one…one Tommy vs. Jason sequel. That’s all we’re asking for.”
Feldman is so passionate about his take that he even developed a pitch that he took directly to the studio: “Me and the original writer of The Final Chapter, Barney Cohen, had gotten together and fleshed out a treatment for Tommy vs. Jason and we were pitching it to Paramount and New Line about 6-7 years ago, but it just never went forward because of all the tie-up and all the legal litigation stuff going on.”
Speaking of…
Let’s make one thing crystal clear before we move forward – Corey Feldman is not a source. In fact, it’s extremely unlikely that he has any real insight into any of the developmental happenings behind the Friday the 13th franchise. With that said, here’s what he says about the long-gestured battle for franchise rights between original screenwriter Victor Miller and Horror Inc. (Sean Cunningham):
“Interestingly enough, some guy came up to me at a party – this is true – two weeks ago, and said he has resolved the rights issues,” Feldman claims. “He’s a lawyer, and he has resolved the rights issues around Friday the 13th, and that things are working out, and now they’ll be able to start making Friday the 13th movies again.”
Again, I cannot stress this enough, this all must all be taken with an extremely small grain of salt. It’s highly unlikely Feldman has any actual insight into the happenings behind the scenes of Friday the 13th, but I do admire his passion. And if things ever do get figured out, I do love the idea of seeing Feldman return to the role of Tommy Jarvis to kick Jason Voorhees’s ass one final time. Quotes courtesy of Movieweb.
What do you all think?
