IESB recently ran a Q & A with the Vampire Diaries and Scream writer Kevin Williamson, which was an interesting interview where Williamson discussed the progress of the fourth Scream film. Who’s returning, what’s good with Wes Craven and has a new trilogy officially unfolded:
Q: Are you working on any film projects right now?
Kevin: I’m almost done with the first draft of Scream 4. I’m trying to get that together for Wes Craven. We’ve got to get going on that, during the hiatus. We have Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and Dave Arquette. I was always holding out hope because the pitch was about those three characters. I didn’t want to have to re-route the whole story. We don’t have to do that. I can do it exactly the way I want wanted. The story is going to be told the way I originally conceived it.
Q: Is that going to be part of a new trilogy?
Kevin: I’ve been contracted to write Scream 4 and 5.
Q: That’s not a trilogy.
Kevin: Well, I’m not going to negotiate 6 right away.
Q: Horror films have undergone another shift, with the success of Paranormal Activity. Do you have a chance to update references to that in there?
Kevin: It’s all in there.
Q: Would you shoot Scream 4 in the Atlanta area?
Kevin: I’d love to. When I went down there, I said, “This is so Woodsboro.” It would be perfect, but that’s Wes’ decision. Pasadena would work, too. If Wes directs, and he will if I have anything to say about it, I’ll camp out at his house.
Q: What do you think it will take to get Wes Craven to come back and direct?
Kevin: Oh, Wes is going to do it.
Q: Will Scream 4 be in 3-D?
Kevin: No. I don’t think Scream lends itself to a 3-D film. 3-D films are all about things being thrown at you. One of the things that Scream does is that it talks about those movies and sends them up, so actually putting in that device probably wouldn’t work. I don’t think it’s an option. We’re the movie that makes fun of it. I can imagine Stab being done in 3-D, but not Scream.
Q: Is there anything that you can say about the story and set-up?
Kevin: No. I think I’ve revealed way too much already.
Q: Is it still a strong mystery of who this Ghostface will be?
Kevin: Well, that’s the whole point of the movie. What I have always liked about this movie versus the other horror films is that I feel like there are characters. In other horror movies, you remember Michael Meyers and you remember Jason. In our film, I think you remember Sydney Prescott because Sydney Prescott’s the victim and she has lasted for all three of these movies.
The fun of the film is that it’s Sydney Prescott. That’s the difference and you care about her. I want to write a story where you actually care about our characters and it’s a plot that you watch them walk through. It’s not all about the next kill. It’s not all about slice and dice. I was watching Saw VI on pay per view the other night and I was like, “This is really just going from one kill to the next, to the next.” It’s fun, but I want to tell a story.
Q: You don’t think Saw has managed to keep a story going with Part VI with a dead character?
Kevin: Oh, they’re doing a great job keeping the dead character, but I want to know where our lead character is, where our protagonist is and what her journey is.
Q: Is it safe to say that you won’t kill Sydney Prescott off in the first 10 minutes?
Kevin: The story has to start somewhere.
Dimension Films got the ball rolling by bringing back Williamson, with a majority of the original cast signed on, but with Craven, can Scream survive?
