‘Scream’ star Jenna Ortega explains how technology complicated the iconic phone scene

Any Scream film would seem incomplete without including the infamous mysterious phone call – provided by Roger L. Jackson’s legendary voice — in its opening sequence. While the killer in each Scream movie has consistently changed, Jackson’s voice has remained the immovable constant in each installment.

In the original Scream, Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker famously engaged in the iconic phone call with Ghostface (voiced by Jackson.) In the scene, Becker is harassed by an unknown caller on the other line. 26 years later, Jenna Ortega’s Tara Carpenter encounters Ghostface, who is still haunting unsuspecting victims with the sound of his voice.

In a recent interview with Collider, the vibrant Scream newcomer sat down to discuss the obstacles she faced when filming such a complicated scene.

It’s kind of difficult, especially because in this scene specifically there’s a landline and then there’s also the cell phone with the social media apps and iMessage and that whole thing. So it was like playing out two different scenes, which was kind of complicated and tricky, especially when prop phones, you press the wrong button and it takes you to videos of soldiers being welcomed home from war by these German Shepherd and just really sweet, cute videos when you’re trying to be serious and give this frightened performance.

via Collider

Ortega expressed gratitude to the Scream legend while explaining the concrete challenges she faced head-on while filming the actual scene.

So there’s a lot of technicalities and weird things like that, but I would say the trick is — I don’t know, it’s really easy when you have Mr. [Roger L.] Jackson on the phone doing the actual voice and not really breaking character in between takes to keep you humbled and in the moment. So I would say get yourself a real Ghostface.

via Collider

Scream follows a similar premise as its predecessors surrounding the iconic horror villain, Ghostface, and the newest killer(s) hiding behind the mask. Much like the original, Ortega’s Tara will experience the same terror as Barrymore’s Casey long before her.

See Scream in theaters on Friday, Jan. 14.