David Arquette Says He’s Having A Hard Time On Scream 5 Without Wes Craven

In 2015, the movie industry lost one of the greats, as horror icon Wes Craven passed away at the age of 76. The director’s death seemed to put the Scream franchise out to pasture, but this past year Ghostface has been reawakened for Scream 5, which will be helmed by Ready or Not filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. And the duo must’ve impressed the cast enough to get them back on board for the movie, which is shooting right now in North Carolina.

One of the series’ long-running stars has recently opened up, though, on how emotional they’re finding making a new Scream without Craven around. David Arquette’s played Deputy/later Sheriff Dewey Riley since 1996 and so worked with the director on all four of the previous films. And while speaking to ET Canada, he was reminded of a touching quote that Craven once said about him.

“When I’m around [Arquette],” the filmmaker stated back in 1997, “I feel this enormous sense of pain and longing for a simpler world — for love.” Upon the quote being recited to him, the actor became emotional and revealed that he’s having a “hard time lately” on the shoot, saying:

“I’m sorry. I’ve been having a really hard time lately with missing him. That’s such a beautiful thing to say. And, you know, I was tortured. My mother was dying around that time, so that was a really difficult and dark period. And it’s true. I do, like, long for a world of love.”

Arquette’s lengthy history with the Scream franchise certainly has all kinds of personal ties to him. He met his ex-wife of many years and mother of his daughter, Courteney Cox, on the original and they were going through their divorce while working on Scream 4. It sounds like he had a strong friendship with Craven as well, so making this new pic must be bringing up a lot of memories for the star.

On a more positive note, Neve Campbell has also spoken about how loyal she is to Craven’s memory, which is why she was reluctant to do S5 at first. However, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett sent the actress a letter saying how much the director’s work means to them and how they want to honor him with the film, so she agreed to sign on.

Let’s hope that though he’s no longer with us, Craven’s spirit will still be felt in Scream 5 when it eventually hits cinemas in January 2022.