Screamis one of my two favorite films of all time, I have a cat named Deputy Dewey and have watched the entire series more times than I can count. Needless to say, I was mighty excited to take part in the fifth installment’s recent virtual set visit. While we can’t share all of the conversations had that day just yet, withthe unveiling of the title and some imagesfromKevin Williamsonhimself, we are able to release our conversation with the filmmaking team behind the movie.
Plot details were kept under wraps, but during this roundtable interview with the members ofRadio Silence, executive producerChad Villellaand directorsMatt Bettinelli-OlpinandTyler Gillett, and producerWilliam Sherakof Project X Entertainment, we got the chance to get a sense of what they’re going for with this highly anticipated sequel and howWes Craven’s legacy will come through in the new film. Check out the full conversation below to read about that, how the current state of the horror genre is influencing the story, assembling a diverse cast, keeping the ending of the film top secret, and loads more below.
Screamis scheduled to hit theaters on June 15, 2025.
With Wes Craven no longer with us, how did you find equal balance between paying homage to his legacy withScreamand making this version your own?
TYLER GILLETT: I think that it’s something that has been top of mind since day one. First, why we’re all here and why we all feel confidently about what we’re making, it goes to Jamie [Vanderbilt] and Guy [Busick], the writers, who are not only wildly talented on the page, but they’re just absolute mega-fans, as we are, of Wes' work and of theScreamfranchise. It’s a tightrope to walk, right? To be respectful and find ways to tie a new story into an old lineage. All I can say is that we would have had a tremendous amount of anxiety stepping into this franchise because Wes, the level of respect we have for his work, it’s really impossible to fully express what that is. But when we read the story that Guy and Jamie put on the page, there was something so undeniably new and also something so undeniablyScreamabout it, and we just knew that we had to be a part of it and that it was walking the tightrope in precisely the right way.
Ready or Nothas the same tone of theScreammovies where you balance the comedy and the horror elements, so it feels like a natural fit for you guys to do aScream 5. Were you influenced by theScreamfranchise onReady or Not?
MATT BETTINELLI-OLPIN:Yeah, hugely. It was one of the main movies we referenced. And it was one of the main movies we referenced when we were trying to getReady or Notgoing because that tone is so hard to sell essentially when you’re trying to get a movie made, andScreamis one of the movies we kept pointing to as like, ‘Screamis one of the most influential movies to us as filmmakers.’ That’s a tone that we’ve been raised on thanks to Wes Craven and that’s a tone we think we can bring intoReady or Not. And then to have that lead toScreamis kind of mind-blowing and sort of a dream come true.
You mentioned elements from the past films that you were excited to see in this script. Can you get a little more descriptive as far as the pillars in that screenplay that were upheld from the original films that made you think, if this wasn’t in this screenplay, we wouldn’t want to take the risk of continuing such an iconic franchise?
GILLETT: I think the thing that we were maybe most concerned with that was handled with such precision was the idea that all of theScreammovies are having a conversation about the current state or what was the current state of pop culture and the genre. And obviously contemporary audiences, our level of access to those conversations because of social media and our ability to consume media has changed so much over the years. We were concerned that it would be hard to create some fresh tracks in that theme and that concept, and that this script [and] this movie manages to do that and it’s not heavy handed, it feels so much like a fabric and so baked into the idea of what the conceit is that it never once feels like it’s preaching to you. You’re just on the ride. From page one, it was one of those things where we were like, ‘Oh, there’s not a false note.’ It just goes and all those great things are happening, but it’s really great characters and scary and it’s funny. It was just a really special experience, and one that the three of us will never forget, sitting in the conference room at Project X reading the script for the first time was an all-time life highlight for us.
CHAD VILLELLA: It took us like four hours to read the script, and I know Jamie kept checking in and he’s like, ‘Did I just hire some guys to do this that can’t read?’ Each beat was just like, ‘Oh,’ and the fans in us were coming out. We’re like, ‘This is insane! This is so fun!’ So they did a great job with it.
BETTINELLI-OLPIN: It also goes hard like any goodScreammovie where there’s a fun to it and you’re enjoying yourself and it kind of feels like a popcorn movie, but it’s always pushing the boundaries and the limits. I’m sure we’ve collectively watched the originalScream10,000 times now; it always has moments that are genuinely shocking on a human core level, and that’s something that I think they got in there really, really well.
Could you talk about the process by which you got the job?
WILLIAM SHERAK: So when Gary Barber looked at the library he had in Spyglass, obviously one of the biggest titles wasScreamand he was ready to relaunch the franchise and came to myself, Paul [Neinstein] and Jamie, my partners of Project X, and said, ‘Let’s go do this.’ So we were super excited because my partner Jamie who’s also one of the co-writers is a massive, massive, massiveScreamfan like the rest of us, but as he was gonna go write it with Guy Busick, the first order of events was to get Kevin Williamson’s blessing. And Gary connected all of us and sat down with Kevin and we got his blessing to go do this and the idea of the movie we wanted to do. And then we had the benefit of Project X having madeReady or Notwith these guys, knew that they were the only ones we wanted to direct it. So the goal was, how do we let Gary meet them without knowing that they’re up for the job forScreambecause they can’t know this at this moment. So we set them up on a general meeting with Gary at Spyglass. Gary knew what it was about, but the three of them had no idea they were interviewing forScream. And at that time, they didn’t even know Jaime, who we’ve all become very close friends [with] after makingReady or Nottogether, they didn’t know Jamie was even writing it at the time. And that meeting, it was perfect. They were perfect. In the meeting Gary understood exactly why we love them and why they were right for this. And that was the process. We never went to any other filmmakers. We wanted them from the second we started developing it.
It is such a hard tone to get and to get right. This tone is in their DNA. And the only way to really pay homage to Wes and then respect Kevin with what he created 26 years ago was really to make sure we got the tone right, make a real horror movie that had fun and these guys do this every day. They were the right people for it, and that’s the process. It was from a general meeting that, for us, was an interview for them. They were just there to meet Gary and they left, but they didn’t know they left having gotScream.
GILLETT: William, I’m all choked up, man! True story though. The reason that it’s in our DNA and the reason thatReady or Notis whatReady or Notwas is because of whatScreamwas and how that influenced us over the years as we became filmmakers. It’s one of our touchstone movies and something that we turn back to all the time. We were raised on that in so many different ways.
What do you think it is about theScreamfranchise that has kept its original cast wanting to be involved? Do you think that you’ve hit that mark with any future installments that may come around?
BETTINELLI-OLPIN: This is totally just theory, but I think honestly, a lot of that was Wes Craven because as we talked to all of the cast that’s returning, the first conversation and many of the following conversations are about Wes Craven and about how important he was in their lives personally and as the director and just withScreamin general. And it feels like in a lot of ways, he was the father of a large family. And so for them, it was just returning to this family situation. They all talk about it like a family. And to us, that’s very moving to be kind of the new kids moving in and to be even a part of that peripherally and then creating our own version of that. It’s just such a model for us to follow; that’s what this should be first and foremost a family. And then we get to tell these cool stories, hopefully moving forward.
GILLETT: I think that’s one of the reasons why the tone of these movies is so specific is because it’s so clear that everyone is enjoying what they’re doing. Wes created a process where people could have fun and take risks and it could be terrifying and meaningful and funny. All of those things could co-exist, and I think a lot of that is about the kind of set and the process. I can say with complete confidence that, we’re half of the way through the shoot and the experience that we’ve had with the cast, both legacy characters and new cast members, I don’t think it comes around maybe but once in a career that you get to get together with a group of people and have the experience we’re having. The process has truly been a dream come true and I think that Wes and Kevin and what they designed and how they designed it is a huge part of why this feels the way it feels and why people show up ready to have fun and ready to be scared. And that translates in a huge way onto the screen.
Part of the charm of theScreamfranchise is making fun of horror movie tropes. How do you keep it fresh? Do you tap into current trends in horror movies?
BETTINELLI-OLPIN: The movie has a lot to do with the current state of horror, but one of the things we talked about is that, unlike when the original started and horror was sort of on a downward path and it wasn’t that popular anymore, people outside of the mainstream were still into it, but the mainstream had given up on horror. That’s not where we’re at now obviously. Horror is as big as anything right now, and so it’s fun to go at it from that angle, but also at the same time for us, scary is scary, and it always will be. If something’s truly scary, it’s just going to be f*cking scary and that’s our aim. And that’s something we learned from Wes Craven going all the way back toLast House on the Left.Nightmare on Elm Streetwas probably one of the first horror movies any of us saw that truly scared us in a major, major way seeing that as a kid. When it comes to that kind of thing, I think that’s one of our main goals is just to ensure that the scary is scary and not attempt to be gentle about it.
TheScreamfilms are always so reflective of American life at that time and whatever might be lurking beneath the surface from toxic masculinity to obsessions with fame and true crime itself. Will this film operate similarly? What kind of aspects of American life at this time can viewers expect to see reflected?
BETTINELLI-OLPIN: It’s a really hard question to answer without talking about what it’s about, but we can safely say that we’re very aware of all of that and the script is extremely aware of it, and it is reflected in this movie in the ways that it has been in the previous ones. But it’s hard to talk about that in any specifics without spoilers.
Marley [Shelton] was saying that she hasn’t read the end of the script. Is that true of all the actors?
SHERAK: One of the things that we got when we spoke to Kevin in the beginning of this process was that one of the things they did early on in theScreamfranchise was there were multiple drafts out there of who did what and what was really going on, and we adopted a similar approach. So there are a bunch of different drafts out there of what happens in the movie and our goal is to try and keep even our cast guessing who’s done it and who’s responsible and I think we’ve accomplished it, so we’re gonna continue down that path.
VILLELLA: They’re getting schedules up until a couple of days in advance, so we’re keeping it very, very highly locked.
Not only are the characters evolving, but so is Small Town USA. It now has Latinos in it, so can you talk about that casting?
SHERAK: Look, I think for us it was, let’s get a cast that’s representative of a community, and diversity is and should be at the forefront of what communities look like. And we were super excited to be able to create a new cast that was representative of what a town really should look like and what a small town can look like. And Paramount and Spyglass gave us the ability to go do that, and everybody stood behind that. And I think we put together just an awesome, talented, diverse group of individuals that really work well together. When you see them together, it looks like it could be Anytown USA and that was super important for all of us. And I think that the guys really achieved that in terms of a diverse cast and a cast that is unbelievably talented, and are friends together in the movie and in real life, and that’s the approach that I think we took.
Did you guys always know what you wanted the title of the film to be? Has there been any conversation about what the final one is?
SHERAK: That conversation’s been ongoing and it’s been a fun one to have, right? Because it’s while you’re making the movie and we spend all day pinching ourselves going, ‘I can’t believe we’re getting to make aScreammovie.’ The reality is that we are making aScreammovie and we have to get all those ducks in a row, and we have a little bit of time, but we’re excited about it.
So is itScream 5or is itScream?
SHERAK:Scream.
Do you take the iconic nature of the death scenes into consideration when directing your own? Do you think you’ve hit the nail on the head with creativity and also being inspired by the originals?
GILLETT: Absolutely. That’s one of the things we’ve really forced ourselves to dig in on every day. From page to even the moment you’re on set and you’re crafting that specific beat, we’ve been really hard on ourselves with designing things that feel fresh and original and in some ways maybe pay homage. But it’s a challenge, because there are so many iconic and amazing kills in this franchise. I think for us, ultimately, what matters the most is that you love those characters and that you feel for those characters. So, whatever form or fashion that peril takes, it feels like it really matters because it’s hard to watch. It’s hard to watch people you love go through some traumatic experience.
BETTINELLI-OLPIN: We also talk a lot about how, when you think back at all of the great ones from the first four movies, the ones that you remember having very specific identity to them, like the garage door, you know what I mean? Oh, they’re in the sound booth. There’s the very clean, clear, simple identities to them. And so we made sure that all of the kills in this movie were like, how would we define them in a way that you go, ‘Oh, that’s what that one is and here’s why it works,’ on top of all the character stuff Tyler was mentioning. And one of the things we got from watching a million Wes Craven interviews is how he was always so clear about, you can’t have fun with watching someone die. It has to always be, that’s a human being going through something horrible. And if it’s anything other than that, it becomes farcical and it becomes funny. And that’s great in some other franchises,Final Dcomes to mind where it’s like, that’s what that is.Screamis not that.Screamhas to still be about real people. And I think that’s one of the lessons we got from Wes Craven that has just guided us every step of the way through this.
