Scream 5 – officially titled Scream (5cream was right there...) – was not always a sure thing. Following director Wes Craven's death in 2015, there was a hesitancy around returning to the long-running franchise. But the stars aligned when Ready of Not filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett came on board.
Not only were the two massive fans of Scream, but they also had winning ideas for the sequel. Sidney Prescott actor Neve Campbell was impressed.
"I had thought I'd left Sidney behind when we lost Wes," Campbell tells Total Film in the new issue, which features Scream on the cover.
"I had been apprehensive about the idea of Scream being revived by somebody else. When the film came up, I thought, 'Oh, no!'" she laughs. But a moving letter from Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett grabbed her attention. "And then I watched Ready Or Not, and I realized that they were superbly talented, and that their movie was certainly in keeping with the tone of the Scream movies. And in the letter, they said that they became directors because of Wes Craven, and because of the Scream movies. And so it just seemed like the right fit."
Campbell remembers the directing duo geeking out on set. "It was funny, one of them said to me on the first day when I was shooting one of my scenes, they were watching the monitor, and they forgot that they were directing the movie. They thought that they were just watching a Scream movie they hadn’t seen before!" She breaks into laughter again. "It was such a surreal experience for them. It was like, 'No, you're directing. Can you direct me?!'"
As for where Sidney is in the present day, she's not quite willing to spill their guts just yet. "Sidney is now a mother," explains Campbell. "So another level of strength as a woman. She's living out of her hometown. She lives away. And she has a happy life. And that's all I can tell you!" As she quips in the trailer, she's Sidney Prescott, so of course she has a gun. "Because of her history, she'd be an idiot not to," laughs Campbell of her cautious character.
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are best known for the ludicrously fun, expectation-defying Ready or Not, and inside the new issue of Total Film, they discuss their enthusiasm for the series as it jolts back to life. Plus, Total Film also speaks to the cast – legacy and new – and executive producer Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original film back in 1996 (and also scripted Screams 2 and 4).
Scream opens in UK and US cinemas on Jan 14, 2022. For much more on the film, pick up a copy of the new issue of Total Film magazine when it hits shelves (real-world and digital) from Thursday, November 11. Check out the new cover below:
And if you're a fan of Total Film, why not subscribe so that you never miss an issue? You’ll save money on the magazine, you’ll get it before it hits shops, *and* you'll get exclusive, subscriber-only cover like the Scream one below. Don't miss out on another incredible cover that's not available in stores...
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