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Scream co-director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin describes the fifth film in the satirical slasher franchise as a “love letter” to the late, great Wes Craven.
Scream co-director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin says the fifth film in the satirical slasher franchise is a “love letter” to late horror legend Wes Craven, who helmed the original four entries.
“Our starting point was this has to be, on some level, a love letter to Wes Craven, Scream, and his other work,” Bettinelli-Olpin told Entertainment Weekly. “I would say throughout the making of the movie and within the finished product itself there’s so many little nods to Wes, there’s big nods to Wes. At the end of the day, the entire thing is ultimately a love letter to Wes from us. He’s one of the greatest directors, period, of his generation.
“To go into the movie already as fans, I think we all came out on the other side even bigger fans because we’ve gotten to know people [who knew him],” the director continued. “Everything we’ve heard and everyone we talked to about him has just been, he was the nicest, most supportive, loving man. So it’s daunting to pick up where he left off on Scream but it also was a real blessing for us.”
Prior to helming the original Scream film in 1996, Craven was already a bonafide legend in the world of horror, having directed such classics as the original The Last House on the Left, the original The Hills Have Eyes, the 1982 film adaptation of DC’s Swamp Thing and, perhaps most notably, the original A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Directed by Craven from a screenplay by Kevin Williamson, Scream (originally titled Scary Movie) first hit theaters on Dec. 20, 1996. Coming at a time when every major slasher franchise had seemingly run out of steam, Scream breathed new life into the genre by offering a humorous and satirical (though every bit as bloody) take on the idea of a masked killer running around with a knife, poking fun at the various tropes that had risen to prevalence over the previous few decades.
Craven and Williamson re-teamed for a sequel, Scream 2, which released in 1997. While Craven returned to direct 2000’s Scream 3, Williamson did not return to write it, with the threequel instead being penned by Ehren Kruger. A decade later, Craven and Williamson reunited for Scream 4, which released in 2011.
Scream: The TV Series, a television adaptation co-executive produced by Craven, premiered on MTV in 2015. Craven tragically passed away on Aug. 30, 2015 at the age of 76 — just two days before Scream concluded its first season. As such, the Season 1 finale was dedicated to Craven. Scream retuned for a second season in 2016 before the reworked third season, titled Scream: Resurrection, debuted on VH1 in 2019.
Despite simply being titled Scream, rather than Scream 5, the horror franchise’s latest big-screen entry serves as a direct sequel to Scream 4, with series mainstays Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox all returning. In addition to being the first Scream film to not be directed by Craven, 2022’s Scream is also the second entry to not be written by Williamson. The film was directed by Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett from a script by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. Posts about the film made by members of the cast and crew are frequently tagged #ForWes.
Thus far, the new Scream film has made an estimated $30.6 million at the domestic box office over its opening weekend, becoming the first film to take the number one spot from Spider-Man: No Way Home since the joint Sony/Marvel Studios picture opened in cinemas on Dec. 17. Scream has also opened to relatively strong reviews, currently holding a 75 percent approval rating and an 84 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Scream is in theaters now.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
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