#robert rusler

MEETING THE FREDDY’S REVENGE CAST YESTERDAY WAS SOOOOOOO SO MAJOR AND CRAZY!!!!!!

so i had already decided to cosplay jesse for this convention like a month or two ago, and up until literally a few days before the convention, mark patton was scheduled to attend as well. (he canceled last minute due to sickness, which is completely understandable!!) i was sad to hear about his cancellation, but still decided to meet the other two principal cast members who were there!!

kim myers, who played lisa, was SOOOO so nice and welcoming to me when i approached her booth!! she asked if i was dressed as jesse, and when i confirmed that i was, she asked if SHE could take a photo of ME to send to mark 🥺😭❤️❤️❤️ i was so touched and honored by that and told her as much!! we spoke about how good and important his documentary Scream, Queen! was, and she wrote some very kind words on the dirty dancing-inspired freddy’s revenge poster i’d brought along to be signed. then, as we were taking a selfie together, robert rusler (grady) literally JUMPED into the photo unannounced, and, as i would discover later when reviewing the photos, pretended to kiss me on the side of my head…. ABSOLUTELY crazy……

i came over to his table afterwards to ask for his signature on the poster as well, and we spoke a bit as well about our sadness that mark couldn’t make it and our shared wish that he felt better soon. i also asked if it was gratifying for rusler himself to see freddy’s revenge kind of come around and be embraced after its rough initial reception, but i think he kind of misunderstood the question because he just told me that even though he’s had 100+ film roles, it’s the first few roles he had in films from the 80s that seem to be his most popular. (he also had notable early roles in weird science and vamp, both 80s sci-fi/horror comedies respectively.) after he finished signing my poster, he blew me another kiss as i left his table!!

and then, as the cherry on top of this whole thing, we happened to cross paths with rusler again at the very end of the day, as both he and my group were leaving the con in opposite directions. i waved at him, and he smiled and said unprompted, “bye, jesse! i’ll love you forever!!” which was ABSOLUTELY crazy!!

i feel like it’s so common for actors involved with gay ships to either be cold and dismissive about it, or just to not acknowledge it at all. i thought it was SO special for a presumably straight actor like robert rusler to really embrace the idea of jesse and grady being a couple, especially as a show of support for and solidarity with his gay costar. i don’t really know much about either him OR kim myers outside of their connection to the elm street series, but i was so touched and so happy to see the friendship the two of them shared with each other and, more importantly, with mark patton. you could tell there was nothing but love, respect, and support for him from the both of them, and i could also see that they both really respected how meaningful this movie has become to the queer community.

as a final note, here’s the poster they both signed! i didn’t request anything special on them aside from including my name, so i was once again really moved by the lovely things they both wrote 🥹 i didn’t actually mention to either of them that i’m gay or that i’ve had my share of struggles related to my sexuality, but i guess they probably intuited that based on the fact that i was cosplaying jesse walsh LMAO.