Wednesday, December 3, 1997
Everyone’s buzzing about who the killer is in the sequel to last
year’s horror hit, but the stars of ‘Scream 2’ are keeping things
hush-hushBy Stephanie Sheh
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
With the pressure of finals week coming, most Bruins are
probably ready for the midnight yell. But this winter break Wes
Craven wants you to scream, not from finals stress, but because
everyone’s a suspect.
In "Scream 2," opening Dec. 12, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell),
Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) and
Deputy Dewey (David Arquette) once again are plagued by the killer,
or killers, in the ghost mask. This time, though, the old gang and
several newcomers are running down the steps in Kinsey 51, dodging
the knife-bearing maniac.
The cast make their way into the Grand Ballroom at the Essex
House for their morning interviews, some bubbly, some groggy, but
all ready to discuss how shooting the film was at times just as
mysterious as the movie itself.
"I think the movie actually is better than the first one,"
admits Cox dressed in a suit with a stylish scarf tied around her
neck. She leans in. "Well, it’s at least scarier. It’s more
complicated, but I also think that the characters are so much
richer this time."
Cox isn’t the only one to feel "Scream 2" surpasses its
predecessor. Kennedy, who returns as the quirky yet lovable and
still virginal Randy, also feels this second film is better. Craven
set out with the goal of making the sequel worthy of the first.
"It had the likelihood of being very good," Craven says of why
he chose to direct "Scream 2." The master of scary movies passed on
directing the first five sequels to his original "Nightmare on Elm
Street." "Secondly it was written by the same author (Kevin
Williamson). We have a continuation of that intelligence and
vision. And basically this was seen as a trilogy so it was very
very different by nature than a typical (sequel) situation.
"It’s more like a whodunit social commentary couched in the
framework of horror film," continues Craven, resting his chin on
his hand. "The second film was scheduled to be a continuation of
the same characters, which is if you think of most of the sequels
 the one I’m associated with is ‘Nightmare on Elm Street,’
 the continuation is the bad guy and all the other characters
are discarded. In this you are taking a rooted character of Sidney
Prescott and Gale and all the other characters and showing how they
are changed by the first film’s events. So it’s really a much more
sophisticated and interesting thing to me as a director to
participate in."
After she survives the Woodsboro killings, fully equipped with a
best-selling book, Cox’s bitchy tabloid reporter returns even
bitchier. And she’s got a new look.
"This time I figured that she has a little money and she’s
producing, I think she looked at Vogue and tried her best to
imitate what she thought was in fashion that just wasn’t quite
right," Cox says. "I mean the streaks (in her hair) were not right.
So it’s a little tacky."
Continuing in the trend of changes, Sidney’s boyfriend Derek
(Jerry O’Connell) isn’t abusive this time around. (This is not to
say that he may not be the killer. Remember, everyone’s a suspect.)
He treats her well, so well that in one scene he serenades Sidney
with "You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling" a la "Top Gun."
"I really got into it, but mind you I had to re-record that
whole thing," says bright-eyed O’Connell while his co-star Elise
Neal, who plays Sidney’s roommate is laughing, recalling the
incident. "I remember I went in one evening and Wes Craven was
like, ‘Ah, Jerry? We have to re-record your song, it was a little
off-key.’ And I said, ‘Uh, really?’ And when I heard it played I
was totally off-key. I don’t (know) where I was and I’d give you
the letters of the keys I was in but I didn’t even know."
O’Connell, who couldn’t believe he did that scene sober, then
turns to Neal and says, "I must have drove you guys crazy
there."
She smiles, "It was making us laugh ’cause if you had have been
on key in as many takes as we did of it, it would’ve been (boring)
but because you were just going for it and you had no idea we were
like really laughing."
The atmosphere on the set was just as fun and laid-back. Cast
members would often hang out after filming and go partying in
Atlanta, where the majority of the film was shot, though Bruins
will recognize scenes in both Kinsey and Kerckhoff.
O’Connell attributes the wonderful time he had working on the
film to Craven and his ability to create a comfortable environment
on the set. O’Connell, an admirer who actually wrote several essays
on Craven in NYU film school, was excited to work with the horror
movie genius.
"When you first meet him you don’t know what to expect,"
O’Connell says. "You go in there with a handful of garlic, but he’s
such an intelligent guy. I just think he’s such a mild-mannered,
intelligent actor’s director."
"He’s such a great director," Cox agrees. "He lets you do what
you want to do. He tells you when he doesn’t want you to do
something. He comes up with the most amazing ideas. He’s funny. And
he sets the nicest tone on the set."
In order to get the performances needed, Craven kept the
identity of the killer/killers a secret to most of the cast
members.
"Wes said that everyone was a suspect," recalls Kennedy,
scratching his tousled head of hair. "He all wanted us to have like
shaky personalities.
"The looks that we had in the beginning of the movie, we all had
like these crazy looks. Remember those pork chops I had?" asks
Kennedy, turning to co-star Duane Martin, who plays Cox’s jittery
new cameraman. "I had like these long pointed sideburns and I had a
whole goatee and we were all going to be like these freaked out
kids on drugs a little bit."
Some cast members didn’t receive all of the script and others
didn’t receive the final pages until well near the end of filming.
The fact that they didn’t know who the killer was required the
actors at one point or another to suspect themselves.
"The crazy thing is when you go, ‘Well, Jesus, maybe I’m a
suspect. Wait a minute I’m definitely I’m a suspect.’ And you
think, "There’s no way I could be the suspect. There’s no way.’ And
when I got those pages in the envelope I ripped them open."
O’Connell is talking about the envelope containing final pages
of the script on which were further precautionary measures. For
example the script was on a special paper.
"I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the stuff. It’s wicked,"
O’Connell says animatedly. "It’s got like a big brown strip down
the middle. Un-xeroxable. I mean we had to wear decoder glasses
just to see them. You know, it was delivered to our house by armed
guards. I swear to you. You know, it was really really spooky. I
felt like James Bond."
The secrecy surrounding the script made it difficult for the
cast members to even read the script before signing onto the
project.
"They sent me like one page," Martin recalls. "It was top
secret. I was like, ‘What am I going to do with one page? And I
don’t like horror movies. When do I die? During the credits?’"
O’Connell jokes about the difficulty in obtaining the script.
"They said, ‘You can get a script but you have to go to Fort Knox
or you have to go to an obscure prison in Korea.’
"Every other project I’ve done since this is like boring,"
O’Connell continues lightheartedly. "Now when a messenger comes to
my house and drops the script off he’s not caring a gun. And
everyone’s like, ‘Okay, yeah this is your next project. Here’s your
script.’ And I’m like, ‘You gotta give me the whole thing? Just
save the ending. I don’t want to see it.’"
FILM: "Scream 2" opens Dec. 12.
Photos courtesy of Dimension Films
Liev Schreiber and Neve Campbell appear in "Scream 2."
Sarah Michelle Gellar, like the rest of the actors who appeared
in Wes Craven’s "Scream 2," didn’t find out the identity of the
killer (or killers) until late in the shooting of the movie.