Kane Hodder Says Friday the 13th is His Lucky Day

We recently passed another Friday the 13th, and for Friday the 13th franchise star Kane Hodder, it’s the best day of the year. Traditionally, the date has been seen as unlucky by the superstitious, and that’s even what led to the film getting its title in 1980. The series stems from Jason Voorhees presumably drowning on his birthday, which happened on a Friday the 13th, causing his mother to snap and murder a pack of camp counselors many years later.

Hodder joined the series in 1988, beginning his run in the Jason Voorhees role with the seventh installment, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. He took to the role so well that he became the first person to play Jason in multiple movies, as he was back under the mask for Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell, and Jason X. He was looking forward to co-starring with Freddy Krueger in Freddy vs. Jason when the role was controversially recast.

Despite that recasting, horror fans still widely celebrate Hodder decades later for his run as Jason Voorhees. It has made him an especially popular person whenever a Friday the 13th rolls around on the calendar. Asked by TMZ if he felt that day was unlucky for him, here’s what Hodder had to say.

“Absolutely not. It completely turned my career around. I was a stuntman, I have been for 45 years now, and I went from anonymous stunt guy to somebody that is signing things for people. So, it has been nothing but good luck for me. I know that people have bad impressions, ‘Friday the 13th, bad luck,’ but I don’t believe that at all. It’s kind of ironic. I think you know that I got burned pretty badly doing a stunt early in my career, and that was on a 13th, but it was not a Friday. Other than that, no bad things have ever happened.”

Related: 13 Fanboy Reunites Friday the 13th Stars on DVD

Kane Hodder Wants the Franchise to Continue

If you’re going to ask Kane Hodder if there should be another movie made, it’s definitely a yes. Better yet, he’s willing to reprise the role of Jason if another movie ends up happening.

“There’s been 12 films, so how do you not do a 13th Friday the 13th movie? I’m still very ready to kill people, and I would welcome the chance to come back again. What’s interesting about this date, Friday the 13th, May, 1988, was the day that my first Friday the 13th movie opened in theaters. So it’s kind of ironic to be talking to you on Friday the 13th in May again!”

Hodder also touched on how it’s a difficult role to play, though he has taken to it well. He also says that he’d still be willing to get involved in the next film, even if he’s not Jason, as it would be “fun” to play a victim.

“It’s a far more difficult role than people think about it, because they say, ‘Well, there’s no dialogue, and you don’t even use facial expressions.’ For me, that makes it even more difficult… I think there are some actors that, if I wasn’t to do it, that it would be kind of fun for me to be a victim of Jason. Just an ironic twist.”

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