Half-Assed Internet Research
Santa Rosa High School refused to host the shoot and got a 'no thanks' credit; eight ratings submissions to avoid NC‑17; the Gainesville Ripper inspiration; Romero and Raimi almost directed; Craven's phone-hit cameo; the mask found while location scouting; Linda Blair's reporter cameo; a 21-day final scene with 50 gallons of fake blood; Craven told Drew Barrymore animal-torture stories; Williamson wrote it in three days as Scary Movie
In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:39:48Read transcript
- Santa Rosa High School was to host the high school scenes and refused, so they shot at a community college, and the credits include a pointed 'no thanks' to Santa Rosa.
- The movie was almost NC‑17 for violence and went back eight times; Williamson's script was reportedly extremely specific about organs dripping down legs, so the disemboweling was originally even more disgusting.
- Williamson was obviously inspired by the Gainesville Ripper, who murdered students in Florida and was executed after the movie's release, one of the grisliest American crimes of the period; it was a ripped-from-the-headlines idea for a young screenwriter looking for anything to get a script sold.
- George Romero and Sam Raimi almost directed; Raimi's version would probably have been a lot funnier, Romero never made a movie like this, and Scream is not thought improvable, only different; this was Craven's second act after peaking in the eighties.
- Craven's one cameo is being hit by Drew Barrymore with the phone while wearing the Ghostface costume; the mask was found at a house during location scouting; Linda Blair cameos as a reporter who bumps into Sidney outside the school after the attack.
- The final scene took 21 days of a roughly 60-day shoot for a $15 million movie and used 50 gallons of fake blood.
- A return to research corner: to keep Drew Barrymore upset through the opening, Wes Craven told her real stories of animal torture, since she was an animal activist, and then turned the camera on.
- Earlier, Kevin Williamson is said to have written the script in three days in Palm Springs under the title Scary Movie, after failing to sell Teaching Mrs. Tingle, and pitched it as a trilogy package.
- Earlier, the opening death was reportedly worse originally, with the guts coming out, and had to be fixed to avoid an NC‑17.