The horror genre's renaissance over the past few years have resulted in an exciting time for fans. Plenty of new and original projects have hit theaters, while studios have also tackled beloved franchises like Child's Play and Halloween. That trend has continued with 2022's Scream, which recently wrapped principal photography. The slasher property is known for its twist and turns, and now it seems that not even the cast might know who Ghostface truly is.
The new Scream movie will be helmed by Ready or Not filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and will mark the first installment since the death of the legendary Wes Craven. They've assembled a killer cast to occupy Woodsboro, including a mixture of new and returning faces. But it turns out the stars might not know all the secrets of Scream. I recently had the chance to speak with the directors and producer William Sherak, where he revealed how the movie's twists are being kept from even the cast. As he put it,
I think the two things to remember for us. One is there are multiple versions of the draft out there and most of the cast don’t know if they have the right version or not. So we’ve been playing that game with them as well. And the fun of a Scream movie is that everyone is guilty until proven innocent, not the other way around. So the goal is to keep that going for as long as possible and have fun with it.
Well, this is intriguing. It looks like the new Scream will follow in the footsteps of Wes Craven by making every character a suspect to be the mysterious Ghostface. And while Craven was known for filming extra scenes, the new crew of filmmakers guarded Scream's ending by passing out fake versions of the script.
William Sherak's comments to myself and other journalists come from an interview done before Scream wrapped filming. When discussing the way the franchise's ensembles are historically full of suspects and red herrings, the producer revealed that this extended to even the stars of the film. While names like Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox likely got the real script, not everyone was given that luxury.
While the cast of Scream weren't all given the movie's final script, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett assembled a killer group of familiar faces to make the slasher into a reality. Joining the trio of returning stars is another familiar face: Scream 4's Marley Shelton as Judy Hicks. As for the myriad newcomers, the group includes The Boys' Jack Quaid, 13 Reasons Why star Dylan Minnette, Jasmin Savoy Brown (The Leftovers), Jenna Ortega (You), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's Mikey Madison.
While the story is being kept under wraps, news that Scream recently wrapped its principal photography is a thrilling step forward to the movie's ultimate arrival in 2022. Clearly security on the project is tight, but the limited information gleaned from the filmmakers and cast has definitely teased that the next installment won't take any prisoners.
It should be interesting to see exactly what brings Neve Campbell's Sidney Prescott back to Woodsboro given the various traumas that have taken place in her hometown. In Scream 4 it was a book tour, which served as the catalyst for new series of grisly murders planned out by her niece Jill (Emma Roberts). I'm also eager to see how the young cast factors into the story, and what ways they're chopped down by Ghostface throughout the course of its runtime.
Scream 5 is currently expected to hit theaters on January 14th, 2022. In the meantime, check out our 2021 release list to plan your trips to the movies next year.
