Well, this is certainly unexpected. In a recent interview with Rotten Tomatoes, actress Neve Campbell revealed she has talked to Ready or Not directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett about appearing in the upcoming Scream 5.
“We’re having conversations – I have been approached about it,” she told Rotten Tomatoes. “The timing’s a bit challenging because of COVID. You know, we only started the conversation maybe a month and a half ago, so it’s going to take some time to figure out how it’s all going to work out…. We’re negotiating, so we’ll see.”
Obviously, this makes sense. Though, I imagine the part would be a small one … like, a Drew Barrymore-sized bit role, if you catch my drift. In any event, Campbell explained that while she was apprehensive about returning to the horror franchise without director Wes Craven, who died in 2015, she was moved by a letter penned by the directors.
“The two directors wrote me a very touching letter about Wes Craven and how he was such an inspiration to them and how they really want to honor him, and that meant a great, great deal to me. So we’ll see. Hopefully we can all see eye to eye on the project and find a way to make it.”
Campbell added: “I’m so grateful for these films… I love Sidney Prescott. It’s always fun for me to step back in her shoes, and it’s always fun for me to see the cast come back and make one of these films again and try to make another good one.”
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While plot details are currently scarce, it is being reported that the film will follow “a woman returning to her home town to try to find out who has been committing a series of vicious crimes.” It’s also being reported that Kevin Williamson is currently attached as executive producer on the project, but no word on if he’s set to pen the script after having done o on the first two and fourth installments.
The first film, released in 1996, was a surprise smash upon its debut, helping to revive the horror genre for the decade and becoming the highest-grossing slasher movie of all-time until it was dethroned by last year’s Halloween reboot. The first’s success spawned a franchise that includes three sequels, the first of which remained equally as successful as the first while the previous two saw middling box office returns and mixed reviews.
After years of struggling to get another film off the ground, MTV picked up a series adaptation that became a cult hit, with two well-received seasons from fans before it was passed off to VH1 for its rebooted third season, which saw mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and audiences alike, but was a minor improvement in the ratings from the second season.
Campbell has played Sidney Prescott in the original blockbuster hit Scream way back in 1996 followed by three sequels. The most recent entry, Scream 4, released in 2011 and grossed $97 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. Campbell recently appeared in Netflix’s House of Cards and the film Castle in the Ground.
The Scream revival marks the second major horror franchise reboot Spyglass is working on, with the studio developing a remake of the Clive Barker cult horror classic Hellraiser, with David S. Goyer (Terminator: Dark Fate) attached to pen the script.
