Recently, we spoke with Marley Shelton about her role in Scream 4.
Shelton plays Deputy Judy Hicks, who took over the position from Dewey Riley (David Arquette) when he was promoted to sheriff of Woodsboro. She attended the same school as Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell). Unlike Sidney and the rest of their classmates, Judy was never targeted by the Ghostface Killer until now. Sidney has decided to return to Woodsboro while on tour promoting her new self-help book. Just when she thought she got away from Ghostface, he strikes again.
We also spoke to Shelton about some of her past films, the possibility of a Scream 5, and her favorite scary movie. Check it out below.
We Got This Covered: Were you a fan of the Scream films before being offered the role as Deputy Hicks?
Marley Shelton: Yes, yes, a huge fan. I’m particularly a fan of the first one. I just think it’s so brilliant and just such a flawless movie. I was thrilled and honored to be asked to be a part of it.
WGTC: How much training did you have to go through to get the deputy role down?
Marley Shelton: [Laughter] Oh gosh, you know, everything kind of happened so last minute. I auditioned for the role in springtime and then was literally offered the part a week before shooting, and I happened to be in Europe when they called to offer me the part. There was a lot of winging it going on. Sometimes, you do great work when there’s winging it going on so I just decided to go for it and there you have it. There’s Judy. I think the nice conceit on that is with her character and with all the police force in the movie is that they’re kind of fumbling and bumbling. You can use that to your advantage in terms of not being the perfect cop. I did know a little bit about law enforcement from another role that I played in terms of how to hold a gun and that sort of thing. I wasn’t completely green. [Laughter]
WGTC: What was the other role in which you played a cop?
Marley Shelton: I never played a uniform cop, so that was a first. I did play an FBI agent on this show called Eleventh Hour. I was gun carrying on that, so I did have some experience chasing the bad guys.
WGTC: Aside from the Scream films, had you been a fan of Wes Craven’s other movies before working on this movie?
Marley Shelton: Yes, in fact, I studied a lot of his earlier movies to prepare for the role I played in Planet Terror, one of the Grindhouse movies. He dabbled in the exploitation world when he first started making movies. Last House on the Left is one example. So I studied his work. I really knew his movies and listened to his DVD commentaries. I was excited and thrilled to work with him. I think he’s amazing.
WGTC: So you had a fun time working with Wes and the rest of the crew?
Marley Shelton: Yes, it was such a great group of people. Wes is such a lovely person and an incredible director. The cast was very, very nice. It was a lot of fun. I think when you’re doing a genre movie like this, you end up laughing a lot just because it’s so ridiculous and preposterous what you’re doing half of the time. It was just a great environment to go to work.
WGTC: Now there have been rumors going around about Scream 5. Do you know if Wes is going to go through with it?
Marley Shelton: You know, I probably don’t know any more than you know. It’s just a rumor, but who knows? It would definitely be a blast if it came together.
WGTC: Would you work on it if Wes came up and offered you a role?
Marley Shelton: I would work with Wes again in a heartbeat, yeah.
WGTC: Now you mentioned Grindhouse. I’ve heard some rumors about Tarantino and Rodriguez wanting to get together for another double feature. Do you know anything about this?
Marley Shelton: [Laughter] Gosh, I feel like I am the last person to know anything in terms of the rumor mill. You’re asking the wrong person. I know they are great friends and great collaborators, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they wanted to work together again. But I don’t know of anything specific that’s in the works right now.
WGTC: What are you currently working on at the moment?
Marley Shelton: I have a movie coming out in October called The Mighty Macs with Ellen Burstyn and Carla Gugino, in which I play a nun. [Laughter] So it’s definitely a different role for me.
WGTC: What is it about?
Marley Shelton: It’s a historical biopic about a girls’ basketball team in the 1970’s. It’s a really amazing story. I play a nun/basketball coach if you could believe it. [Laughter]
WGTC: How much preparation did you have to do for the role as a nun?
Marley Shelton: I don’t know which was harder or more challenging: learning to become a nun or learning about basketball. They’re both very, very foreign worlds to me, personally, but both very interesting worlds and it was an incredible experience to get to explore those arenas.
WGTC: One of my favorite movies as a kid was The Sandlot, in which you played Wendy. Do you have any interest in doing a movie like that again?
Marley Shelton: Oh gosh, yeah, I think The Sandlot is just such a great, classic movie. It’s amazing how it’s kind of held up. I love the story and the period, the 1960’s, was such a great time in American history. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
WGTC: Are you a fan of baseball at all?
Marley Shelton: I like baseball. I’m not a huge sports fan in general, but I appreciate it. I consider myself a fourth quarter fan or, in baseball terms, a ninth inning fan. I do like it and get excited when the stakes are high. For example, if it’s the World Series, I get excited.
WGTC: Getting back to Scream, I just have to ask this. What’s your favorite scary movie?
Marley Shelton: My favorite scary movie is a toss-up between Psycho, The Shining and Rosemary’s Baby. I don’t know what that says about me, but yeah, there it is. [Laughter]
WGTC: You appreciate the classics is probably the best answer. Why those three?
Marley Shelton: With Psycho, I’m a huge fan of Hitchcock and what he did to elevate suspense in movies. Which, I think, Wes has carried on that tradition. There’s a lot of Hitchcock in what Wes does with suspense. And I think it’s just a perfectly suspenseful movie. With Rosemary’s Baby, I love the black comedy of it, which I find such an interesting and hard tone to hit. Similarly, the Scream films are black comedies. Again there’s a relationship there. And then The Shining I think is just terrifying and so human and just beautifully made. And it has both black comedy and suspense in it. It’s funny. I’ve been talking to you, I’m thinking “Oh, there’s actually a correlation between why I like these three movies and how they relate to the Scream movies.” [Laughter]
This concludes our interview, but we would like to thank Marley for taking the time to talk to us. Scream 4 will be available on DVD/Blu-ray Tuesday, October 3rd.
