How to successfully survive a horror movie?
This meta Scream scene recalled by Kevin Williamson and the movies stars explains it all.
How clever is the script for the originalScream?
Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and officer Dewey Riley (David Arquette) arrive at Stu’s house in ‘Scream.'.Paramount Pictures
The other is his fellow reveler,Skeet Ulrich’s Billy Loomis.
Lillard and Ulrich were up-and-coming film actors when they both auditioned for the part of Sidney’s boyfriend Billy.
KEVIN WILLIAMSON:I felt horror movies were dead, and I was really sad about that.
Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) explains the rules in ‘Scream.'.Paramount Pictures
The genre had run aground, like it does every so often.
Suddenly they’re on edge.
I started playing with the tropes.
Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) hams it up.Paramount Pictures
The “rules” were part of that.
They made a mistake casting Skeet over me, that’s for sure!
[Laughs]
SKEET ULRICH:[Laughs] Oh my goodness.
Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) embraces boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) in 1996’s ‘Scream.'.Paramount Pictures
I’ll have a chat with Matt about that.
I think he should let that go by now.
WILLIAMSON:Jamie came in to audition, and he seemed part innocent teenager and part comedian.
Sidney with Randy in ‘Scream.'.Paramount Pictures
He clearly knew how to spit out the words, and that is what we were looking for.
Everyone just fell in love with him.
JAMIE KENNEDY:I thought, this scene is so cool.
It breaks down everything that’s happening in a horror movie commenting on horror movies.
I know the studio wasn’t exactly excited to have me because I didn’t have any credits.
It was Wes and the team who pushed for me to get the part.
Without them I wouldn’t be talking to you.
LILLARD:Wes became this father figure for all of us.
He was just such a pleasure to be around.
KENNEDY:We shot it in wine country, Sonoma County.
We all definitely hung out.
I would have a late breakfast with Rose.
I played basketball with Skeet.
David’s room was the after-hours party room.
ULRICH:I think we felt like outsiders for the most part, rolling into the hotel.
We wound up hanging in David Arquette’s room.
He had a bar.
ARQUETTE:They’d all come hang out in my room at the DoubleTree inn.
I had decked the whole place up.
Black light posters and lava lamps.
We were going to be there for two or three months, so I made it really comfortable.
This final chunk of the movie was shot at a real house in the small town of Tomales.
LILLARD:I think we shot that last sequence for 21 days.
KENNEDY:I did it once, and Wes, he liked it.
He was like, “I think I got it.”
I was like, “Yeah, I think there’s more I could do.”
Afterward, Wes said, “Cut, great, print.”
Wes said, “How do you feel?”
And I said, “I feel good.”
He goes, “Never be scared to ask for another take, always trust your instincts.”
That was a big lesson for me, not to be scared.
That scene really helped me for my whole career.
I’m never scared to ask for another take, to confer with the director.
Wes really helped me with that.
LILLARD:It’s so funny, looking back on that sequence.
Everything in that movie for me was so over-the-top and so much energy and crazy.
KENNEDY:I said, “Never say, ‘I’ll be right back!'”
and Matthew said, “I’ll be right back!”
I think that was part of the script.
It was like, “‘Ooh, don’t say that!'”
LILLARD:“I’ll be right back!”
was me mocking Jamie, and it ended up being one of those things that people remember.
I think I was just riding the emotion and the energy of the moment.
KENNEDY:While I was doing that scene, I was like, “This is so cool.”
Did I know that I was going to be talking to you 25 years after?
LILLARD:That house is now available to rent on Airbnb.
Back From the Dead
Screamopened on Dec. 20, 1996.
But Randy and his “rules” live on in the memories of horror fans.
KENNEDY:[The premiere] was at the AVCO in Westwood.
I was like, “I mean, the box office wasn’t great.”
KENNEDY:Every day of my life [people talk to me aboutScream].
When something happens, they always ask me about the rules of it.
“There’s rules to surviving a pandemic!”
I think the people want somehow for Randy to be alive.
Would I like to come back?
You’d better believe it!
