‘Scream VI’ Directors On The Fate Of Jill Roberts: “I think everybody can come back”
Josh Korngut
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Happy Scream day, everyone. To celebrate, I sat down with the filmmakers behind Scream VI to unpack what it takes to bring Ghostface back to life. Radio Silence is the collective name for directors (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett) and producer (Chad Villella), who are also responsible for crafting modern horror classics such as Ready or Not and Scream V.
Now I’m talking with the Scream VI filmmakers to discuss fan expectations, the fate of Jill Roberts, Jason Takes Manhattan, and lots more. Check out our conversation below.
Dread Central: After the positive response to Scream V, was the pressure greater this time?
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: We felt a greater pressure because it was that weird thing of like, “Wow, we did that. Oh my God, why would we go try to do that again?” Threading that needle was such a tightrope walk. No, and we love the team and everybody involved so much that there was no way we weren’t going to do it when the opportunity came to go do it again.
One of the things that we just internally did with ourselves is we had a conversation. We’re like, “We can’t let this be about that pressure to… We can’t feel that pressure. We just have to, in a weird way, say, Fuck it. Let’s go make the movie we want to make.”
We talked about Ready or Not a lot. We were like, let’s have that energy we had on Ready or Not with this movie, where it’s just like we’re doing it. Everybody’s on board, and I think you feel that in the movie, hopefully.
DC: What has your experience been like with this fandom?
Tyler Gillett: They’re wonderful. It’s the most generous, thoughtful, educated group. It’s incredible. I think that one of the things that’s been a real guiding light for us is that we know that the fans hold these films to a really high standard and that to achieve anything in this franchise, you have to really be paying attention. It’s really nice, knowing that you have a group of people who, if you do your job, will be there, will show up for you. I think that all fandoms have a bit of a dark corner, obviously, we’re poking fun at that in the last movie, but for us, our experience by and large has been just wildly, wildly positive, and supportive.
DC: It was really cool to see Samara Weaving. Did you have this part in mind for her?
Chad Villella: I think, as soon as we read this for Scream VI, the intro for Scream VI, we thought Samara would be a fantastic person to have in this movie, and just to bring her into the Scream Universe. Obviously, we’re the biggest Samara fans in the world, and we would work with her on any possible movie that we could, and I think that will always be a goal of ours. So, it was really nice being able to bring her into this universe. A lot of fun.
We just all love this cast more than anything. It’s become our new family over the last three years, and being able to see everybody again this weekend, and just get together. When we all get together, it’s so nice. We’ve built new friendships along the way and it’s something that we definitely cherish very much.
DC: On a scale from one to 10, how dead is Jill Roberts?
MBO: Tell us, Chad.
CV: 11?
TG: I think everybody can come back.
DC: Have you heard Emma Roberts has said that she’s not done with Scream?
CV: We love Jill. Yeah.
TG: I feel like you’re asking for yourself. This is a very personal line of questioning, isn’t it?
DC: Just out here doing the important work. How mapped out is Scream VII, and was there a master plan even before going into Scream V?
MBO: I don’t think there was a master plan. If there was, we weren’t aware of it, and we’re not sure what’s up with Scream VII yet, but we do think that one of the greatest things about Scream as a franchise is that it can keep rebuilding itself and reinventing itself. So, in our minds, Scream will go on long after we’re gone.
DC: Did you guys revisit Jason Takes Manhattan before diving into this?
CV: Yeah, definitely. Working on a movie that is such a celebration of all movies, and of horror culture, we really take pains to do our homework with that stuff. I think what we learned, for as much as we love that movie, is that we we wanted this movie to feel like this city was really a character, and it wasn’t just a backdrop, that it actually had a real role to play in how the different set pieces play out, but are a huge fans of that movie.
DC: Did you ever consider setting half of this movie on a boat just to fuck with people?
MBO: Couldn’t afford a boat.
CV: Yeah. No way.
DC: I noticed you play part of it on screen.
MBO: That was the boat.
DC: Of this entire cast, who would make the best sleuth in real life?
CV: I’d probably go to Jenna first. She seems to be astute about what’s going on with everybody else in the cast really well, so I think she would suss out suspects really quickly. So, that’s who I would go to.
DC: I loved the Abe Snake reference. How did that get put in there?
MBO: That was Spencer from Ice Nine Kills, the singer of Ice Nine Kills. Yeah, noticed it. But there’s a little flyer for the band on the refrigerator, and we have gotten friendly with him over the last couple of years, and he sent us that to put in the scene, and he put Abe’s Snake Pit as the location of their show, and we like, “Oh, let’s steal that. Let’s do that on the bodega.”
DC: Was there ever one movie, horror movie or otherwise, that really fucked you up as a kid?
TG: The People Under the Stairs fucked me up really, really hard when I first watched it. It’s still in my system, that movie. My first watch of it scared me to my core.
MBO: For me, it was Elm Street. I saw that when I was way too young, a friend’s brothers, VHS that whole thing, that cliche.
Also all of the religious ones, like The Omen and The Exorcist. Those fucked me up on a level where I’m like, I don’t know if it’s ’cause I was raised Catholic or what, but I don’t even really like watching them because I don’t want to mess with that shit. You know what I mean? It’s like that level, like, “Oh, I mean, I seen it.” It’s like that’s a level that’s a little much for me.
CV: For me it was E.T. E.T. really fucked me up. I didn’t revisit it again until about maybe two years ago, since when I was six, because I really just had…
MB-O: Wait, really?
CV: Yeah.
MBO: Your first rewatch was like six years ago?
CV: So, yeah, I just had E.T. nightmares my entire childhood.
Lastly, will you be seeing Scream VI this weekend? Let us know on Twitter via @DreadCentral. We’re always around to chat about all things Ghostface.
Categorized:Interviews News
