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Film Overview | Cast Highlights | Media | Quotes | Trivia & Facts | Character Information | External Links
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Courteney Cox as: Gale Weathers Riley Directed By: Wes Craven Genre: Horror – Mystery – Thriller Runtime: 99 min Release Date: 15 April 2011
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Cast Highlights
 Neve Campbell Sidney Prescott |
 David Arquette Dewey Riley |
 Emma Roberts Jill Roberts |
 Hayden Panettiere Kirby Reed |
 Marley Shelton Deputy Judy Hicks |
Multimedia
Quotes
Trivia & Facts
Although the “Scream” series was intended to be a trilogy, a fourth movie was rumored on and off several times since the release of the third installment. The movie was officially announced in July of 2008 by The Weinsteins/Dimension in a press release and was released in theaters in 2011; eleven years after Scream 3.
In July of 2009, after years of rumors and negotiations, David Arquette and Courteney Cox signed up to reprise their roles. Neve Campbell was confirmed in September 2009.
On March 22, 2010, Variety announced that Wes Craven was officially signed on as director.
Originally planned for a October 2010 release date, but after writing delays the scheduled release date is April 15th, 2011.
After missing a Thanksgiving and January 4th deadline, Kevin Williamson delivered the first draft of the script in mid-February 2010.
Scout Taylor-Compton and Shane Dawson auditioned for roles in the movie.
Ashley Greene was considered for the lead role, but ultimately, Emma Roberts was cast.
The film suffered two casting changes in quick succession as shooting had begun. Lake Bell had originally been cast as Judy Hicks but was forced to drop out (which she announced via her Twitter account on June 24th 2010) due to “scheduling conflicts.” She was replaced by Marley Shelton. Six days later, Lauren Graham, who was originally cast as Kate Roberts, dropped out also citing “scheduling conflicts” as well as “script changes.” She was replaced by Mary McDonnell.
At a table read on June 25, 2010, the actors were told to stop reading at page 75 to prevent those already cast in the film from knowing the climax.
With four installments, this landmarks the Scream franchise as being one of the only horror franchises to have its main characters return for all its sequels.
Just as she does in her real life marriage to David Arquette, who plays Sheriff Dewey Riley, Courteney Cox’s character, Gale Weathers, now has a hyphenated name. She is now billed as “Gale Weathers-Riley” since, at the conclusion of Scream 3, Dewey proposed to Gale and they are now married in this film.
In May of 2010, Cathy Konrad, the producer of all three previous movies in the Scream series, filed a lawsuit against the Weinstein Company stating her production company had a first-rights deal with the Weinstein Company to produce all films in the Scream series. The lawsuit was eventually dropped.
Wes Craven stated he was not going to return as director unless the script was as good as the first Scream.
In June of 2010 Wes Craven asked his fans following his Twitter account what his cameo should be. The cameo was ultimately cut from the film.
The first teaser trailer debuted at the 2010 Spike TV Scream Awards.
Erik Knudsen, who appears as Robbie in this film, played Dale Turner on Jericho alongside original Scream star Skeet Ulrich.
Kevin Pennington was rumored for the role of Trevor Sheldon.
Patrick Dempsey was rumored to reprise his role from Scream 3. The writer, Kevin Williamson, claimed the rumor to be false. Also, Dempsey would be filming Transformers: Dark of the Moon at the same time for shooting Scream 4, where as it would be unlikely to have the availability to reprise his role.
The role of Deputy Perkins is played by Anthony Anderson. Anderson appeared in several of the “Scary Movie” sequels. The original Scary Movie was a spoof of the “Scream” films.
Neve Campbell and Emma Roberts, two of the lead actresses in the film, both admitted to being terrified of horror films. Emma Roberts stated she was hid under the covers while watching the first 3 ‘Scream’ films. Also, Neve Campbell stated a while back that she can’t watch the films, because she doesn’t like being scared.
Kevin Williamson, the writer of this film, has expressed a subtle annoyance towards the release of the film. During production, producers Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein brought in Ehren Kruger (the writer of Scream 3) to polish up the script. Wes Craven later stated that the main ideas, story and concept of the movie were written by Williamson, with minor changes made by Kruger.
Scream 4 opened in US theaters 15 April 2011, 15 years to the date after the original began filming.
For the first time in the series, a CGI-added knife was used because Wes Craven wanted to avoid using prop knives that are rubber, cardboard and collapsible.
Scream 4 is the first film in the franchise not to be edited by ‘Patrick Lussier’, Wes Craven’s long time editor. Since the third movie, Lussier has gone on to a directing career of his own that includes the remake of My Bloody Valentine which is one of the many horror film remakes mentioned in Scream 4.
The first Scream movie not to include Jamie Kennedy (as Randy Meeks), not feature or even mention Cotton Weary, and not include a main love interest for Sidney.
Each of the new central characters is an archetype for one of the characters from the original: Jill (Sidney), Kirby (Tatum), Trevor (Billy), Charlie (Stu), and Robbie (Randy).
The first “Scream” movie not to feature the song “Red Right Hand” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
Rory Culkin’s third successive movie collaboration with Emma Roberts after Lymelife and Twelve.
A copy of ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ is visible behind Sydney in the scene at the book store.
A dummy of Tatum stuck in the doggy door (a moment that is also echoed by the movie’s opening sequence) is visible at the “Stabathon”. Audience members dressed as Dewey and Gale can also be seen.
This time, the footage from Stab includes the credit “A Robert Rodriguez Film.” Rodriguez really did direct the footage, and also made Grindhouse co-starring Scream’s Rose McGowan and Scream 4’s Marley Shelton.
The roles of Chloe and Rachel were actually written with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan in mind.
This is the first scream movie to not feature a character named “Steven”. The first _Scream (1996/1)_ had Steven Orth played by Kevin Patrick Walls, killed in the first scene. Scream 2 had Phil Stevens played by Omar Epps, also killed in the first scene. And Scream 3 had Steve Stone played by Patrick Warburton, killed when Ghostface used a voice synthesizer to disguise himself as Dewey.
Among the novels on the shelf as Gale enters the book store, one of the more prominently seen is Eragon, the first of the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. A series that, like Scream, was originally intended as a trilogy, only to be expanded in to a four part series, the latest of which was released in November 2011, the same year as this movie.
Despite being the most recognizable face of the “Scream” franchise, this is the only installment where Ghostface has appeared on any of the North American posters or home media release covers (the character has previously appeared on international posters for the series).
In this film, Deputy Hoss, played by Adam Brody, laments that it “sucks to be a cop in a movie unless you’re Bruce Willis”. One year prior to the release of this film, Brody co-starred (as a cop, ironically) alongside Willis in Cop Out.
A bust of Henry Winkler (former Principal in Scream) can be seen briefly in the hallway.
Just like in the first film, where a VHS copy of Clerks. is seen. In this “remake” we get to see a copy of Clerks II in Kirby’s house.
The outfit that Trevor wears in the final act of the movie is the same outfit that Neil Prescott is wearing in the final act of the original. Trevor is also bound and gagged identically to Neil Prescott.
The film is heavily critical of horror remakes. Notably, director Wes Craven has previously produced a handful of remakes of classic horror films, including Carnival of Souls, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Last House on the Left (the latter two being remakes of films he’d directed).
In the scene where Jenny (Aimee Teegarden) explains to Marnie (Britt Robertson) the story about the Stab movies, she says “Stab 5 has time travel, which is by far the worst”. Wes Craven had the idea of time travel in dreams for “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4” but the studio rejected it.
The scene where Kirby says that her favorite scary movie is Bambi, mirrors the scene in Scream 2 where Randy tells the killer that his favorite scary movie is Showgirls.
To make the acting more intense, Wes Craven didn’t allow the actors to meet who was on the other end of the line when Ghost Face contacted them.
Character Information
Gale is trying to reinvent herself as an author but finds that she is having trouble due to writer’s block. When Sidney returns to Woodsboro and the killings start again, Gale is excited to have the opportunity to yet again be a part of solving the killings, even though Dewey doesn’t want her involved in the investigation. Going “rogue” (as she puts it), Gale goes undercover at a Stab-a-thon party — a party at a barn to screen the seven Stab films — to catch the killer. However, Gale is attacked and nearly killed by Charlie as Ghostface in the barn on camera. Thankfully, Dewey made it to the barn
Gale and Ghostface Gale in Scream 4 with Ghostface behind her
in time to save her and rush her to the hospital. Gale is only stabbed in the shoulder and manages to recover.
Gale survives her wounds and pieces together who the killer is by simply using logic. She is present at the final confrontation, where she distracts Jill Roberts long enough for Sidney to get the upper hand with a defibrillator. She yet again survives, tending to Dewey, who is injured on the floor.
