New Scream Filmmakers Reveal Original Cast’s Reaction and Contributions to Script

Getting the opportunity to craft a new entry into a beloved franchise comes with a lot of excitement, though it also comes with a lot of nervousness, as you have to appeal to not only new audiences but also entertain longtime fans. In the case of the new Scream, the filmmakers have the added pressure of enlisting original stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courteney Cox to the mix, as well as Scream 4 star Marley Shelton. Directors of the new Scream Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett recently recalled what it was like to not only work with the legacy cast members, but also the invaluable insight they offered into the new sequel.

“This is their world. We are the new guys and we were very conscious of that and wanted to make sure everybody knew that going in,” Gillett shared of the original cast during the film’s Virtual Production Press Day. “It wasn’t, like, ‘Our way or the highway.’ It was, ‘Here’s this script that Guy [Busick] and Jamie [Vanderbilt] wrote that we love. These are characters that you guys have built over the last 25 years. All input is not only welcome, it is encouraged.’ And everybody had really good thoughts that helped guide the character stories. And, in a lot of cases, the story overall, where it was like, ‘This is a thing that wouldn’t make sense for X, Y, and Z, so we should adjust it.’ Then we all sat down and talked about it and figured that out. It was truly invaluable. It was really invaluable getting all the information, or just the feedback from them, because they know these characters better than anyone and they really help guide that in a lot of ways.”

Over the course of four films, the original cast experienced a number of adventures and have seen the ways in which the series impacted contemporary horror films. Despite how much they knew about the movie and things they could have assumed, the script for the new film still managed to deliver the Scream veterans a number of surprises.

“I think the thing that was evident every single time we reached out to any of the legacy cast with the script was, all of them said separately how surprised they were by how great the script was,” Bettinelli-Olpin added. “Which is a testament to Guy and Jamie and the level of care and consideration they took in writing those characters and writing them in a way that feels so much a part of [original director] Wes [Craven] and [writer] Kevin’s [Williamson] vision, but also so contemporary and make so much sense for what it happens to be. Like, push the franchise forward and give us the things that we want. The fact that they were all so excited to be a part of it is really cool to Guy and Jamie for just handling it with such care.”

The new Scream is set to hit theaters on January 14, 2022.

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