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![Facts and Production Info:
PLOT SUMMARY:
SCREAM is a psychological thriller directed by suspense master Wes Craven. The story is set in Woodsboro, California, a quiet small town that's come under siege by a murderer who takes all his cues from the movies.
The young people he targets can only survive if they have the presence of mind to follow movie rules: Don't answer the door. Don't hide in the closet. Don't just stand there. Don't go back in the house. Don't trip. Don't answer the phone. Don't ask, "Who's there?" Don't have sex. Don't drink or do drugs. And never, ever, under any circumstances, SCREAM.
TAGLINES:
Someone has taken their love of scary movies one step too far.
Solving this mystery is going to be murder.
Don't answer the phone. Don't open the door. Don't try to hide. And whatever you do, don't Scream.
Make Your Last Breath Count.
RELEASE DATES:
December 20, 1996 (US)
January 31, 1997 (Brazil)
February 13, 1997 (Australia)
April 11, 1997 (US re-release)
May 2, 1997 (UK)
MPAA RATING:
'R' - theatrical version (US)
'Unrated' - director's cut
BUDGET:
$15 million
OPENING WEEKEND:
$6.354 million (US) - 1,413 screens
GROSS:
$103 million (US)
$161.6 million (Worldwide)
$39.502 million (US) - Video rentals
COPYRIGHT HOLDER:
Miramax Film Corporation
FILMING LOCATIONS:
Bradley Video, Santa Rosa, California, USA
Healdsburg, California, USA
Santa Rosa, California, USA
Glen Ellen, California, USA
Healdsberg Town Square, Healdsberg, California, USA
Sonoma Community Center, Sonoma, California, USA
Tomales Bay, California, USA
Info for the VHS:
Released: December 2, 1997 (US)
Formats: Pan & Scan, Widescreen
Versions: Theatrical (cast on box), Director's Cut (blue boxes)
Info for the Deluxe Kit VHS:
Released: December 2, 1997 (US)
Format: Widescreen
Version: Theatrical
Extras: Behind-The-Scenes Featurette, Audio commentary by Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson, Three collectible cards, and an Exclusive Scream phone card
Info for the DVD (first release):
Released: December 2, 1997 (US)
Format: Widescreen
Version: Theatrical
Extras: Audio commentary by Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson and the Theatrical trailer
Info for the LASERDISC (click here to purchase):
Released: July 2, 1997
Format: Widescreen
Version: Director's Cut
Extras: Audio commentary by Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson
Info for the Collector's Series DVD (click here to purchase):
Released: December 8, 1998 (US)
Format: Widescreen
Version: Theatrical (was meant to be director's cut, but due to a mastering error, the original theatrical version was made instead)
Extras: Audio commentary by Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson, Production featurette, Theatrical trailers, TV commercials, Behind-the-scenes footage, Q & A with cast and crew, Special effects gallery, Cast and crew profiles, and Movie facts
Info for the Blu-ray release (click here to purchase):
Released: March 29, 2011 by Lionsgate
Format: 1080p Widescreen (2.35:1)
Running Length: 111 Minutes
Extras: Audio Commentary by Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson, Production Featurette, Behind The Scenes footage, Q & A with cast and crew, and Trailers (all video extras are in SD).
BEHIND THE SCENES:
The title for Scream was originally going to be “Scary Movie". Wes Craven later recalled, “When Miramax changed it to Scream, we all thought that was a really stupid title. But now, we all love Scream."
Jamie Kennedy adds: "[Scary Movie] was a cool title. I still, to this day, think it was a better title than Scream. Because it was like, 'Hey, do you want to go see Scary Movie?' And that was like a cool idea, right? It just fit with all that tongue-in-cheek [stuff]."
Wes Craven was actually not the first director asked to do Scream. Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of Miramax, first pitched the film to "From Dusk Till Dawn" director Robert Rodriguez, who apparantly turned it down.
In the script, Scream writer Kevin Williamson only wrote of a ghost-mask worn by the killer. But nothing was said about the costume. Executive producer Marianne Maddalena suggested a black outfit because it was "scary". As for the infamous mask, Craven found the off-the-shelf item at a house where they were location scouting in California. The mask was originally created by Fun World.
When Scream producer Cary Woods was casting the lead in Scream, Drew Barrymore was the first person he talked to. After agreeing to play what later became Neve Campbell's role, she had second thoughts. Says Woods, "She called me up and said, 'I want to play Girl Number One.' And I said, 'Drew, Girl Number One gets gutted on page eighteen.' I thought, There goes my star; there goes my movie. And that's when she said, 'If you kill me at the beginning of the movie, the audience will think anything can happen. And I'll still support the movie as if I'm starring in it.'"
Freddie Prinze Jr. was one of the last contenders for the role of the comic-crazed Stuart Macher. "It was down to either Matt [Lillard] or me for that part," Prinze reveals. Although the part went to Lillard, Prinze got his chance to star in his own horror film in I Know What You Did Last Summer, which was written by Scream writer Kevin Williamson.
The murder scene of Principal Himbry came as a result of Bob Weinstein, co-chairman of Miramax. Explains writer Kevin Williamson: "After he had bought the script, he felt that there was 30 pages where nothing happened. And he called me up and said, 'You gotta kill somebody, Kevin. Somebody's gotta die.' There is a thirty-minute gap where nobody's getting offed. He said, 'I don't care how you do it; just do it.'" Weinstein's idea also helped solve Williamson's problem in the script: "I didn't know how to get rid of all the partiers," says Williamson. "We wanted to isolate our core group and then once when Bob came up with the idea and said you had to kill somebody else - and that shows the principal - there was the answer. And in addition I got to carry on that hard-edge, cynical attitude that children have today."
The idea of putting the pet portal in the garage door in Tatum's death sequence actually came from Kevin Williamson's assistant. Originally when he wrote the scene, he just had Tatum getting into a fight with the killer and the garage door came down and crushed her neck.
Although a stuntman was used to play the killer in Scream, actor Skeet Ulrich got a chance to play Father Death during the sequence in which Jamie Kennedy is watching Halloween (1978).
When Randy is watching Halloween (1978), he says, "Jamie, look behind you!" He was commenting at Jamie Lee Curtis, but since the killer was behind him at the time, it might as well have been a comment to himself, since the actor who portrays Randy happens to have Jamie as his first name.
The sequence in which Sidney is trapped in the police car with the killer, actually existed in an abandoned script Kevin Williamson wrote in high school.
At the last second, while shooting the very end of Scream, Wes Craven decided to film one scene where Dewey is alive just in case the audiences loves him, and so that he would be eligable for sequel duty. Says David Arquette, "They threw me in an ambulance just as sort of a loose end."
Gale's report concluding the end of Scream was written minutes before the scene was shot. Kevin Williamson was there at dawn writing the speech, and Courteney Cox managed to do it in two takes.
Jamie Kennedy was the first actor to ask Craven to try one ad-lib take for himself, doing the Jerry Lewis imitation during his "liver in the mailbox" dialogue. Craven liked his ad-lib and left that scene in. *
Miramax's Bob Weinstein suggested the tight shot of Principle Himbry's eye as he dies, and an optical image of the killer's face was added in later. *
The crash scene of Gale's van went wrong. It was supposed to flip over, but when the stunt was performed, it did not flip but barreled forward into a tree. The stuntwoman driver, who was in a five-point harness, survived unharmed. *
When Randy is limping at the end of the film, the pain was real. Jamie Kennedy had put a large rock into his shoe to get the limp right. By the end of the shooting, his foot hurt so much, that he almost had to go to the hospital. *
On the final day of shooting, Neve Campbell, sick of being in blood-splattered clothes, jokingly attacked several crew members with a bloody paintbrush. *
The original title words "scary movie" were mentioned in the film five times. Stu's "It's a scream, baby" line was shot after the name of the film had been altered. *
CAMEOS:
For weeks, the crew of Scream tried to find a phone voice for the film and finally found Roger Jackson, who does a lot of narration and radio voices in San Francisco.
Kevin Patrick Walls, who makes a small appearance in Scream as Steve Orith, happened to be one of the last contenders for the part of Billy Loomis, which was given to Skeet Ulrich.
Joseph Whipp, who played a police officer in Wes Craven's A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), makes an appearance as Sheriff Burke.
Henry Winkler, best known as Fonzie from the TV-series Happy Days (1974), plays Principal Himbry. "Henry is represented by my agent," says Wes Craven. "We met about a year ago, and I was really astonished when he said he wanted to be in this film. He played it with a sort of a malicious glee, which I thought was really amazing."
Lisa Beach, the casting director of Scream, makes a cameo as a news reporter on television. She quotes, "Casey Becker and her boyfriend Steven Orith were found dead late last night by the girl's parents."
W. Earl Brown, who played a morgue attendant in Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) and a police officer in A Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), gained 20 pounds for the role of Kenny, the cameraman.
Linda Blair, who starred in The Exorcist (1973) and Wes Craven's TV-movie Stranger in Our House (1978), plays an obnoxious news reporter. She quotes, "How does it feel to be almost brutally butchered? How does it feel? People have a right to know!"
Entertainment Tonight's Lisa Canning appears as a television reporter holding the Scream mask. She quotes, "17-year-old Casey Becker and her boyfriend Steven Orith have already lost their lives. Who's next?"
Scream director Wes Craven makes a quick appearance as the school janitor Fred, wearing the original Freddy Krueger costume from A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Dean Farlow, who was a stuntman on the set of Wes Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), played Father Death mostly throughout the film.
Priscilla Pointer, who starred in Carrie (1976), makes a small appearance as Maureen Prescott.
CUT SCENES:
The scene with the gutted-Casey dummy hanging from the tree was time compressed in the theatrical film release. But in the director's cut of Scream, it is 50% slower at normal speed.
In the director's cut of Scream, Tatum's head is flattened by the beam, following her confrontation with the killer in the garage. The scene was cut from the theatrical version because of the MPAA.
After Kenny the cameraman's throat is cut, he looks up at his killer. This scene was taken out due to the MPAA, but can be seen in the director's cut of Scream.
Shots of Billy clearly losing control as he delivers his final cuts to Stuart are included in the director's cut of Scream. It was not seen in the theatrical film release probably because of time restraints.
When Ghostface chases Sidney upstairs to her bedroom, they filmed a shot where the killer gets hit in the head by a picture and falls down the stairs. But they decided not to put that in the final cut because it would make him seem more like a "clown".
On the computer, Sidney contacts 9-1-1 when the killer tries to get into her bedroom. A scene that was cut at that sequence due to time restraints, was Sidney typing in "34 Elm Street", a reference to Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
In another trimmed scene, Billy and Stu discuss whether or not Sidney is going to come to Stu's party. This is the only scene featuring the two killers together, and Craven and the producers felt it gave too much away.
NITPICKS:
The police station is supposedly on a one-way street, but a sign reads "Slow School X-ing", which indicates traffic travels in both directions. (Factual error)
Length of the Sheriff Burke's cigarette during the conversation with Dewey. (Continuity)
Stopping suddenly while reversing will not cause a body on the roof to fall on the windscreen. (Factual error)
The bloodstains after Billy gets stabbed. (Continuity)
Sidney's left sleeve while on the phone at 7:15. (Continuity)
Sidney's police jacket at police station. (Continuity)
No open handicap stall when Sidney enters the school bathroom. (Continuity)
The amount of blood on the knife in garage after cutting Tatum. (Continuity)
The number of standing beers on table during the "rules" speech. (Continuity)
The white car disappears when running Dewey and Gale off the road. (Continuity)
Crew and camera equipment are visible in the reflection of the door window when leaving the police station.
Shadow in the school bathroom. (Crew or equipment visible)
On the van's monitor, the 30 second delayed footage of Randy on the couch as the killer stalks him is inconsistent with the real action. (Continuity)
AWARDS:
MTV Movie Awards (1997) - SCREAM nominated for Best Movie - Won
MTV Movie Awards (1997) - Neve Campbell nominated for Best Female Performance - Lost
Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films, USA (1997) - SCREAM nominated for Best Horror Film - Won (Saturn Award)
Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films, USA (1997) - Neve Campbell nominated for Best Actress - Won (Saturn Award)
Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films, USA (1997) - Kevin Williamson nominated for Best Writer - Won (Saturn Award)
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards (1998) - Marco Beltrami nominated for Top Box Office Films - Won
1997 Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Wide Release Film - Scream
1997 Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Screenplay - Kevin Williamson
1997 Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Actress - Neve Campbell, Scream
1997 Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actress - Drew Barrymore, Scream
1997-98 Sci-Fi Universe Readers Choice Award for Best Horror Motion Picture - Scream](Scream_Facts_files/shapeimage_13.png)
