The Scream franchise was one of the first big properties to be hit by internet leaks, with the burgeoning online fandom causing havoc for the production team back in the late 90s. Fast forward 20 years, though, and modern filmmakers are more prepared for this sort of thing. In fact, the secrecy was so tight on the upcoming reboot that only two cast members were allowed to read the whole script.
Filming on 2022’s Scream has now officially wrapped, with a virtual press day revealing much about the hotly anticipated relaunch of the horror series. For one, we discovered that the movie won’t be called Scream 5, after all, and will go by the same title as the 1996 original. Producer William Sherak also opened up to the assorted press about how they kept spoilers to a minimum, saying:
“One of the fun things we’ve been able to do, when we sat down with [original writer] Kevin Williamson when this all started and we got his support and brought him back into the fold to get that part done, one of the nuggets of information he gave us from back in the day was that they were able to put a bunch of different drafts out there to keep fans guessing by the time the second one came around, even some cast members, and we adopted that same thing,” said Sherak. “So there are multiple drafts out there in the public that have been leaked, and nobody really knows. And we’ve even managed to keep the cast guessing as well. They’re not really quite sure either because of the multiple drafts. So we’re going to keep it that way.”
Tyler Gillett, who’s co-directing Scream alongside Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, then chimed in with the revelation that “two members of the cast actually have read the entire script.” Sherak agreed, saying: “It’s a pretty small group that know which draft is the real draft.”
When Scream 2 was being made in 1997, the full screenplay leaked online early, causing Williamson and the team to massively change their plans, including some of the victims and the identity of the killers. Like Sherak says above, they were much more savvy by the time of Scream 3 and 4, however, and deliberately attempted to throw eager fans off on the wrong scent. So, if you’ve read a leak online about the new one and it seems genuine, it might still be part of the ruse.
Though production is now complete, Paramount isn’t due to release Scream in theaters until January 14th, 2022. Hopefully the deception stays strong, though, and Ghostface’s secrets remain under his mask for the next year or so.
