The iconic horror film Scream turns 25 this year and to celebrate the film has been released on 4K Ultra HD. Directed by Wes Craven in 1996, the movie has since claimed its place in pop culture as a phenomenon. Scream's popularity can be credited with its whip-smart script from Kevin Williamson and performances by stars Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy, and Drew Barrymore. The film went on to create a franchise, including the upcoming 5th film in the series, Scream 2022.
Screen Rant sat down with Jamie Kennedy who played Randy in Scream and Scream 2 to talk about the film, his ideas for the franchise's future, and fan theories.
Screen Rant: This year marks the 25th anniversary of Scream. Here we are, doing press about the movie 25 years later. What does that feel like, that you're still talking about it right now?
Jamie Kennedy: I mean, it's incredible. We made something that is still on the tips of people's tounges. It just proves its staying power, that it's part of the lexicon of pop culture. It's not going away.
Did you have a full grasp of what you were making at the time? I know I've seen interviews with Skeet Ulrich. He's like, "I didn't know if I was making a horror or a comedy and it wasn't until it was out that I fully understood what it was." At what point did you realize what Scream was?
Jamie Kennedy: Well, when I read the script, it was a different thing. It was just this incredible, well-written, tightly wound play like David Mamet or Aaron Sorkin. It was just - interior, kitchen, night, young girl holds a knife, got a phone call. Hello. It was just so well written. So right then I thought, "Oh, that's fascinating." Then as we were shooting it, I was like, "This is so unique."
We got this cast of people from all these different walks of life. Friends was blowing up. Party Of Five was really hitting the radar. Skeet was just this young, super new, captivating actor. Matthew was really funny. David. We just hit this magic. Then we had Wes leading us, Kevin's brilliant script, studio. It was just a mix of so many different things. We thought we had something special, but we didn't know what it was going to be until it just started coming out.
We knew it was good and we hoped people would see it, but we all thought, at least some of us thought, "Well, if we could come out and do 20 million at the box office and then do good on VHS, maybe we'll get a direct VHS sequel or something."
What do you remember about your audition process?
Jamie Kennedy: I remember that I auditioned and I went in, I saw it on the breakdowns, which was the thing that actors get. They are this thing where you see the projects, but actors would get them on the sneak. Then I remember my agent. I called her and she was like, "Oh, I'm going to send you in on that." Then I just remember having all this dialogue and I was like, "Oh, my God, this is the biggest part I ever went in for." I was like, "This is an incredible dialogue." I just remember staying at home for two days trying to memorize it then going in.
It was the first time I ever went into a casting director and the feedback was like, "I think that was good." and I was like, "Yeah?" Because you never know. She's like, "That was good." She's like, "I think you could do this." And I was like, "What?" Then she's like, "Are you available Thursday to come back and meet Wes Craven?" I was like, "Let me check my schedule." Then I was like, "Come on, are you serious?"
Then you don't know if it's lip service and sure enough, my agent called me four hours later and she's like, "Are you ready to go back, meet Wes Craven Thursday for a callback?" I was like, "What?" and then boom, it was on.
You have a YouTube channel-slash-podcast where you share stories about your experience on set, working on Scream. As you've been looking back and reflecting, what is your favorite memory of meeting-slash-working with Wes Craven?
Jamie Kennedy: There [are] two memories I have. One is that when I went in and I got up there to Santa Rosa early, and I remember seeing Wes and he was stressed out. He had told me that he was up all night editing the Drew Barrymore footage because the studio was really hounding him. This iconic guy who delivered already two franchises. He had Last House on the Left. He also had [A Nightmare On] Elm Street. He had these franchises and they're questioning what this movie was missing.
He was like, "Well, the studio doesn't understand." He said this to me, and I was this young actor. So they edited all night. And they watched it and then they go, “This so interesting.” I just remember the first day that he was this iconic guy and he was even getting questioned about what this movie was, which was insane, and the fact that he shared that information with me.
Then the second thing was when I was on set and I was doing the rules, which was a huge scene for me, and I just remember that I was like, "There's certain rules one must abide by," and I was really a mouthful and I got it and he's like, "All right, we got it. That was your close-up. Let's move on." I was like, "What? We can't move on. This is it. Film is forever." He's like, "I think I really got it though. I think you did great." And I was like, "Can I just please have one more? I know I can get it better." And he's like, "What would you do differently?" I was like, "I don't know. Some more emotions, wilder." He said, "All right, I got it."
Then I did it and then he let it run and he is like, "Do it again. Do what you want." So I did three takes of it, and at the end, he came up to me. He goes, "Wow, that was a lot more than I thought." He's like, "You know what?" I'll never forget this. "Never question your instincts. Never be scared to ask a director for another take because you have great instincts." He says, "I'll probably use your takes." I think in the movie, he said it was a combination between two and three.
You said you've only seen the movie twice, but you started saying the lines. It feels like you still know a lot of them, do you?
Jamie Kennedy: Yes. I remember the rules because boy, I have to remember. The convention space is humongous now and I do go to these conventions. Scream is super popular now, memes, GIFs. I'm doing videos on it and people ask me to quote it. I just did a big signing where I had to write them down, so I do remember most of those lines.
That's an iconic moment for my character. So it's like, "There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to survive a horror movie. Number one, you can never have sex. That's a big no no. Number two, you should never drink or do drugs. No, no. It's an extension of number one. And number three, never ever under any circumstances say I'll be right back because you won't be back. Boom. Ooh, I'll be right back."
All the rules were there, but then I improvised because they were throwing stuff at me. So I was like, "No, no." So as an actor, you always want to react. So that's why a couple of extra little lines got in there, but the rules were cleaner and then I added a little stuff in there.
I also like the moment where you're like, "Jamie, Jamie, turn around Jamie", because you're talking about Jamie Lee Curtis, but your name is Jamie, so it's a little ‘ha!’
Jamie Kennedy: That's what I call the super meta easter egg, which I know Wes could have definitely... Maybe I got cast just because my name is Jamie. It could have been that.
Because it's an homage to Halloween who spawned ghost space with our original Scream queen, Jamie Lee Curtis, who's being stalked behind [me] as I'm telling the rules and then that's happening to me, then that's meta. Then it's Jamie on a Jamie. It's levels. It's Willy Wonka deep. The rabbit hole goes, the Mad Hatter is around.
You mentioned you read on Screen Rant that earlier draft of Scream that Randy almost had a different ending.
Jamie Kennedy: It's insane. So I'm doing this YouTube channel and it's a mix of multiple things, but basically, people want to know the behind-the-scenes. One of the things that people love is that I'm really transparent. I try to keep it positive. I've definitely had mostly positive things in my career. I'm not out there to spill tea, but if something is crazy, I will tell it, but I don't want to do too crazy. But obviously, Scream is an amazing experience. There's nothing non-positive about it, but there's things I forget.
So with the rerelease and the 4K and the new movie and, like I said, there's memes, there's GIFs, there's people fan filming it. There's alternative theories. There's a whole Reddit community. Somebody sends me this and my guy who works with me, Kyle Anderson's like, "Dude, you got to do a reaction to this." I was like, "What is it?" I didn't even read it. I read it on camera just like I did the trailer. Did it fresh. I do remember that. I think I probably have that script, which I probably don't have in my email because I got my email in 97, which is crazy.
Here's a little bit of trivia. I think I got my MAC email in 97 because I made enough money from Scream to get a nice computer and Craig Mazin, who's Emmy winner for Chernobyl and many other projects, writer of Hangover II and III, set it up for me. I think I might have screened two emails in there somewhere with scripts, but I don't think I have the original script on email. So all I have are paper copies.
But I have a couple and I think I have the version where Randy did get to ask Sidney out. So, the father's tied up. Maybe we did shoot it. I don't remember. Where [Randy] was a lovesick puppy. Then she's untying her dad over all this craziness and she's like, "Yeah, just as long as it's not a horror movie," which is cute. It pulls away. But I think it was either insensitive [or] corny. There was a reason why it's not in there, but I don't know if we shot it.
It might have been shot. What if it was shot? Isn't that sad that my brain just hit that level where I can't remember? I can't tell you if we shot it or not. It might be a 50/50.
Let's talk about Scream 2 because Randy meets his demise, which fans were not happy about. Did you anticipate how hard people would take Randy's death?
Jamie Kennedy: No way. If something's good, people rewatch it, all of you, and if something is good, people then quote it and re-examine it. That's what Scream is, the whole universe.
When I got killed, I don't even know if there was supposed to be a sequel. Maybe there was, maybe there wasn't. I don't know. I don't even know if I was supposed to be in it. I think I was lucky because I had the same writers. Kevin liked the character and I remember that they were like, "Yeah, I think I can fit him in here," and then they did. They had this whole rant, which was great. David's character originally was killed. I do remember that in the draft. He was dead and then Wes loved him and it was just a thumbs up. That thumbs-up made him live.
I think Randy at one point was killed in a draft and then he did get up again and he said, "I never thought I'd be happy to be a virgin."
Because he pops up and she's like, "Randy, I thought you were dead."
Jamie Kennedy: Yes, exactly, which makes sense. But he could have died there. So then he lived again. I was bummed, but I was like, "Well, people are going to die." I'm like, probably the next one, David will die, and then the next one, Courtney will die and then eventually, Neve will have to die. But it was like, no. It was only as those three kept going on and I was like, "Damn, come on, man. Randy was needed on that team." You know what I mean? He helped. He had the rules. He would've provided some kind of assistance.
I think through time, as people watch these things and people like yourself, you represent, I bet you there's a part of you that feels like you're Randy. I bet you love to comment on movies, “Don't go in there!” You're very invested. So I do feel that probably when Randy was killed, people like yourself felt muted. I think it's only getting more and more impactful. So the more they make Screams without Randy, the more people will want to see him, which is exciting.
Matthew Lillard, for example, is someone who just does not believe that Stu is dead. He is like, "I don't believe it because there was a version that he was supposed to be-"
Jamie Kennedy: He is speaking it into existence.
Right? Wasn't there a version of Scream 3 where Stu was supposed to come back and be the killer, but then Columbine happened so they scrapped that and rewrote it?
Jamie Kennedy: I had heard that. Well, he already was the killer, he and Billy were the killer in the first ones.
I think I did hear that and I did hear the Columbine thing. I don't know what the actuality is on that, but I definitely heard that. I don't know. When they put the TV over his head and he electrocuted and he was shocked, I thought he was probably dead. Then they left and the cops came and I'm assuming they took the bodies away thinking he was dead, but maybe he's not dead.
Well, the reason I bring that up is, is there any part of you that is not accepting Randy's demise? Do you believe in any capacity that Randy may not really be dead and could show up?
Jamie Kennedy: He could be alive. I think he's dead. I think he's killed and I think that's why people are so upset because they go, "What rule did he break?" He walked in front of a news van, which was a little stupid, but he could be alive.
There's a lot of ways he could do it. He could have said, "Listen, I got to fake my death because I didn't want to go out like that." He had to go into hiding, but then that's really cold of him to leave his friends on the hook as he knows the rules. But, maybe he gave them ideas throughout the next couple of movies, subliminally. He did help with the videotape. He could have gone to the mountain and become a bearded, crazy person or he could be involved in the murder somehow and he could be a bad guy. I don't know, but I want to believe he's a good guy.
I feel like if anyone has the foresight to plan all that, it's probably Randy.
Jamie Kennedy: That's what we believe. Or he is living on through his sister, who's Heather Matarazzo. But as of now, I thought he was dead. But would I like him to be alive? Sure. There's other ‘verses. There's prequels. There's sequels. There's alternative universes now, so who knows? Maybe, maybe, maybe.
What was your reaction when you heard they were doing Scream 5?
Jamie Kennedy: I thought it was cool. I think it's great. I think that Scream is, in its own way, an MCU-verse. It has its own lineage and it's just like Halloween keeps going, and Friday the 13th, I think Scream can keep going. I think that it should keep going. People love it. They want to consume it.
I know that we do remakes and stuff, but these aren’t remakes. These are next chapters. I think these are sequels that are good. You could argue the only reason that Scream is better than Scream 2 is because it was first. Scream 2, I think, is a super-strong sequel against any sequels.
Scream 3 is very good too, so I think people want to see it. I think the new generation wants to do it. I think young actors that got involved are really great in this new generation and they're really into these kinds of things. You don't want to really hit full circle.
I think you'll like this. I love Black Mirror and I wish it was on every week. They did one called San Junipero, which is amazing. There's two actresses in it. They're in this beautiful relationship, but it goes through time and they're different. They go through different levels of time to unify their love. It's crazy what this could be for the future. When they go to the 90s, there's a pull away to a huge side of a building, and on it [is a billboard] of Scream. More than anything, that just hit me that it's a rap. Scream is now in the Smithsonian. I think Black Mirror is so iconic, and then Netflix put Scream in this super iconic series and a super progressive episode. I just thought, "Wow, that's so cool."
Do you have something that you would really love to see happen in the new Scream? Or something you would NOT want to see happen? I know people are speculating on Sidney being the killer, something that I think a lot of people don't want to see, but then some people want to see that.
Jamie Kennedy: No way. She could never. Do you want my opinion? Like I said, I don't think about it as much, but yeah, I wouldn't want to see Sidney as a killer. No, I don't think that's her at all. I think she's just an empathetic person who's had a hard life.
But I think if Scream keeps going, I don't want to be this person, but somebody may have to go. Somebody's got to go. But then again, you can't do Fast and Furious without Toretto. You know what I mean?
Yeah, but that's a franchise that brings everybody back.
Jamie Kennedy: Yeah, I know. That's what I was wondering. You know what I mean? But you need the anchors and David, Courtney and Neve were definitely the anchors, but I don't know what's going to happen. It'd be cool to see something new with something old. I know these directors are super cinephiles. I'm sure they definitely identify with Randy's beliefs, and so I think that they're the type of people that could examine a movie and then put easter eggs and levels and all this stuff. I would be excited to see what they do.
It looked like they were at, in the set photo, that they were at Stu's house.
Jamie Kennedy: Well, these guys are super smart and Ready or Not [has] got a lot of levels to it. It has a Scream feeling, and so I think that the trailer came out hot and dark and it's straightforward, but I think this is going to be a lot more than it is.
But I have no idea. Like I said, I'm just like you. I'm just a fan. I'm waiting for the popcorn.
Scream is now available in 4K Ultra HD.
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