It was inevitable: Now that the Blu-ray/DVD release of Scream 4 is mere days away, talk of Scream 5 has resurfaced with a vengeance—and Wes Craven himself has again indicated in the affirmative:
Yes. The odds are that there will be...
This admission came as the legendary director spoke to MovieWeb.com yesterday in promotion of said release—and he offered some other intriguing, if innocuous, thoughts on the future of the franchise.
Here are a few of the highlights…
On setting up a sequel with Scream 4:
When Scream 4 was in production, you all said that this was setting up a new trilogy. The ending doesn't point to any clear continuation of this story. Can you tell us how this particular sequel was set up to play directing into Scream 5?
Wes Craven: No. I'd have to kill you if I told you. It's better to have an ending where you can't tell where it's going next. Then to have an ending where you go, "Oh, that is the hook for the sequel. That is the hook for the next one." We felt it was better to let the audience speculate than to have all these clues placed in their lap.
In that, you are saying that there are clues peppered throughout Scream 4 as to where Scream 5 is headed. If you were smart, you could link up those clues...
Wes Craven: I think so. Look. It's not a matter of not being smart enough. We're clever at this. Let's just put it that way.
Craven also indicated that while franchise originator Kevin Williamson mapped out the idea for a new trilogy when pitching Scream 4, there is not yet anything on paper. The director will have first look once an idea is fleshed out—and “If they show me something that is really wonderful? Of course I will be a part of it.”
That premise for a sequel will be the collaborative brainchild of Williamson and Executive Producer Bob Weinstein.
On that planning process:
Wes Craven: Most people think that I sit around and think up ideas. Then I send them to the studio. With Scream, that is not the case. Kevin Williamson has been the writer since day one. He has been the writer on all of these projects, at least at the beginning of them. That relationship with him and Bob Weinstein is very old, and close. Typically, what will happen is that Bob Weinstein or Kevin Williamson will come up with a new idea, and they will pitch it to one or the other. If they both like it, they will toss it around and see if they can develop it into an overarching concept. Then I get the telephone call. They say, "We have something to show you." It will either be a scene, or if it is Kevin Williamson, he will run through the idea with me from beginning to end. That is what happened on this one. There were a few pages. Not many. At some point there was a first draft. But it mainly started with me and Kevin Williamson sitting down in a restaurant in Los Angeles. He showed me how it would go, and I really thought he had something there. So I signed on. Before that point, I am at a position, especially after Cursed, where I don't want to be involved with something until the script is there. And finished. That makes me not a part of the original process, of banging out the idea. I think that Kevin Williamson is the best at doing that. And Bob Weinstein is all over that too. I don't want to play another guy in that.
Though the two had a falling out that precipitated Williamson’s departure from Scream 4, Harvey Weinstein cited that film’s strong international box office performance when exclaiming “I’m sure he’s going to do a sequel” (in reference to Craven) at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
While Craven has not yet committed to anything, he did acknowledge that, “It is something that Bob Weinstein wants to do. He tends to do what he wants to do. So I am inclined to think that there will be another one.”
What are you inclined to think, Screamers?
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Scream 4 will be released on Blu-ray/DVD on October 4th. Pre-order it here.
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