David Arquette has opened up about the absence of Scream creator and franchise director Wes Craven from the upcoming fifth instalment following the filmmaker’s passing back in 2015.
In an appearance on the Corpse Club podcast, Arquette detailed how he believes the upcoming reboot can be a healing experience as well as continuing Craven’s legacy and story he established with the Scream franchise.
“I talked to the directors and they were huge Wes fans,” Arquette said. “He’s been a huge inspiration for them their whole career. So, they have their hearts in the right place, they want to do something that he’d be proud of. And then the fact that Courteney’s coming back and hopefully Neve [Campbell] comes back as well — there’s something healing about that, for us to be able to carry on these films that he’s done, and just keep telling stories.”
Craven had a profound impact on the horror genre throughout his career besides the Scream franchise including directing The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes and creating the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise as well as the horror icon Freddy Krueger.
At the time of reporting, Neve Campbell is still not officially announced for the new movie, but the directors and the actor herself have both confirmed conversations have happened regarding reprising her role as Sidney Prescott.
The cast of Scream 5 so far includes a returning David Arquette and Courteney Cox, who will be reprising their roles of Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers respectively, as well as Jenna Ortega (You, Jane the Virgin) and Melissa Barrera (In the Heights) in as-yet-undisclosed roles.
Scream 5 is being directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of the filmmaking group Radio Silence (Ready or Not, V/H/S) from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, The Amazing Spider-Man) and Guy Busick (Ready or Not, Castle Rock). The original writer of Scream, Kevin Williamson, will be returning as an executive producer alongside the third member of the Radio Silence trio, Chad Villella.
Originally published August 25, 2020. Updated August 26, 2020.
