A new featurette from Paramount Pictures for the upcoming fifth installment of Scream pays tribute to late director Wes Craven.
Craven was and continues to be an iconic staple in the horror genre. He not only directed the first 4 Scream films, he also wrote and directed the 1984 film The Nightmare on Elm Street. Other notable films include The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, The People Under the Stairs, and Red Eye. He passed away in 2015 after a battle with brain cancer.
The featurette from Paramount Pictures entitled "For Wes" focuses on the new Scream's desire to honor the legacy of Craven. "Wes Craven, you always think of him as the king of horror," Courtney Cox said. "He is an incredible director, but he's also an incredible human." Cox is one of several Scream alums who will return to the new addition to the franchise. She will be joined by Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Marley Shelton, and Roger L. Jackson, who will once again voice Ghostface. The fifth installment of the Scream franchise will be directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett appeared in the featurette to discuss how they tackled this new addition to Craven's Scream franchise. "Anything we got right in this movie is because of Wes Craven," Bettinelli-Olpin said. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett were joined in the featurette by long-term Scream producer Kevin Williamson, who wrote the first installment of the film's franchise. Scream alum including Cox, Campbell, and Arquette also discussed Craven's impact in the featurette along with franchise newcomer Melissa Barrera.
Cox, Arquette, and Campbell all discussed what it felt like returning to the horror franchise without Craven in the featurette. "I had been apprehensive about doing another one without Wes, but Matt and Tyler really wanted to honor him," Campbell said. "It's fun to get into it again." Arquette found himself impressed by the imprint Craven left on new Scream directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, which may have eased his mind in returning to the franchise, similar to Campbell's own feelings. As another star who worked with Craven on four Scream films, Cox found Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett's Scream as "a perfect way to reinvent this movie."
The newest Scream installment will be a new era for the franchise, as it is the first without Craven. It will introduce new Scream characters who hope to carry on the reputation of the franchise in years to come. "How this new cast connects to the legacy cast, that's what's going to make this movie super special," Williamson said. "And I was hoping that they were going to dedicate the film to Wes, and they did."
Scream releases in theaters on January 14, 2022.
Source: Paramount Pictures