The first SCREAM 4 interview group, comprised of new stars Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, Anthony Anderson and Rory Culkin (see article here), make their way out of the crowded pressroom as the veterans of the original trilogy arrive at the door. In seconds, Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Neve Campbell are in their seats and steeling themselves for the inevitable onslaught of questions from part-time reporters, full-time fans.

Returning to the silver screen as Gale Weathers-Riley, Cox’s character has gone through a number of changes. Now a big name in Woodsboro as a hotshot author, Weathers-Riley has been hard at work, with countless “Woodsboro Murder” mystery books being written by her pen (keep your eyes open for the numerous in-film references to the iconic STAB “movies”). In SCREAM 4, however, Cox’s character has hit a major writer’s block. “So when it’s 10 years later and the murders start happening, she just wants to get really involved so she can write her book and become more famous,” says the former FRIENDS star.

So it would appear that nothing has changed about the “truth-seeking” journalist hasbeen, but what about the other characters? Campbell describes getting back into character after a 10-year hiatus. “It’s been 15 years now we’ve been doing these characters and so… not difficult to jump into [it],” she says. “I mean, I had fun watching the films again before we started doing this, just to get a sense of it. It’s still really nice to see they’ve held up really well. But no, it wasn’t difficult to get into the characters. For Sidney, it’s just like…imagining her circumstances and doing it.”

In this installment of the SCREAM franchise, Sidney Prescott finds herself being haunted once more by Ghostface upon arrival on the final stop of her book tour—her hometown.

The characters’ personal lives aren’t the only changes made to the SCREAM universe; as mentioned in the previous article, the rules are much different this time around. But how did Craven and Kevin Williamson (the writer behind all four films in the franchise) come up with these new rules? “Well, we both spend a lot of time on the Internet, as I think most of our lives revolve around that now,” Craven says. “[We] use those things now, like it or not. So once you start using them, you have to think of the possibilities of how they could be misused too. I mean, look, if you’re in a theater today, people are texting all around you. You have the little glowing screens everywhere.”

Craven goes on to explain that the very essence of the SCREAM films is that they break the rules; they establish what the rules are, then immediately break them. “…and that started right in [the first] SCREAM—if you say, ‘I’ll be right back,’ then you’ll die; the person that says that is one of the killers. If you have sex, you’ll die, and Neve’s character has the first sexual encounter of her life, and she’s one of the survivors. It makes the audience not know what to expect next; if they think they know what the rules are, we immediately say, ‘No, you don’t.’ ”

As lawman Dewey Riley, Arquette enjoyed the opportunity to mix it up with the young upstarts. “With the new cast coming along to this, it was really interesting to see because they’re kind of reflections of us when we first got there, and it just brings an electricity that I felt on the first film, with this,” Arquette says. “The people [of this new generation] are then going to discover the old stuff.”

Craven knows that moviegoers these days can be pretty fickle, as noted by the low turnout for his MY SOUL TO TAKE last fall. “You know, it’s like we do a film like MY SOUL TO TAKE and people think it sucks; it hurts,” he says. “We put a lot of work into it, and into the film. But you go on, it’s part of it. The good feeling about doing SCREAM 4 was getting back with old friends, working on something I thought was really good and having a chance to be more recognizable to an audience. And, you know, save my career,” he laughs.

The three SCREAM trilogy survivors/returnees suggest there’s nothing to “save”; Craven’s still got the magic touch. “He’s just an amazing filmmaker,” says Cox. “He is the master of this [genre]. He’s so current on everything. And the way he directs Ghostface, the way he has him tilt his head, it’s so eerie.”

Campbell adds, “Shots and timing and music. Wes found him [composer] Marco Beltrami on the Internet, and he’s just become this phenomenal composer, just very successful. Wes just has a really great eye and ear and taste in people.”

Referring to the SCREAM 4 helmer, Arquette comments that 29-time director is so good, that he was able to make a swinging houseplant scary. “I just get a chuckle out of watching the audience too,” the actor says. “I love when you go to a horror film with real horror fans and everyone’s there watching and getting involved, screaming. That’s when it’s the most alive and exciting for me. Wes brings that out in these films.”

A major problem that plagues many horror flicks, or at least the popular ones, is the inevitable leakage of information that oftentimes results in revealing spoilers. To prevent these types of controversies, Craven tells us that keeping things underwraps was akin to spy work. “Everything from when we did original casting…with hundreds of young actors reading pages from the script, we couldn’t have them reading pages from the actual script,” the director says, adding that the auditioning cast read from the original SCREAMplay.

The stars of the initial SCREAM trilogy welcomed the newbies graciously. “Oh, it was great, except Courtney and I would look at each other and be like, ‘We could be their mothers,’ ” Campbell says. Cox chimes in, “Grandmothers.” Campbell quickly adds, “But they were great; they came with so much enthusiasm to the project. And people asking whether we had to show them the ropes…they’re professionals in their own rights. They came in and did a great job.”

The last question of the hour is inevitable, and there’s a layer of tension in the room as it’s inquired as to how the idea for SCREAM 4 was given physical form, and whether or not Craven and company have plans for a SCREAM 5. “At the end of the decade, there was just the perfect time to turn around and look at the first decade of the 21st century,” Craven says. “It was quite distinctive from others—certainly the presence of electronic media being brought down to the people, to the level where everyone is online. The whole business, as you well know, is changing dramatically. The way fans follow the movies and participate in the movies and make their own movies to emulate those movies is profoundly differently. And it was time to make a SCREAM that could perfect all this newness.”

 

---

MOVIES/TV - Fearful Features