Scream 5 Could Get Made, according to franchise director, Wes Craven

Wes Craven recently spoke to MovieWeb and revealed that Scream 5 is happening. Scream 4 did not do too well at the box office but Craven believes that a fifth is indeed likely and says that ‘yes’, the movie will more than likely get made sometime in the near future. The latest film was planned as the birth of new generation of the franchise, but almost all the new people died leaving the idea of a new generation unlikely. Just because the youngsters died in this one doesn’t mean some new ones can’t show up in the next movie.

“Yes. The odds are that there will be (a Scream 5). It is something that Bob Weinstein wants to do. He tends to do what he wants to do. So I am inclined to think that there will be (another sequel). Whether I will be a part of it or not? I don’t know. My contract gives me the first look. If they show me something that is really wonderful? Of course I will be a part of it.”

Here is what Craven had to say about the direction of Scream 5:

“I’d have to kill you if I told you. Its better to have an ending where you can’t tell where it’s going to go next. Than to have an ending where you go, “Oh, that is the hook for the sequel. That is the hook for the next one.” We felt it was better to let the audience speculate than to have all of these clues placed in their lap. It’s not a matter of not being smart enough (to figure out how 4 ties into 5). We’re clever at this. Let’s just put it that way.”

He went on to talk about the manner that these films are made, revealing that he is usually the last person to know when a sequel is ready:

” Most people think that I sit around and think up ideas. Then I send them to the studio. With Scream, that is not the case. Kevin Williamson has been the writer since day one. He has been the writer on all of these projects, at least at the beginning of them. That relationship with him and Bob Weinstein is very old, and close. Typically what will happen is that Bob Weinstein or Kevin Williamson will come up with a new idea, and they will pitch it to one or the other. If they both like it, they will toss it around and see if they can develop it into an overarching concept. Then I get the telephone call. They say, “We have something to show you.” It will either be a scene, or if it is Kevin Williamson, he will run through the idea with me from beginning to end. That is what happened on this one. There were a few pages. Not many. At some point there was a first draft. But it mainly started with me and Kevin Williamson sitting down in a restaurant in Los Angeles. He showed me how it would go, and I really thought he had something there. So I signed on. Before that point, I am at a position where I don’t want to be involved with something until the script is there. That makes me not a part of the original process, of banging out the idea. I think that Kevin Williamson is the best at that. And Bob Weinstein is all over that too. I don’t want to play another guy in that. Going into (Scream 4), the first meeting I had with Kevin Williamson, he did sketch out a Scream 5 and 6. The idea was that we were doing the first in a new trilogy. We had to wait to see if we made enough money on each film to make the next one viable. If that happens, those two will come up with the concepts and an idea that is worth fulfilling.”

Scream 4 arrives on Blu-ray/DVD in stores on October 4th.

15 years ago, Wes Craven and writer, Kevin Williamson, brought us the original Scream. That film, a commentary on Craven’s slasher films of the 80s that ended up leading to an influx of crappy straight to dvd sequels and others that merely exploited cliche after cliche ended revitalizing the 90s horror genre. Flashforward to 11 years ago and its 2000, Scream 3 is merely more than a parody of itself even Williamson having nothing to do with it. Now in 2011, Scream 4 is much more the third film we should have gotten with much more depth, more interest and more attention calling out the current state of the horror genre affairs in Hollywood making it fashionably smart and unquestionably entertaining.

Here is the kicker, the new film which many thought was a reboot turns out may not be exactly that. First off, the use of the original trilogy’s main core, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox-Arquette and David Arquette return to the franchise not to pass a torch but show where their characters have been and where they are still going. Dewey and Gale (The Arquettes) live in Woodsboro, Riley is now the Sheriff while Weathers is in writer’s block stretching for her next big bestseller. The anniversary is approaching of the first Woodsboro murders and Sidney Prescott comes to town, kicking off her new book tour,  a book about overcoming the trauma of her experiences in Woodsboro and the “ghostface” killers, which we know from the previous movies ranged from her deranged boyfriend, the mother of Billy Loomis to eventually her own brother all circumventing around her mother’s past which kickstarted this whole thing.

As one would expect things don’t seem pleasant and the crew must deal with a new Ghostface killer plaguing the town, especially Sid’s cousin, Jill (Emma Roberts) and her friends Kirby (Hayden Panetierre), Charlie (Rory Culkin) and Robbie (Eric Knudsen), the next generation of Woodsboro  high schoolers. At first you think these new group of teens make up a reboot in the making but Williamson has other plans, especially since they are shadows of the original teens from the first film, its clever commentary is what it is, commentary on all the horror remakes we have had to endure over the past 11 years. Charlie and Robbie are two characters that mirror Scream’s Randy (Jaimie Kennedy), while Jill is much like her cousin, Sid, at the time. She has boyfriend problems, high school pressures and a family history that is always an issue to deal with. Kirby is sort of a new character as she is an expert at horror movies too, but doesn’t fit any of the previous movie’s molds, a twist anyone who wants to reboot a classic always tries to throw in to make it different. There is even a Gale Weathers wannabe, played excellently by Allison Brie, as the book publicist for Sid, she tries to exploit the new Woodsboro murders for personal gain.

One of things that makes this movie enjoyable is the characters all seem to be “fleshed” out in interesting ways, while being shadows, they are still well crafted. You care about them when they are about to be slashed and that builds your anxiousness and tension during the film. The classic kills are there too, Craven still knows how to slide the camera enough, put you in a comfort zone before spilling blood all over the screen. What I liked most about the movie was how it made sense as a sequel, especially when you find out the killers, it has a lot of “connective tissue” to the original movies. I also love the commentary on the current horror genre which we all know there is basically no rules, its all about torture porn, being nasty and shocking but most of all most surounds people you care nothing about. I love the social media aspects of the film too servicing the plot and the younger audience members who know what the word “meta” means while Gale Weathers doesn’t, even though she says “that’s so meta,” to Dewey at one point in the film. Scream 4 is very meta, it knows what it is calling attention to himself any chance it gets and even calling attention to its poorly executed third film using the infamous Stab movie franchise to do it.

Overall, this movie is better than most teen slasher flicks these days and holds up well for an old franchise in an era where SAW is common practice. The acting is really good from our veterans to our teens, but most of all it shows this is more than a surface-level slasher, that Ghostface always cuts a little deeper. Is it a great movie though? I think given the franchise, given the genre, its a sold film. Still while it feels like the original Scream the third act feels more Scream 3 but a much better sequel than we usually get. Anyhow, like Sidney says in final moments of the movie, “the original is always better.”

Grade = B –

Ghostface is back in the fourth and first film of a new trilogy in the Scream franchise and this time he is bringing on the Web 2.0 weapons with him. That’s right! A generation of Ghostface has his usually black cloak, ghostface mask, knife and an iPhone with complete digital uplink to slasher blogs, etc. Scream 2.0 is what this fourth film is all about. Oh yeah, and this Ghostface has seen the new face of horror movies (i.e torture porn).

A teaser trailer for Scream 4 premiered on the 2010 Scream Awards this past weekend. Now, Dimension Films has released the first official full teaser trailer for the highly-anticipated Wes Craven sequel. The horror rules have changed. The kills are gorier, the unexpected is cliché, and even virgins can die! Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette must now battle a foe who has seen Hostel, Saw, and The Human Centipede (First Sequence) in this latest chapter of the indelible slasher saga.

Scream 4 comes to theaters April 15th, 2011 and stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, Emma Roberts, Ashley Greene, and Nico Tortorella. The film is directed by Wes Craven. Cameos of Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell are also seen in the film.

Some new characters in the film include Prescott’s cousin Jill, essentially the heroine of the movie and new films and her best friend, a nerdy film geek (chick version of Jaime Kennedy we guess). There is also a male love interest for Jill and police officer that knows Sydney from high school.

We have known for awhile that Dimension Films has been planning a fourth Scream film and that principle cast members from the original would return. However it has been sort of in the air if Wes Craven would return to direct. Well Variety confirms that he will direct as well as a release date for April 12, 2011.

The film plans to start production this spring. Wes Craven will direct and Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox Arquette will reprise their roles along with a group of new cast.

I have never been a big fan of these films but glad they are brining the right cast members from the original back, keeping the director and even screenwriter, Kevin Williamson.

When FusedFilm.com began its rebranding campaign in 2009 for our first appearance at Comic-Con we wanted to bring us into the realm of connecting people better to the world of film, television and entertainment. Hence why our mantra changed from “stay fused on film” to “fusing film fans with Hollywood and beyond” it was my belief that branding the site in that way would not only fit our new version 2.0 designs but harp on the very foundation of this site which is to fuse you with all of the interesting stories, news and people that make up the entertainment industry.

Now let’s track back to SDCC because it’s perhaps Comic-Con that leads me to this interview. The marketing firm behind Solomon Kane’s appearance at Comic-Con that reached out to me to let me know that they would be premiering footage of the film never heard from me, I didn’t know anything about the movie and knew that being stuck in Hall H all day would prohibit me from seeing anything good. I never reached back out until now. Having seen the first trailer of Solomon Kane, having seen the posters and some other promotional materials for the film I realized this was a special film that had a lot of things that resonated with me and the films I love to watch.

So this afternoon I was able to spend some time chatting with Michael J. Bassett, the passionate young British filmmaker and screenwriter behind the live action version of the classic pulp fantasy novel. What a connection as he was a very interesting guy who loves movies and is passionate about them so much.

In just the first few words I could tell how energetic and proud Bassett was of his film and we immediately dove into great conversations on the film, the distribution, his previous works, his future as a filmmaker and ultimately the future of Solomon Kane, including ideas for a sequel, etc. Enjoy some new photos and web widgets for the film as well.

Hey Michael, How are you Man?

Oh I am great it’s a nice cold, rainy fall day here in England.

Well I hate to tell you it’s a nice 75 degree day here in Memphis

Oh wow! Bet it feels lovely.

So thanks for taking the time to speak with me about Solomon Kane.

Oh no problem mate I love your site and was happy to chat with you.

So when I sat down to prep this interview I didn’t know a lot about you and your filmography. Who is Michael J. Bassett, talk about your work man?

Well I am guy who loves reality! But I am a guy who loves movies and using them to explore reality in so many different ways. In fact that’s why I love Robert Howard (creator of Solomon Kane) but even more so a guy by the name of Michael Moorcock, a UK pulp fantasy writer in the vein of Howard. He was a guy who just had a knack for making these sophisticated fantasy stories which had such a real emotional and physical feel to them. They were brutal and intense and I loved them. In my first movie Deathwatch I used a lot of influence from his writing into that movie and if you watch it you can definitely tell that. Perhaps there was some of his influence into some things on Solomon Kane.

Yeah I have never heard of him, I’ll have to check him out. So tell me about Solomon Kane, this movie looks so visually epic but so real at the same time?

Well I am glad you see it that way because that’s how I wanted it to be. Solomon Kane is kind of in a class itself and it’s hard to put into a comparison in the film world because there isn’t one. I wanted it to be an adult, more sophisticated fantasy film, something that didn’t seem childish. Sure you have demons and creatures in the world and those cliché fantasy elements but everything in the environments are real. The wind, the sleet, the rain, the mud all of those things are real. Hence where I was going before that I like blending as much reality into this fantasy world because even though there are things you know aren’t something you’d run across everyday that the world itself, the settings, the locations would be real and feel that way too.

Yeah, that is a difference, I mean a lot of Fantasy stories just seem so intangible and childish or even too fake, I mean you know its shot on a green screen. So you mention the environments, how challenging was that as a filmmaker and for the production itself.

Well we shot the movie in Czech Republic and I had some of the same crew I did on my first movie Deathwatch and I filmed that movie in the same elements and they were like ‘oh man not the rain guy again.’ But I thought it was necessary for the film, I wasn’t interested in making a Solomon Kane movie that didn’t seem real that didn’t carry that same pulp fantasy element the way Howard wrote it and a studio version would maybe not have turned out that way. Also the fact that I wanted to shy away from the trend of the blue/green screen for a fantasy film.

So the movie is independently financed and stuff right?

Yeah it has two sets of producers one of which is Samuel Hadida, who produced a great French fantasy, horror film called The Brotherhood of the Wolf (Oh yeah I have seen it! Awesome movie!). Then you will like the fact that I got the same DP from that film to do the photography style for Solomon Kane, so it has some similar looks to it. But Hadida and these 2 other guys, who used to manage the band, Duran Duran, back in the eighties, are producing the film. In fact I reached out to them when they secured the rights to the film of Kane and told them I wanted to write it, they gave the opportunity to write it as a low budget project and then eventually it grew into where it is now. There was a point where I am sure they had other directors in mind but they liked my vision for the movie and where I wanted to go with it.

Wow that is cool! So Solomon Kane, tell those out there that may not be aware of the character and Howard’s stories a little bit about the character and what to expect and maybe what you want them to get out of the movie.

Well Kane is a guy that is as psychologically intense as he is physically so there is an adult sophistication involved there. But Solomon Kane is also first and foremost a movie I wanted to entertain people with and I know they will be entertained. But I hope they get from the character is understanding. This is a true hero’s journey, he is this broken hero that you can connect with and understand his nature in such a fucked up world but with all those physical and mental challenges that go into that.

Well you have me sold on the movie for sure! So tell me a little bit more about yourself and what may have inspired you as a filmmaker.

Oh man…well…I love movies I always have, my parents were never into them and they still aren’t but when I was in my teens, a little older maybe I used to cut school with some mates and we would just watch movies like Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes and John Carpenter films. I love guys like James Cameron and Ridley Scott and their use of the camera the styles they use in their films and I always wanted to make movies like that. Perhaps it was the VHS that really changed things for me because there were a lot of movies you couldn’t get here in England but the VHS changed all that distribution because they were universal and so I could watch movies like The Hills Have Eyes, I mean I loved the Highlander film and such and it was just awesome. I did get in trouble from one of my teachers who caught me cutting and they asked me ‘what are those movies possibly going to do for your future’ guess they should find out what I do now.

HAHA! That’s cool! The ultimate look at me now! So tell me about James Purefoy. Was he someone you always wanted for the role of Solomon Kane? Did you look at anyone else? What did he bring to the character and film?

Well producers always want a name to be in a movie like this as it helps sell it amongst other things and since I am not a name director, which is even more so. I mean we had the usual wish list of guys we thought would work in the role psychologically but physically too. Perhaps the two guys we looked at before James (and he knows there were other actors considered, hell I know there were other directors considered before me) were Christian Bale and Viggo Mortensen. I mean how could you not look at those guys? They are just manly men with that bruit physicality you’d want for this role.

(So when did you settle on James?) Well he came into the mix I had known him from an interview I did as an Electronic Press Kit director and we had sort of kept in touch but I wasn’t sure I liked him for the role because he always seemed like a James Bond guy, that classy type. However he came in and screen tested and totally changed that idea. He took the script home and showed it to his son and his son loved it and basically told him that if he didn’t get the role he’d kill him. So eventually we settled on him, I was sold on him though from the minute he tested with us. He was awesome to work with; I mean so amazing the things he did. The role was so physical and he was a great sport, he was in great shape. During the filming he got hit by a sword and it cut him on the forehead and he had to have like five or six stitches in his head. He also tore some ligaments in his knee so after stunts and stuff he had to get his knee drained on set. He never complained, never missed a day, it was amazing.

Would you work with him again?

Oh hell yeah! He was awesome to work with. He got so psychologically into the character of Kane. I do actually have project that him and I have talked about that is a thriller of sorts and I’d love to do that with him.

So what about the future of Solomon Kane, do you have a US distributor yet? What about sequels, because we have heard that this was set-up as a trilogy?

Well we are currently looking for a US distributor, like I told you in the beginning; the movie is different so they have to figure how to sell it. The fans love it and we have had some great buzz from the beginning, especially from Toronto Film Festival so hopefully you will see the film in 2010. About the sequels we have some things in place and there were things that we did to ensure that we could continue the story. I will say this is an original story and perhaps this is where our little fan criticism has come in, we wanted to give Kane a back-story and there were some rules there and the reason is because non-fans would know more about the character and why he is the way he is. By the end of the movie though, he is the very much everything the Howard character was designed to be and that was important to us.

Well Michael, I wanted to thank you for taking your time to talk to me today. I enjoyed it very much. Please let us know any developments and we can’t wait to see the movie.

Oh no problem man! Love your site, keep up the good work. We’ll talk down the road. Be good mate.

Bob Weinstein has confirmed that Neve Campbell has signed to return as Sidney Prescott for Scream 4. The sequel series will start production in April or May as the first of a new trilogy, and the company is talking to Wes Craven to direct, Weinstein reports.

Everything we know now pretty much harbors back to the announcement of the project back in January. At that time all we knew was that Kevin Williamson (writer of all three SCREAM films) was writing the film, Wes Craven may or may not direct, but there was a very good possibility he would return and lastly this will be a younger version of the SCREAM movies.