We had the opportunity to talk with horror icon Lisa Wilcox, known for her role as Alice in both A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. We discuss her experiences in the famed horror franchise as well as her career in both TV and film.
Horror Geek Life: Starting with A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 and 5, we know you’ve always been a huge fan of horror and science fiction films. Were there any particular characters from those genres that you used as inspiration when preparing for your role as Alice?
Lisa Wilcox: No, Alice was really just me. She was me as a child growing up. I was always a daydreamer, secluded to my room and reading books. We moved a lot so making friends was hard, though Alice did have some really good friends. When I had the opportunity to audition, it was like, “Wow! This is just me in fourth or fifth grade.”
HGL: So, did you have any creative control over the character?
Lisa Wilcox: No, there’s no creative control during auditioning. The script is written, you audition, and you hope you get a callback. But the script was really quite beautiful. The evolution of Alice from a shy daydreamer girl to a kickass woman. She honestly goes from girl to woman in that script. Plus, the script has fabulous jokes and things like that.
HGL: There seemed to be a pretty big transition from 4 to 5 as far as the character growth and development went.
Lisa Wilcox: Yeah, which I think so many people relate to as well. At one point in your life, hopefully, something happens where you just grow up, where you take your strength, and you just do it.
HGL: Both films produced some of the coolest set designs and practical effects of the ‘80s. Can you talk about some of the more memorable pieces you interacted with?
Lisa Wilcox: Well, it’s just so interesting now with green screen being used so much, and back then, it was all practical effects. Literally, we had all these brainiacs working in production that were like, “Ok…how are we going to do this? How do we create an effect where this woman turns into a cockroach?” They had to just figure it out. For me, the church scenes, that was a real set, that was built and created, and the pews…all of that was real. My brother’s house, that was real. We didn’t work with green screens because they didn’t really exist. I do remember wandering around Nightmare 4 and 5 and looking at the different sets, going, “Wow! Oh my gosh! They can shoot from this angle, and everything will look so huge.” Like the Escher set in Nightmare 5, that was really built.
HGL: When you were doing these films, did you ever think they would be favorites of the series like they are to some fans?
Lisa Wilcox: Haha! No, no. Look, I’ve been a fan of horror since I was a little girl, and I was already a fan of A Nightmare on Elm Street. So to be part of the franchise, I still pinch myself, you know? But no, when we did Nightmare 4, we all looked at each other and said, “We think this is something good,” but we didn’t know. We were there, doing our characters and doing our best. There was great chemistry on set for all of us.
I understand with horror films, they’re all like, “Ohhh, we’re all besties, blah blah blah,” but to this day, we actually are really all besties. Annette Benson, who cast Nightmare 1-5, she cast best friends. It wasn’t until we were in the back of the theater watching the movie come out in Westwood, and people were watching and freaking out and loving it, that we were like, “Oh my God, this is happening!” To me, Nightmare 4 is still such a date movie. I mean, you’ve got Freddy Krueger wearing Ray-Bans on the beach in daytime scenes with a monster. You had great one-liners, and yet you also have a storyline that so relatable with someone like Alice. You know, we’ve all been there. We’ve all been in that awkward and shy time in our lives, and we make choices to change.
HGL: Honestly, she’s a little more relatable than Nancy is in the first and third films. Don’t get us wrong, we love Nancy, but Alice is a little more like us.
Lisa Wilcox: With Alice, there’s nothing extreme about her. She’s going through her journey. Of course, she gets stronger as each of her friends die. She takes on their strengths but also their weaknesses. Think about it. Kristen dies, and all of a sudden, Alice is smoking in the bathroom at the high school. Alice took on the good and the bad. She’s never just all of the sudden screaming and yelling, and it was quite a feat because she has to be believable.
We never shoot in sequence. So we’re doing scene three in the morning and then doing scene 42 in the afternoon. Alice has this whole evolution to go through. In my script, I had already written who had died in every single scene, so if we’re doing scene 27, I know I have this level of power, and another scene only this level of power. It was really up to me as a performer to make it believable — that Alice’s transformation is believable.
HGL: It takes a lot of talent to fluctuate back and forth when scenes are out of order like that.
Lisa Wilcox: Well, yes, haha! It’s part of my job as a performer to be able to do that, but also, I could already relate to Alice. It’s just to make it transform onto film, which is a much different thing.
HGL: Do you think the Nightmare on Elm Street series could use a reboot/sequel like David Gordon Green did Halloween or how Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett handled the new Scream?
Lisa Wilcox: Yes, and including myself, I would love a reboot of some kind. What they’ve done with Halloween with Jamie is amazing. I wish A Nightmare on Elm Street would follow suit, but I just don’t see that happening. They did the remake with Jackie Earle Haley, and my God, he’s an amazing actor, and I’m such a fan of his, but it’s just so hard to replace Robert Englund. We’ve all just kind of realized that, so I don’t really know if that will happen. It’s a shame, you know? What happened to Alice and Jacob? It’s so mysterious and strange.
HGL: Well, hopefully, with the recent success of these types of films, something will happen in the next couple of years.
Lisa Wilcox: Yeah, you never know. I’m not dead yet!
HGL: Since doing the Nightmare films, you’ve done a lot of TV roles. What are some of the better experiences in some of them?
Lisa Wilcox: Oh my goodness, there are so many! Sitcoms are so much fun. Mr. Belvedere…doing Macgyver, are you kidding? Soap Operas, Knots Landing. Two of my favorites — Walker, Texas Ranger, I play a nun. The episode was called “Saving Grace,” and it’s just the most beautifully tragic story. We filmed in Dallas in this beautiful church, and it was really quite something. I loved Star Trek: The Next Generation, of course, playing Yuta. That was an amazing journey and filmed at Paramount, which is my favorite studio in the entire world. It was so elegant and beautiful, and if you ever go to Los Angeles, you have got to just go to the gates of Paramount on Melrose.
I also loved playing Carol Brady/ Florence Henderson. It was a behind-the-scenes about The Brady Bunch. It was a period of time when they were doing behind-the-scenes with a number of shows we grew up on in the ’70s, and it was quite amazing to be on the set of The Brady Bunch — playing Florence Henderson and getting to say, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia,” so many fun stories.
HGL: Going back to Star Trek, many actors have returned to different series in different roles. Would you be open to returning to the world of Star Trek?
Lisa Wilcox: Definitely, and in fact, I was invited to Utah to audition for a role in the series after The Next Generation. I didn’t book the role, but absolutely. I’m still amazed at it all. I’m on The Next Generation Monopoly board. I’m a property on the board for that one guest star role that I did. There’s trading cards, you know? In Star Trek, killing wasn’t their way, but inevitably I did have to be killed, but please bring me back!
HGL: As far as films go, what film has been the most fun to work on since doing the Nightmare films?
Lisa Wilcox: There’s a film called Mystery Spot. I had left acting for quite a while, I got married, had children, and that was my focus in life. It was at FrightFest in London, which had about 70 films. I was nominated for Best Actress. I didn’t win, but nonetheless, it was quite an experience. It’s about a woman who feels tremendous guilt because she was drinking and driving, she gets into an accident, and her beloved fiancé is killed, and she is fine. It’s a film about guilt and repair. I seriously spent like two weeks working on my lines. There were a lot of lines, monologues, and storytelling, and I’m super, super proud of that one. I’ve done quite a few new films as well, and you’ll have to wait and see what they are!
HGL: Are there any new ones you’re particularly excited about?
Lisa Wilcox: A film called High Tide. Again, there are a lot of films I can’t really talk about yet. I do have films, and they do have titles, haha. But nowadays, with the NDAs, you can’t say anything. I also have Barbee Rehab coming out with Tom Sizemore and Bai Ling, and I play a very wildcard kind of character. That is a raunchy adult comedy, and it comes out on Tubi on May 6th, 2022.
HGL: Lastly, is there anything outside of film you would like people to watch out for?
Lisa Wilcox: Outside of film, I’m a huge supporter of NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness). Depression is up 30%. Things have been happening since Covid and the isolation that we’ve had from each other. I’m a huge supporter of that organization, and what can I say? We need to just take care of each other!
Horror Geek Life thanks Lisa Wilcox for her time and the great interview. You can follow Lisa Wilcox on Twitter (@LisaWilcox1) and Instagram (@thelisawilcox).
