IS TOO SCARY, SAYS NEVE CAMPBELL
Canadian actress is back for a fifth time in the role she won’t allow her own children to see
BY RICK FULTON rick.fulton@reachplc.com
I had ever come across so it was just a really big deal to get that job.
“Then Party of Five was saved and it all kind of worked out.”
It meant Neve was in one of the biggest American TV shows of the 90s and one of the biggest films. But not right away.
She said: “I remember the first weekend it hadn’t done so well, then the second weekend my agents called and they were like, ‘It made $30million!’
“I was like, ‘Is that bad?’ I had no idea about any of that stuff. That was my first indication to something to be excited about career-wise. It all just went crazy after that.”
Scream may not be Scream without Sidney but the franchise has other big faces that fans always want to see.
Friends star Courteney Cox returns as Gale Weathers, the author and TV host. David Arquette is back as the much beaten up and stabbed Dewey Riley, the former sheriff of Woodsboro, the fictional town where the Scream universe is set.
Courteney and David met on the set of Scream, married in 1999, had daughter Coco, now 17, in 2004 and divorced in 2013.
Neve reveals the trio have a bond that has lasted throughout the franchise. She said: “We had such a magical experience together and Scream was such an important time for all of us so we always stayed in touch and we love seeing each other.
“There’s so many stars that came out of Scream films, so many people who weren’t necessarily names but came in and did cameos here and there and are huge now. It’s a lot of fun and it was wonderful to have some of us back together for this one.”
The actress was apprehensive about playing Sidney again, because Wes had died. She admitted: “I was a little unsure about doing this without Wes Craven because he was such a genius. I loved the man.
“He had a really twisted sense of humour. I loved the fact that we could shoot something horrific, he would say cut and then you would hear him giggling behind the monitor.
“He was an absolute sweetheart, not what you would expect from someone who made horror movies. He was a really gentle soul. He was like everybody’s grandfather and he was also extremely cool.”
Neve added: “Wes Craven knew what he was doing. He knew how to give people a really great rollercoaster ride, scare them and make them laugh. That’s why Scream has stood the test of time and why it’s back now.”
Neve said: “It really sold it to me. Their enthusiasm was really exhilarating and certainly made me excited about jumping back on board.”
And she was happy she had. “It was a really great experience,” Neve insisted. “It was nice to get the opportunity to work during Covid and we shot this in North Carolina, which was beautiful. To step back into our characters and imagine them going back to Woodsboro and back to that world was so much fun.
“The way they built the sets to look identical to the original was quite breathtaking, exciting and nostalgic.” ●Scream will be released in UK cinemas next Friday, January 14.