Happy Sad Confused - Radio Silence (SCREAM 6 Spoiler Special)

Episode Date: March 13, 2023

Consider this your spoiler warning! We've got the filmmakers that make up Radio Silence (READY OR NOT, SCREAM) making their HAPPY SAD CONFUSED debut today and they're spilling SCREAM 6 secrets! Join Josh for upcoming LIVE Happy Sad Confused events in New York! March 22 -- Jodie Comer. Get your tickets here. March 28 -- Matthew Rhys. Get your tickets here.  To watch episodes of Happy Sad Confused, subscribe to Josh's youtube channel here! Check out the Happy Sad Confused patreon here! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes of GAME NIGHT, video versions of the podcast, and more! For all of your media headlines remember to subscribe to The Wakeup newsletter here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the Volvo Fall Experience event, discover exceptional offers and thoughtful design that leaves plenty of room for autumn adventures. And see for yourself how Volvo's legendary safety brings peace of mind to every crisp morning commute. This September, lease a 2026 XC90 plug-in hybrid from $599 bi-weekly at 3.99% during the Volvo Fall Experience event. Conditions apply, visit your local Volvo retailer or go to explorevolvo.com.

D.C. high volume, Batman. The Dark Knight's definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear, I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle. Get after him or have you shot. What do you mean blow up the building? From this moment on,

none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, Sad, Confused begins now. Today on Happy Say Confused, it's a Scream Six spoiler spectacular with Radio Silence. Hey guys, I'm Josh Harrow. It's welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused.

And yes, every once in a while, we get one of these fun opportunities to dig into a movie that I know the audience has such passion for and really wants to get. the inside dirt on after the fact. So this is that. Scream 6. We're digging into it with the filmmakers behind Scream 5 and now Scream 6. They are radio silence. They are Matt Bettanelli Open, Tyler Gillett, and Chad

Volella. This was a great chat and I know you guys are going to dig this conversation with three like-minded gentlemen, I think. We have similar sensibilities, reference points, and they just seem like awesome guys and they've been really, you know, I was

to say killing it, but I guess that's too obvious a phrase to use with respect to the Scream franchise, but they truly are. Scream 6 for my money is better than the last Scream. And Scream might be, how about this as a provocative statement, is Scream the most consistently entertaining horror franchise? I might go with it. Just pound for pound. All the movies are solid, right? Is there a dud in the bunch? Do you hate Scream 3? I don't Wait, Scream 3? Screen 4? Some people love Scream 4. I don't know. We're going to dig into all of it. Spoilers included in just a minute. But before we get to that, some reminders. New York folks, we got two really cool events coming up and a virtual option for one of them for those who that can't be with us in New York City. So first up, March 22nd over at Symphony Space. It's me and Jody Comer, guys. I'm so excited.

This one is going to be a fantastic night talking about her entire career and looking at. head to her Broadway debut. She's coming off a West End run where she won a bunch of awards for prima facie. I need to learn how to pronounce the show before I see it and talk about it, but that's on me. Suffice it to say, this one-woman play is supposed to be fantastic, no surprise. And we're going to talk about that. Upcoming film roles, past roles, killing Eve, anything that pops into my brain. So come on out. March 22nd at Symphony Space Tickets are available. The link is in the show notes. And we are donating all the proceeds for those. My proceeds to Harlem is my mom's nonprofit that documents the

history, the cultural history of Harlem. So it's all for a good cause and it's going to be fantastic. I guarantee it. Then on March 28th, guys, new guests to the podcast, someone I've really always wanted to chat with at length, Matthew Reese. Oh, this man is, this is a charming, gentleman, wait till you get a load of Matthew if you haven't already. He is, of course, the star of so many great projects, and we're going to talk about it all. From the Americans to the new season of Perry Mason, which is just debuted on HBO. I can't wait to dig into the new season. I'm hearing it's better than the last. And Matthew, in my limited interactions with him, is one of the more entertaining, funny, charming gentleman on the planet. So this should be a fun one. March 28th at 8 p.m.

at 92 NY. Me and Matthew Reese, a new guest to the pod. And for that one, if you can't be with us in person, there is a live virtual option. So get your tickets now. And a reminder, Patreon folks get the first early word, and they get the discount codes. They get a little bit of money off of it. So if you want to sign up to Patreon, patreon.com slash happy, say I confused. Gets you all the doodads, the whistles, the extra stuff. So check it out. Okay. So let's get to the main event. This is your spoiler warning. Scream 6.

If you haven't seen it yet, we do get into some kills, who lives, who dies, some, yeah, all the dirt. So proceed with caution and enjoy my chat. These guys, if you don't know it already, they have really been on this fantastic upward trajectory as a filmmaking team directing, parts of the VHS series, then hitting it big with Ready or Not with Samara weaving. Samara now is in the new Scream movie. I'm not going to say as who or what, in case you haven't bailed yet. Spoiler, you know, spoilers ahead. And they've got a bright future. They also have signed up potentially to direct the new Escape from New York movie, which, if you know me at all, of course I brought it up. Of course I'm going to bring up a John Carpenter sequel

prequel, whatever this is, you'll find out in a few minutes. Enjoy my chat with Matt, Tyler, and Chad, and in case you're wondering, who's who, I'm not sure either, but they're radio silence. That's all you need to know. Enjoy my chat. All right, gentlemen, this has been a long time coming. I'm a big fan of radio silence. Matt, Tyler, Chad, welcome officially to Happy Say I Confused. this is this is a big moment we're fans of yours as well this is a big moment for us too man thank you so much for having us on i was nervous before this no joke i was like oh man no no please if you've heard or seen any of my work i am not intimidating in any way you are in uh you're you're among friends um so but i do want to suss out each of you a little bit to get a sense of each of you

so who's the most who has the most fucked up ideas of the three of you who's the one on set that's like a little more blood put the blade in a little further twist it who's the one want to watch out for. Well, just to say, it sounds like you've been in on our sets because that's the conversation we have almost every time. More sweat, more blood, more violence. I honestly, I think, yeah, we're just like always pushing each other towards the edge of the cliff.

I think that's what's so fun about working with your friends is it's, you know, it's a very alive and organic and in the moment process. And it's never like, oh, just one idea. It's always one idea. And then the yes and game starts. And I think that's, yeah, I think that's, yeah, I think that's how. we end up with, you know, ultimately what's on screen. Is there a voice of reason in the group?

Is there someone that says, guys, this has been fun, but let's, we got to just get the shit done now? I would say not in terms of the violence or the blood or the sprits or anything like that. It's usually like one of our department heads or one of the actors being like, all right, guys, I'm shiny enough or whatever to get. Or our producer, William. Yeah. He's kind of the voice of reason in this.

group. He's like the, one of the, like the fourth member of radio silence. He's the guy that speak you like, yo, let, come on. We got to move. We got to move on. We're actually here to make a movie, not just have fun. Now, talk to me a little. Look, the uninitiated, yes, we, I'm not talking to like this, uh, hard rock group. They are radio silence. They have a name. They are, they are, uh, this is unusual. Like I talk to, you know, brothers, many brothers over the years. Like, first tell me, correct if I'm wrong, have you ever been actually credited as radio silence? Because the DGA in my experience is not so keen on like letting any duos direct, let alone fun names. So how does that work? We were credited as radio silence before joining the

DGA. Got it. And then you're right. The DGA has a very strong policy on the number of directors. And so you have to go through this whole process just to get co-director credit that in and of itself is like a gondlet it's crazy yeah no i've heard about i've heard about this because my brother's a writer and has a partner and they co-directed at some point and it's like you go through this like tribunal you like it's like michael man and other directors like in the guild are like standing watching you and you have to prove to them genuinely terrifying right yeah it was we walked into a room and it was when when we went in and got our waiver um we were told oh it's going to be a small thing you know it's a handful of members maybe some people will be joining via the you know via the

conference line and it just happened to land the date that we went into to meet there was um was oscar weekend so everybody was in town and we walked into the room and it was legit it was like 20 people sitting around you know big big circular conference room table i mean it looked like the war room and and then there were actually seats there was like a spectator section and there were a bunch of other people that showed up and were there. I mean, it was, still, I'm in a flat sweat right now. You're thinking about it. It was so scary.

Far scarier than anything in your movies is this tribunal. So, and for the uninitiated, how did you weigh on the name, Radio Silence? Was there a backup name? How did we get here? The Radio Silence's name came from us, you know, when we were just kind of getting started and we kept sending ideas and projects and pitches and trying to get going. every single thing we ever put out into the world we would never hear anything back so the joke between us was always just hey did you hear from so-and-so radio silence radio silence and then when we were doing VHS we got a call before going up to Sundance or before the before the credits were put on that from Brad Miskah who produced that movie and he was like so who do I credit and literally we were just like on text being like we just got to come up with a name and it was like four minutes later we're like I don't really

Sounds perfect. So now that you're in demand, is there an urge to go like ringing off the hook productions or something? No, I honestly, I think that there's something, one of the things that we now love about how that, the meaning of that, of that name, that title has evolved is I think it'll always remind us of how we started and how, you know, it was always just about, I think we all came up in a way where. we knew that if we wanted to do what we wanted to do, we were going to either have to ask for permission and wait a really long time to get our foot in the door, or we could all join forces and just start making stuff on our own. And I think that, you know,

even though we're obviously a couple of studio movies into our careers now, that is still very much, like that humble approach is still very much how we approach the process. And I think that it's just a reminder of how to always be, in this business and in this process right to like make sure that it's always about the right thing first which for us is like hanging out with good people and your friends and creating a community and then going and making something fun and hopefully designing it in a way that it never feels like like work well and i'm just going to say the fear of uh you know the fear never leaves

either of like this might not get this chance yeah put it all out on the table we got it totally that's important well and i do think that that's why these these screen films also are working not only are you clearly putting your heart and soul an effort into this but you're fusing this is doesn't feel like a money job while it's i'm sure it does well for you guys etc like this is like what you love and you brought your sensibilities and your passions and like anybody that's seen your previous work it's like oh this makes sense this isn't like them just taking the first like studio gig they could get after ready or not this like this is kind of if they didn't create scream they might have tried to create something like scream themselves um so okay so

so before we get to scream six let's talk about getting scream five or whatever we want to call the last scream movie um what was what was the process in a nutshell like where did you go in and pitch um and and what was you know what was the gauntlet to get that gig no we actually didn't have to pitch on that when i that was it was one of the the strangest experiences we've ever had because up until that moment it was it was the experience that that i think everybody has right like you're you're just banging your head against the while you're meeting after meeting you're sending things out you're receiving things and trying to attach to them i mean it's it's sort of it's sort of chaos and on the heels of uh of ready or not coming out

which was you know produced by the project x guys and um that script shares a writer in common with with scream, Guy Bucic. We knew that Jamie and Guy were co-writing something in secret. They wouldn't tell us what it was. And we had no idea. We didn't even have any predictions. And then very strangely, the Project X guy set us up at a meeting with Spyglass, who had the rights to scream.

And we didn't even know that at the time. And it was sort of true, you know, usually meetings get set up through your reps. but our buddies were setting up this meeting. And it was very naive. We were like, oh, they just want to connect us with other good people and some friends of theirs. And in that meeting, Gary Barber, the head of Spyglass, just mentioned very casually Jamie's, Jamie is writing scream. Jamie and Guy are writing a writing scream for us.

And we were just like super stoked to know that our good buddies were involved in one of our favorite franchises. We had no idea that they were planting the seed for us to, to come in and ultimately direct it. And then we got the call a few days later, like, will you guys come to the office? We want you to read a hard copy of a hard copy of this script. And, I mean, it was, I don't think we'll ever forget that moment of sitting in that

conference room, like page turning the script and stopping and looking up at each other. Like, is this fucking real? Like, is this actually happening? I mean, it was such a, it was such a fantasy. And the script was so good. It was just undeniably good. I think if you'd asked us the day before, do you guys ever want to jump into the Scream franchise?

We would have said, fuck, no, like too much pressure, too crazy. It's too beloved for us. And then we read the script, and it was like, it was undeniable. Yeah, it also took us about four hours to read the script. And I remember we were sitting in the conference room and Jamie just kept poking his head in being like, are you guys, are you guys okay? Are you able to read it?

Like, what's going on? Like, what is taking you so long? You kept checking on us. It was just like, it was, the script was so packed with just emotion and just like of love and passion for everything, scream that it was just undeniable. And honestly, just flipping through the pages, you just, you felt the love, you felt the fandom, you felt all of the emotions you get like, you know, to be able to work on a franchise that is part of the reason why you make movies, right?

And it was, that was just a magical day. And it was like really fun. And we are able to read. It just, we were just really dissecting. No, only one of you can read. You have to read to the other two. You read out loud. That's why there are three of them.

So let's go back a full ages ago, about 14 months ago, your last movie comes out. How many of the ideas were already in place? And give me also a sense of how you work with the writers. Because obviously, this is a partnership in every way between radio silence, but also between the two writers of these films, when did the discussions really begin about what this movie could be and how much was even being discussed while you were making the last screen film? I think on the last one, you know, we were so focused on doing a good job and making sure that it worked. And I don't think anybody, I mean, maybe like little fleeting dreams of

another one. But I think it was really like, we have to make this work. Let's make this work. And then as soon as it started to come together, you know, there were conversations, but they started writing the Scream 6 before Scream 5 came out. And we got, I think we read the draft, like the week Screen 5 came out, right? Does that feel like that guy? I think that's right. Yeah. Yeah.

And then, but we have all a blur. It is kind of a blur. It's just like goes for like three years. But they, but us and Guy and Jamie have like a really, really, really. collaborative relationship and we have a text chain that is constantly going about stupid silly things and then also about work things and you know we've really grown to trust them over ready or not scream and now scream six where I feel like whenever there's something that's not quite working or it's not hitting for us in the way we want it to they can either explain it or

they use that as a jumping off point to go change it and it's it's it's such a it's such a like a it just feel so safe working with them because and in a good way not like in a safe or lazy way but in a way that like we can all trust each other we can all link up and we know we're going to get it there because we know what we all want and we all trust each other's instincts and sensibilities i want to okay so this is the fair warning we've already given some mornings but let's start to get some some real spoilers for this film okay if you haven't seen screen six get the hell out of here guys what are you doing here um so okay there there are some big swings in this film as there always are on the screen films, but like, I mean, among them, obviously the setting of New York as a New Yorker, I love seeing seeing New York as a setting, especially just the ghost face in different contexts, amazing. But also the shift in the center of the story. And while the last film was certainly shifting from these quote-unquote legacy characters, this new generation, this one really does. This one like doubles down, I feel like. And while we have Gail and she has an amazing sequence in there, it is really about your core four.

So talk to me, I guess for each of you, what felt like the biggest exciting swing about this? What got you jazzed about making this film in a nutshell? What felt like the biggest swing? I mean, I think that you said it really well. I mean, of New York, which I think for us just, that was the first thing we learned about this project, was that it was going to be set in the big city. And we were extremely excited by the possibilities that that presented. But I think what we were, what we maybe weren't expecting was the level of character depth that was going to be at the heart of what this story is.

And I think, you know, that's ultimately maybe the thing we're most proud of in this movie is that for as violent and crazy and frenetic as the set pieces are, that that's really balanced by these quiet moments where you really get to dig deep into those characters and those relationships. And I think for us, if we kind of look back on what we really love about all the screen movies, but particularly that first movie, it's how patient that movie is with its characters and how it never, it's never accelerating you through the moments that make you really care and really feel. And it's one of the things that is, I think emerged as like a key ingredient in this franchise. And so I think that, you know, those two things coupled together, it felt like weirdly like a crazy swing but also like a return to form you know that that first movie i think really kind of um is the is the perfect blueprint for yeah and just jumping off that a little bit too

i think one of the most fun things um that we learned on screen five was being introduced to melissa and jena and jasmine and mason and being like oh we're just scratching the surface with what they can do like let's really like like this next movie with what was six? Like, let's hang the movie on their shoulders and, like, let them have at it.

It's their time. And to be honest, we would work with them again on any movie, all four of them. Like, they're the best human beings, the most talented individuals.

And I think just being able to put the franchise on their shoulders was just, like, it was freeing in a way and also very fun and also kind of safe because we knew they were great.

Yeah. So it was pretty wonderful that way. Okay. So can we have the Nev Campbell portion of the conversation out of the way? I know it's a bit uncomfortable, but it has to be said that, like, look, obviously there was an intention for her to be in this film at some point. And the timing seemed interesting to me just because it sounded like she, like announced that she wasn't going to be in it for, and you can look it up why, you know, the disagreements. But right when you guys were shooting, like up until the last minute were you planning to have Sydney in this film, like up until you. started rolling cameras it you know i mean i think just first first just to say it you know we we had a lot of private conversations with neb and we're like huge fans of hers and we're huge fans of sydney and we absolutely support her choice to not do this you know i mean it was like i know it wasn't easy for her it's something she's you know been a part of her life for 25 years um and you know and we didn't want to in any way disrespect that while we were in

pre-production. We were like, you know, whatever's going to work best for you, you let us know, we'll keep this communication open. But when we found out she wasn't going to do it, it was hard. And I think we all were kind of frazzled because we were like, okay, how do we do this? What are we going to do now? You know, we need to know what we're making. Like, it becomes a very like, just a practical thing. What is this going to be? Yeah. Yeah, it's just the actual process of making the thing when the gears are already moving. Yeah. But again, I think it's really credit to everybody in the crew and Jamie and Guy to be able to hit it really quickly when we needed them to. And there was a structure, like there was a foundation in this script that

was very strong. And that foundation never really changed that much. And I think that's kind of at the end of the day what really got us through it. You know, so it's, it's teamwork really at the end of the day. And yeah, it was, you know, to be honest, it was very hard. And, And, you know, we were very bummed out about it. But it's, you know, we also took that as a, okay, kind of to what Tyler was saying a few moments ago, we need to make sure that we really, we make sure that the audience hopefully can fall in love with these new characters in this movie, the way we all fell in love with those original characters in the original movie. Did any of her function in the story fall on any other characters when you shifted? Like, did you find that, like, Sydney's function shifted to another character in particular? Not really. I think, you know, one of the things the guy and Jamie were really conscious of is that it didn't feel or shouldn't feel like things were just retcon because, you know, we had to put a Band-Aid over anything. I think that, you know, those guys are both really conscientious writers. And I think that when something gets pulled up by the roots like that, you know, I think they're really okay with like diving in and doing the hard work to make sure that.

that whatever the story is feels feels really natural and really organic and really like it has a reason to be. Right. Was, so we obviously lost Dewey the last time around, heartbreaking. Was Gail ever in danger of dying? This time, was there ever a permutation

that Gail wasn't going to make it? No, we still feel bad about Dewey while we think it was right for that movie and we would do it again. But, you know, we, as fans before we were involved of than scream it hurts it hurts you know and uh we didn't want to that to us would just be too cruel it'd be too it'd be too much it wouldn't be it would it would take away too much of the fun of scream you know and i think we did that in the last one and it made it really hard

but it also helps the movie and brings it all together and you know it's it's that balancing act but in this one we wanted to uh we wanted to make sure gale made it through we talk a lot about how that first movie is really like a secret feel good movie that the people the characters that you love they survive like and that's one of the reasons why it's it's it's such an evergreen such a timeless such a classic is because it's something that I think it feels so good to go back to even when you know how brutal it is the outcome is still so satisfying and cathartic because the characters you've fallen in love with make it make it out a lot and um and I think that uh that's just we love movies like that. Like we just love

watching those movies and we love making those movies when you put your characters through hell and they come out the other end just, you know, with the shit beaten out of them, but survivors. One of the, I think, most concerns. Yeah, go ahead, Matt. Yeah. Oh, please. Oh, I was just going to say, you know, one of the things I think in our

through line, if you like go back through all of our work, it's like we started off kind of doing like dark funny stuff. But then in our first couple like anthologies, we went really dark. They were still kind of funny, but they had like a really dark ending. And I think there was something for us when we got to Ready or Not, and that ending changed a lot.

Like in the original versions of Ready or Not, she dies in the end. And it was very much a bummer. And when it came to be like, it's such a different movie. It was like this real great moment of catharsis and like you're with her and loving it. I think that really changed something in us where we were like, oh, that's the feeling we want. Like that's what we want. And so there's something, you know, that I think. then, you know, in varying ways and trying to keep ourselves fresh and challenging it,

I think we still always kind of aim for what is that moment you walk out of a movie and go, fuck yeah, I feel good. You know, even everything you set through was shitty and awful for the characters. Well, you also get to have your cake and eat it too because you still get to really, poor Samara you put through the ringer. Even if she made it through ready or not, she doesn't make it through the first 10 minutes of this one. Yeah, it's a bad, bad, bad experience. experience for grace in this one.

Is this your vendetta against film professors? Should we know? Do you just, uh, oh, that's a, we should, we should ask Guy and Jamie about that. Yeah. Let's dig deep. Yeah. So if there, if there's one theme that, that recurs in these wonderful screen movies among many, it's, um, the prevalence of fucked up families.

And we're introduced to a, uh, a doozy of a fucked up family at the end of this one as your killers. Uh, again, is this? this always was this always the path from the beginning from the earliest inception of the script that you was delivered to you guys in your conversations were these always your bad guys you know it's we we sort of I feel like we need to kind of go back through our notes and figure out when exactly things started sort of shifting with that I like Matt had said the foundation of the structure of you know what the movie was was super solid and really didn't

change a lot but within that you know is As you start prepping and you're finding locations and you're getting inspired by, you know, who you're casting and all of that, I think that you really start rattle testing everything in the script. And I think one of the things for us that was that was really great in the first draft of this, but evolved to ultimately be what's on the screen, is that is that group of killers. It was always three. And there was more of a kind of vigilante justice angle, I think, guys right in that in the first draft. It was the misdirect. It's what, it was basically anything with the, we're here to frame you. To frame you.

And I think for us, it was, it was really, or get revenge, sorry. For as kind of bombastic and crazy as this movie is that at the end, when you, when you get to the reveal and you get to the reveal of the motive, which is something that I think all audience members are like waiting for, right? That's, that's kind of one of the classic ingredients of these movies, that big monologue. I think for us, we just wanted something to be really simple and primal. We wanted that to be something that was super, super emotional and just really clean and clear and ultimately doesn't need a lot of explanation. Like Matt said, the big misdirect of, yeah, we started these rumors online about you to frame you, but it's actually just a revenge story.

And certainly also drafting off of screen too, which is a revenge story as well. And then, of course, the idea of this found family coming together in this movie, are heroes as a found family, and then sort of pulling that theme into who the killers was. There's a symmetry in that that we think was just really, really nice and made a lot of sense for this one. I really want to talk about the setting of the last act of your film, which is just this amazing shrine in practice and in reality, I would think, to scream, to stab, to these murders. Talk to me about constructing those, that, that. that shrine and like are those actual props from those films tell me about like shooting in that environment and creating that environment that that go for it no bad i was just going to say that

that this that this is a great question that also kind of dovetails with what we're talking about with the way we work with guy and jamie is the draft that we originally got it was a warehouse It wasn't a movie theater. And the props were not specifically what they are now. I can't quite remember exactly what they were. I think it was a combination of the true crime props. And stab, movie props. Yeah.

Yeah. And so there was like this, you know, and again, we're in pre-production during all of this, trying to figure it out with these guys. And we knew like location. We had to find a location. And then Michelle La Libertay, our production designer, was like, hey, there's this really great movie theater we could. use and we were like whoa that's awesome and it looks incredible and we told guy and jamie and then

that kind of got them going on like well what would that be how can we apply how can how can how can that inform the movie and why would that matter and you know it's like one domino starts falling and it leads to what ends up in the movie but uh we had tons of not arguments uh conversations about are these true crime props are these movie props what and what we landed on is oh these are these are actual from the crime. It's evidence. Yeah, which then, you know, played into the Bailey thing and the, I mean, we had tons of jokes about how, how did this actually get constructed in the world of the movie? You know, that's the world of extreme.

But you have an amazing ad libel. What was his ad lib, Matt, the shipping costs were astronomical. Right. Yeah. But, you know, walking on that set, and we had a million conversations about how to actually lay it out so that, you know, we could block the scene to kind of move and evolve and it wouldn't just be like Screen 5 because they're in a corner in a kitchen the whole time. Right. You know, we wanted this to kind of keep moving and, you know, get Derman up on stage and really go somewhere with it. But walking on that set for the first time as Scream fans was like unforgettable, like a life,

a life high memory. You know, you're just like, holy shit. Like, this stuff is so cool. And it was really a handshake between all departments. coming together to just create this thing that I think surpassed any of our expectations for how cool it was. Yeah, and just building off of that a little bit, I think we were talking earlier about the yes ending and moving everything forward because the fan films that are playing in the theater that are kind of setting the mood the whole time weren't like that was added at once we found the

location, once we were able to find like the screen and Jimmy and Guy came up to Montreal and they did a complete walkthrough of the theater so we could actually go, go back and, you know, make sure that the parts of the script that, you know, were executed for specific locations and everything like that, too. But then going with the fan films and whose fan films these are and who made these movies that we're seeing and playing in the background, and then reaching out to Jack Quaid to, like, complete that thematic circle of family and bring in all of that together was just, we just kept building on it and building on it and building on it. So, you know, we could get that emotional release at the end of the movie, too.

And as well as that, holy shit, this is the entire franchise, which I think is a line that is that Mindy actually says, you know, and just really like tying it up that way nicely. I'm sure you guys are aware of like the constant speculation, the rumors and the fan theories. And that's part of the fun of these films. And let me just put it to you bluntly. And your canon is still alive? What's up with Abby Willard? What's going on? Was there ever, there were all these rumors, thought.

Oh, he's going to come back. What did you make of that? What's your take? I mean, we love, we love poking that bear. I think that that's just part of what's fun about the fandom and about the movies. I mean, obviously, you know, that was, the same conversation was happening around Hayden's character, around Kirby for 11 years, right? Until we dropped a tiny little Easter egg and Scream 5. And I think that, I think that that's one of the things that we love, we love about these movies is that

that people connect to them in such a specific way, and they connect to specific characters in a really specific way. And I think that that's, I mean, it's common with all big franchises, but I think there's something about the nature of these movies as horror films, who done it, it's like there's something really sticky about them that attracts a really rabid fan base. Stu Mocker is dead, you guys. I mean, I don't know.

on who you ask. Even the five of us, it depends on who you ask. So, wait, there's disagreements within radio silence. That's just how we're going to do. Right. Guy, the writer, one of the writers, is a, he's a real steward. He's like, always like, guys, we've got to do it. So I would say that the debate remains alive.

Okay. And look, I think we, we brought, we brought Billy Loom's back. as a hallucination. So I feel like, you know, at this point, anything's, anything's fucking possible. Your forced ghost equivalence. I think I normally, yeah, I think I hallucinate to do on a regular basis as, you know, in just real life. So it's pretty great.

Now we're, now we're just waiting for the return. Obviously, a film class guy number one, uh, Joshua Jackson. That seems inevitable, right? Yeah, exactly. Nothing else we need to know is what his actual name was. That's, that, yes. So any talk of a Ryan Johnson cameo this time around Or was that that that that ship sail with the last scream

That ship sailed with the last one We did have a chance to talk with him though After the release of the last one Just about sort of fandom and fan culture in general And he was like yo you guys are experiencing something Far crazier than I even You guys can teach the masterclass Yeah

so lovely to want to want to be involved at all and obviously we are just massive massive fans and you know he he's sort of at the tip of the spear in so many ways like the release of of that movie I think kind of opened the doors to this new way of this new wave of fandom and I'm and of course I think it was always it was always present in some way but it feels like that um that we sort of crossed the threshold as a film culture with that with that movie and um we're just happy that we got to use his name, you know, associate him at all with this universe is really really funny. Look, I'm literally talking to you guys the day of your premiere, so this is like beyond

cruel. But where are we at for the future? Have you guys already sussed out what the next screen film is? Are you on board? Should the audience be there, which I know they will be there? Where are we at? we have i wish we had something cool to report but we don't this is no it's very much like you know i think we think i and jami are working on some stuff but you know part of our process with them and

regardless of our involvement is they you know they like to kind of silo themselves for the script so that they can get really fresh eyes and fresh reads from us and that it's not like this kind of ongoing process so i'm sure they're cooking up something awesome you know is there is that interesting yeah go ahead sorry i see and you know one of the things that we love about scream and I think we found this out by doing it is that it's a it's a franchise that has to reinvent itself and because of that it can continue to reinvent itself and go on as long as people show up is there interest I look in this in this in this culture now where like these cinematic universes there must have been discussion by now about side stories going back in time

etc of doing a TV series set in in the scream world have you guys had those discussions would that interest do? I mean, they did a TV series for a hot minute. We talk a lot about wanting to make a stab movie series. It would be how fun it would be to actually make like a grind house, a grind house stab franchise. And like right on the heels of, you know, the big screen movie releases, you, you know, put out a super B movie, you know, like fun, down and dirty slasher.

But I don't, I mean, yeah, I can. think that, but I also think that there's something, one of the things that is, um, is one of the reasons this franchise continues to have so much value is that it, um, it is really like, on a path, you know, ghost face, collection of characters you love. And, um, I mean, I think you can, as Matt said, you can kind of rinse and repeat that formula in different, in different ways. Um, I don't know. I mean, I think it definitely would be fun. Jennifer Jolie, the little Jennifer Jolie side story. What that is. That'd be great. I don't know how much you can say, and I presume not much, but I just have to say I am a John Carpenter obsessive, and I am very, very, very excited at the idea of you guys taking on escape from New York.

Where are we at? What's going on, guys? Deep, deep development. Let's just say that. It's very, very, very, very early stages. And again, we do have, we're having another call about it this week just to see you. you know the path to go down but again we we're very much massacists in terms of what we want to do in terms of our career so it's like it makes sense for us have you met have you met have you spoken with john have you spoken with kurt russell no not yet not yet and that that would hopefully be the next steps um but i think it's it the challenge it's the sort of challenge is like i mean you know it's it's another thing that we love so much and so making sure that whatever the path forward is,

that it feels spiritually as connected to that as, you know, as our scream rooms feel to the originals. Because I, you know, that's another one saying that we're just, it's so influential to us. Yeah. Is that, can you say at least, is that, is that a sequel? It's not a reboot? Is that something that would retain the continuity

and the character of Snake Pliskin going forward? Yeah. Yeah, it'd be in the same world. a requal as Mindy legacy would say yeah

you don't just get rid of and recast snake bliskin what madman would want to do that I mean where are you guys

at I'm curious now in terms of just like weighing your options because like before scream happened off of ready

or not were you were you pitching like a ton of IP were you being pitched or pitching a ton of IP

related projects is that is that something that is interesting to you? Are you excited about dipping your toe into other, you know, the marbles and DCs and the Star Wars, all the obvious giant IP? I think we have a very, like, our mentality hasn't really changed since we were doing like indie anthologies with our friends.

And, you know, the first thing that we got pitched after Ready or Not was, I'm not sure we've told this story over, right? About we were having drinks with Samara and Jimmy, her husband was there and after a couple drinks Samarro was like you guys have to read Jimmy's script you have to read it it's great it's called cocaine bear

and we were like I'm sorry what and then we read it we were like oh this fucking great and Samarro was like guys I'm so sorry I was pushing Jimmy script on you like oh my god and we're like it's really good and then we ended up signing on to that with like Chris and Phil Lord and Miller

and there was a period where we were involved in that and like we were like in love with it we really wanted to do it and then scream came along and like we were just such massive fans it was like a chance of a lifetime and we couldn't say no but it was really hard to leave that project yeah that was the tough one well that shows you had good you had good judgment that's a yeah but i think that we i think that we are like the kind of i think we're the kind of the kind of filmmakers who you know are maybe more like want to model our careers more after like Ron Howard, you know, we just want to make stuff.

Like, we just want to make movies. And I think that if we could do, if we could just roll into the next thing and then roll into the next thing, we really love the process. Our relationship with the process is really, it is really kind and really friendly and really full of inspiration. Like, we're not, we're not tortured by, by production. Like, it's a vacation for us. We genuinely, genuinely love the process of making something.

And so I think the, the way. more we can do that, the better. I think it'd be going insane if it was like five, six years in between movies. No, thank you. Are you comic book guys? Are you Marvel and DC guys? Is that something that would be an exciting opportunity? A big time. I mean, I think if the thing was right, of course, you know, I, we all grew up, you know, loving comic books and certainly love that those those franchises feel like they're at a point in their evolution where they're going to have to start taking some, some big risks just to keep things interesting. And we're here, we're here for it.

We're, we're excited to see what happens next with DCN and Marvel. And does it feel like at this point? Because like, look, again, looking at the resume thus far, most of it, if not all of it, is really horror based in that, in that milieu. Is it feel like it's time to like show off like, you know, you mentioned someone like Ron Howard. Ron Howard is like, you know, the Billy Wilder of the last like 30 years and like he's on every conceivable genre.

And is it the kind of thought of, like, before we go too far down this one path, we got to show folks, we contain multitudes? I mean, I think that's the dream really to do, you know, it is. It's like the Ron Howard thing. It's like Rob Reiner, Billy Wilder. It's like all these like guys who we just love that they were able to make movies. Like when you look at Rob Reiner and you're like, wait, you made misery and stand by me. Like I can't even, you know. But that's the era we grew up in, you know.

And I think it's there's something so. special about that and part of that too admittedly is that was an era when movies were just movies and everything wasn't you know what it is now you know not not like shitting on anything no no there has obviously real shift in the way we consume movies and the way movies are made and i think you know there's a lot more there are a lot more movies being made now but unfortunately it feels like they can just go by you and unless somebody tells you to go see it you might not see it until like two years later so that that conversation where everybody's talking about the same movie that that is such like when we were kids was such a part of it you know we all fell in love with

indiana jones and all our friends loved indiana jones and then it was you know the mask or i mean whatever uh i think we just long for something like that and i to be able to be a part of something like that where you're making new ideas old ideas in a new way whatever that is just it's this it's kind of what chat and tyler was saying it's like we just want to keep keep making stuff. It's not so much to us about what genre it's in as much as it is. Is this a cool story? And are we excited about it?

Well, that's what must have made also, like, ready or not such an intoxicating moment, I would imagine for you guys. Because, like, it was, like, no IP and just, like, at least, look, it wasn't a billion dollar movie, but it made enough. And it was part of the cultural conversation in that period of time. And that is, as you well know, it's like, it basically is IP or horror right now. That's all you get. That's all you can.

It's a breakthrough. It's crazy. It's weird. It's bizarre. We're lucky enough to be in the horror part of that. But it is, it is, yeah. I mean, ready or not was like a life changer for us. I'm still amazed that that movie has stayed a part of the conversation as long as it has.

And is there any active, is there any active conversation on doing anything more with Borsamara now that she survived it? Yes, there is. Oh, yeah. Oh. Okay. And we can report that what we know about it is a fucking awesome. Yeah.

So you're jazz. You're excited about potentially. Extremely. We're excited about that. Okay. I will watch this space. All right, I'll end on this note. I give you the power to retcon anything from the Scream franchise.

You can bring anyone back to life and play with them. Because as much, that's part of the cruelty of this franchise, is we've had such great characters. And then Wes kept ripping them away from us. So who would you have liked to have played with that isn't around anymore? I mean, I feel like we'd all say Stu, right? Yeah. Only one of you said Stu is totally dead. I mean, it'd be like a Stu Parker Posey like combo movie.

I think that would be pretty great. Yeah. To meet Matthew on the last one. He is, he's just one of a kind. He's, there's something so contagious about his energy. And I mean, even if it just for the chance. to like work with him for a few minutes it'd be it'd be worth bringing sue back there's a will there's a way you can do it you can make this happen i also got to say just on

that tip too and not not because it's our movie but we saw a lot of the cast from screen five came out for this premiere this weekend so we got to see like dylan and mikey uh yesterday and it was jack wait is here yeah jack way is here and it was like so wonderful seeing them all hang out with the new cast and get to see them all and I mean I miss working with Mikey and Jack you know what I mean like as the ghost face like they were they're so good so yeah and kudos to you guys by the way

and all I've done this just like again like Wes and Kevin did on the initial of just the casting like we've we're already seeing I mean Jenna Ortega has taken over the planet she's ruling those we all are her subjects apparently like it's just amazing and just like a short year like your cast is already going off and doing amazing things. So well done in all fronts. They're also

congratulations, guys. Honestly, I'm a big fan of all your work. And this one, I like this one even more than the last one. This is great movies. Screen 6 is awesome. I know people are going to dig it. Congrats. Enjoy the premiere. And I look forward to be able to talk to you more about all your secret of projects when the time is right.

We'd love it. Thanks so much for us. And so ends another edition of Happy. sad, confused. Remember to review, rate and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pleasure to do this by Josh. the true stories of the Salem Witch Trials and the escape attempts from Alcatraz, of bank robbers like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, of killers like Lizzie Borden and Charles Starkweather,

of mysteries like the Black Dahlia and D.B. Cooper, and of events that inspired movies like Goodfellas, Killers of the Flower Moon, Zodiac, Eight Men Out, and many more. I'm Chris Wimmer. Join me as we crisscross the country from the Miami Drug Wars and Dixie Mafia in the south, to mobsters in Chicago and New York, to arsonists, kidnappers, and killers in California, to unsolved mysteries in the heartland and in remote corners of Alaska. Every episode features narrative writing and cinematic music, and there are hundreds of episodes available to binge. Find Infamous America, wherever you get your podcasts.