The pressure of producing four consecutive horror hits was enough to make the late Wes Craven “Scream,” according to one of the series’ stars.
The iconic director gained a cult following with 1996’s “Scream,” the horror thriller that follows a masked maniac who launches a killing spree in a vapid suburban community. Craven went on to direct the three sequels that followed: “Scream 2” (1997), “Scream 3” (2000) and “Scream 4” (2011).
The original’s star Matthew Lillard told entertainment site Bloody Disgusting that Craven was “miserable” while filming the sequels. “I don’t think anyone gave ‘Scream’ a lot of credence,” he said in an interview published Thursday.
“I mean, I don’t think anyone gave us a chance, because we were coming in with a director that wasn’t necessarily young and hot. And we were coming with two television actors. And I think that we had a version of [Craven] that was humbled and happy to be there,” said Lillard, 51.
The “She’s All That” actor added, “I think that the cast, we all had an experience within that. Because we were all young, and we were all cohesive. We were like this little family for two months.”
He continued, “I think that [Craven] loved that. I believe that he enjoyed that. There was no pressure on that movie to be something special. It ended up being something iconic, but at the moment, there wasn’t the pressure.”
“I think the other three movies, certainly ‘4,’ must’ve felt [pressure] during the production, which is interesting. Right? I mean, he went from sort of this carefree moment to, by the end, I think he was miserable,” Lillard said. “I don’t think it was a secret. He was really miserable by the time he did ‘4,’ in terms of the pressure to produce an iconic film.”
Craven died of a brain tumor in 2015 at the age of 76. Lillard starred in the scary series alongside Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Skeet Ulrich.
The franchise’s legacy led to a short-lived MTV series from 2015 to 2019, as well as the upcoming “Scream” reboot, co-directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and executive produced by “Dawson’s Creek” creator Kevin Williamson. A trailer for 2022’s “Scream,” in theatres Jan. 14, dropped on Tuesday.
Ghostface will terrorize the troubled town of Woodsboro, California, again in the fifth film, starring Jenna Ortega, 19 (“You”), Dylan Minnette, 24 (“13 Reasons Why”) and Jack Quaid, 29 (“Star Trek: Lower Decks”).