In the early '90s, Kevin Williamson wasn’t yet known for self referential teen dramas like Dawson’s Creek and The Vampire Diaries. Wes Craven had taken a step back from the horror genre. When the two came together, they took slasher flicks in a whole new direction with Scream.

Released in 1996 under the production of Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Scream landed small at the box office before word of mouth saw it climb. It spawned three sequels and a television series. Scream had everyone asking, “what’s your favorite scary movie?”

With a script that gave audiences both a meta take on the genre (listing all of the rules of horror movies) and references to movies they already loved (Halloween and A Nightmare On Elm Street), Scream became an iconic chapter in horror.

Wes Craven stuck with the franchise until his demise from brain cancer, directing all four movies and maintaining an executive producer credit on MTV’s series. Kevin Williamson provided scripts for most of the movies - and outlines for the plot of those he wasn’t able to write.

The movies also did something the horror genre usually doesn’t do - kept its main trio of actors in tact for all of its movies. Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette starred in all four films, becoming scream queens (and a king) by the time they wrapped.

Despite the popularity of the movies, there are a lot of things that went on behind the scenes that fans don’t know. That’s why we’ve rounded up these 30 Wild Details Behind The Making Of Scream.

The Mask Was From Someone’s Attic

When making a movie, sometimes circumstances just work out the way they’re supposed to. Finding the now iconic Ghostface mask was one of those. According to a Vanity Fair piece on the Weinstein brothers, the mask wasn’t created by the costume department. Instead, while producers were out on a location scout, trying to find a suitable house to film in, they found the mask in a woman’s attic.

The mask reminded them of the famous painting, Edvard Munch’s The Scream.

It was a perfect fit for their villain. Bob Weinstein didn’t like the mask initially, but after seeing the opening sequence of the movie, he came around.

Neve Campbell Wasn’t Always Sidney

Neve Campbell as Sidney in Scream

Neve Campbell became the face of the franchise. She wasn’t the first choice for the role. Several actresses were approached about playing the part, but Drew Barrymore actually landed the part of Sidney first.

Before filming began, Barrymore signed on to other projects and decided it would be better for her to play the opening character, Casey Becker, instead. The opening sequence became iconic. Featured in the movie poster and all of the trailers, no one expected Barrymore’s character to expire in the first act. Funnily enough, Kevin Patrick Walls, the actor who became Casey’s boyfriend, was also in the running to play Sidney’s boyfriend Billy Loomis.

Wes Craven Was Ghostface

Casey Becker vs Ghostface in Scream

A few different actors took on the role of Ghostface. Roger L. Jackson voiced the character on the phone while stunt performers physically played the character. Then, of course, there are the scenes that feature the reveals of who Ghostface actually is. Only once did Wes Craven play the villain.

During the opening sequence, Ghostface tormented Casey and her boyfriend. As he chased her around her house, she managed to land a hit on him with her phone. That hit? That’s the one time Wes Craven was behind the mask. He revealed that tidbit during the DVD commentary.

Real Life Events Inspired The Movie

Scream VHS Cover Art

Kevin Williamson has long been fascinated by slasher stories. In addition to Scream, he’s got I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Faculty, and even a spooky episode of Dawson’s Creek under his belt. For Scream, he found inspiration from reality. CNN produced a feature on Williamson in 1998 and revealed just how the script came to be.

Williamson watched coverage of the “Gainesville Ripper” case. Home alone, he found himself a little creeped out, and called a friend.

Rather than calming him, the conversation only amped him up as they began discussing favorite scary movies. The news coverage combined with that phone call gave Williamson the idea for the story of survival.

An Autograph Signing Inspired Wes Craven

Horror legend Wes Craven

When the script for Scream, then title Scary Movie, landed in front of Wes Craven, he turned down any involvement. At the time, Craven was trying to stay away from the horror genre. He was known for practically creating the genre, and he wanted to branch out.

He explained to Entertainment Weekly that a “little kid” at a convention can be credited with changing his mind. The child approached Craven after an autograph signing to tell him that his movies were “too soft.”  Being called “soft” didn’t sit well with the horror legend, so he changed his mind. In fact, he called Bob Weinstein right after the conversation happened to accept directing duties.

Skeet Ulrich’s Look Sealed The Deal

Skeet Ulrich as Billy Loomis in Scream

If casting directors were unsure about Skeet Ulrich at all, he had a couple of things working in his favor.  Before he starred in Scream as Billy Loomis, he’d also appeared in The Craft with Neve Campbell. The two already knew one another well enough to have a comfortable working relationship, which was good to sell the chemistry between their characters.

The documentary Scream: The Inside Story also revealed a more superficial reason for his casting: his look. At the time, Ulrich bore a striking resemblance to a younger Johnny Depp. Specifically, he looked like Johnny Depp when he appeared in A Nightmare On Elm Street, giving producers a link to the classic horror they wanted.

Scream Includes The Longest Night In Horror

Scream Features The Longest Night In Horror

Most horror movies take place over a condensed amount of time to begin with. Fans watch, especially in slasher flicks, as a group sees their numbers dwindle over the course of a few days. In Scream, though, the bulk of the action takes place in a single night.

Forty-two minutes of the movie takes place at the high school party fans see in the climax. That’s nearly half of the movie.

Known as the “longest night in horror” at the time, the party sequence was a grueling shoot. For 21 days, the crew could only film at night. They even had tee shirts made to commemorate the event that said “I survived Scene 118.”

Williamson Had Sequels Planned Before Filming

Neve Campbell And Courtney Cox in Scream 2

Once inspiration struck for Williamson, he penned the first draft of his script very quickly. According to the writer himself, it took about three days in total to create the story of Sidney and Ghostface. He didn’t only pen a script in those three days, though. He also planned out the sequels.

Included with the draft of the script he pitched to studios were outlines for two sequels. While he didn’t have every detail worked out, he had the bare bones of his stories completed so he could offer up a trilogy to movie studios.

Rose McGowan Was Nailed To The Door

Rose McGowan as Tatum in Scream

One of the most memorable sequences in a horror movie full of memorable moments was Rose McGowan’s Tatum confronted with Ghostface. When Tatum didn’t initially take the encounter seriously, she paid the price via a garage door.

Behind the scenes, filming the sequence was nearly as dramatic as watching it. McGowan actually had to put her head through the dog door in the garage. Unfortunately, McGowan was so thin at the time that every time the crew would attempt to move the garage door, she’d fall right out of it. They took drastic measures and stapled her shirt to the door to give her more stability. That’s one creative way to solve a problem.

Scream Has A Halloween Connection

Halloween H20

Beyond the obvious (slasher flicks where the villain has a history with the protagonist), the Halloween and Scream franchises share a few connections. During Scream’s party sequence, the teens aren’t just drinking and dancing - they’re also indulging in a few horror movies in honor of the events going on.

One of those horror movies, and the one that gets the most attention, is Halloween.

In Halloween H20, set on the 20th anniversary of the original movie, the teens return the favor. The foursome watch a little Scream 2 in their downtime. The school in Halloween H20 also happens to be the house used for the climax in Scream 3.

Tori Spelling’s Cameo

Tori Spelling in Scream 2

If you’re a horror fan with copies of the Scream DVDs, you might want to watch them with the commentary track. You’ll find out all kinds of interesting information, such as the reason why Tori Spelling cameoed in Scream 2.

Scream 2 opened with footage of the in-universe movie about the events in Woodsboro. Spelling played the version of Sidney that appeared in the fictional movie. She was approached about playing the role because a single throw-away line from the first movie. When Sidney and Billy discuss movies, Sidney remarks sarcastically, “with my luck, they’d cast Tori Spelling,” in regards to a movie about her life. Spelling found it funny and agreed to play the role.

The Scream 2 Script Leaked

Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett Smith in Scream 2

Leaks from movie sets are common in the social media age. In the late '90s, it was much less common. The Scream 2 script was one of the first to leak to the internet. The draft made it clear that Sidney’s boyfriend and best friend were the culprits. When fans saw the movie, there was a different ending. This led to rumors about fevered rewrites happening on set.

While some scenes were rewritten, according to Kevin Williamson in 2017, that wasn’t because of the leak. In fact, the creator of the franchise revealed he made four different drafts so no one involved in the production would know who the villains were.

Sarah Michelle Gellar Never Read The Script

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Cici in Scream 2

At the time that Scream 2 went into production, Sarah Michelle Gellar was in demand. She was the star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and had just finished I Know What You Did Last Summer. Not afraid of being typecast as the horror girl, she signed on to appear in Scream 2. She also signed on without ever looking at the script.

According to the Behind The Scream documentary, Gellar enjoyed Williamson’s work so much, she just wanted a part in the movie.

During her sequence, one of Gellar’s Cruel Intentions costars even cameoed. The woman she’s on the phone with before the Ghostface caller? That would be Selma Blair.

Matthew Lillard Appears In Scream 2

Matthew Lillard Behind Portia de Rossie and Rebecca Gayhart in Scream 2

Despite his character meeting a gory end in the first film, Matthew Lillard made a brief appearance in the sequel. If you blink, you might miss him. Eagle eyed fans can catch him in the background of a party scene. He walks through and hugs someone, and that’s about all you can see.

How Lillard ended up as an extra is something of a mystery, but he was dating Neve Campbell at the time, and was friends with many of the cast members. He likely dropped by the set for a visit, and stuck around during filming.

Scream Queen Cameos

Linda Blair as a reporter in Scream

Fans of the horror genre know the Scream movies love to reference the past. In addition to having the teens watch Halloween in the first movie, Tatum sports the same top as Johnny Depp in A Nightmare On Elm Street. There are also quite a few cameos.

Wes Craven appears as the high school janitor in the first movie. The Exorcist’s Linda Blair also makes an appearance as a reporter. In Scream 2, Carrie Fisher appears in a role with a meta nod to George Lucas. Rumor has it that scene would have been different if the first actress offered it took the role. Allegedly, Jamie Lee Curtis of Halloween fame was offered the part.

Scream 3’s Plans Became A TV Series

The Cast of The Following

Because Williamson outlined stories for sequels, he was the ideal candidate to write the script for Scream 3. Unfortunately commitments to Dawson’s Creek and Teaching Mrs. Tingle meant he couldn't. Instead, Ehren Kruger became the writer. Though Kruger only had a handful of credits at the time, he went on to pen scripts for The Ring, The Brothers Grimm, and a trio of Transformers movies. He also worked on Scream 4.

Much of what Williamson planned for Scream 3 didn’t make it into the movie.

Chief among his ideas was a group of fans being the villains. That idea of a cult following provided the inspiration for Williamson’s TV series The Following.

Kate Hudson Was Cast In Scream 3

Once upon a time, Kate Hudson wasn’t well known for romantic comedies and Almost Famous. In 1999, she landed a role in Scream 3. If you’re struggling to remember who she played, that’s because she never actually made it into the movie. While no one knows what role she snagged, the part ended up being recast or cut.

Fans only know casting directors initially wanted her in the film because of a credit listed behind her name on another project. The VHS copy of Desert Blue contained Hudson’s credits at the time. It’s likely the VHS was distributed long before Hudson was cut from Scream 3.  

Scream 4 Had An Unfinished Script

Courtney Cox in Scream 4

By all accounts from cast members, the first movie of the franchise was the easiest to film. That’s chiefly because it was the only movie of the four to have a completely finished script (or no hidden pages).

When Scream 4 began shooting, Kevin Williamson was pulling double duty as the writer and executive producer for The Vampire Diaries. Wanting to bring scrapped elements of Scream 3 into the movie, he wrote a rough script. Changes continued right up until the days of filming some scenes.  Director Wes Craven called shooting Scream 4 “stressful,” explaining to Entertainment Weekly that he couldn’t determine what scenes to shoot until the day of with pages still being drafted.

Kevin Williamson Was Never Fired

Though Williamson and the Weinsteins had some disagreements during the preparations for Scream 4, the former was never fired from the project. Rumors swirled that he was when news of a difficult shoot surfaced.

In reality, Williamson’s television series The Vampire Diaries had first position in his contract. This meant he had to fulfill his duties to the series before he could devote time to Scream 4.

Ehren Kruger, who penned Scream 3, helped to fill in the gaps of the script. Wes Craven also rewrote some scenes himself. Rumors persist that some pages were given to the crew with notes that simply said, “Wes will do something to make it scary.”

Each Movie Ups The Body Count

Kirby And Jill In Scream 4

Like any good series of horror films, the Scream franchise ups its body count each time. Every movie sees more victims than the last as the new version of Ghostface tries to outdo the previous. The first movie, despite seeing Ghostface on a high school campus and at a big party, only featured seven victims total. That’s not too bad for a slasher flick.

By the time the franchise reached movie number four, the body count became 13. That’s nearly double the number of people that perished in the first film. For those counting at home, Scream 4 actually boasts 15 victims, but two are possible survivors for the elusive fifth installment: Kirby and Jill.