We all know that Drew Barrymore plays the first person that is killed off at the beginning of Scream. However, that was not the original role she was cast as. Today, on The Drew Barrymore Show, she revealed how she went from the lead to the dead.
“One night, I was at my apartment in NY and had this weird revelation. And I called the other filmmakers and said, ‘Is there any chance,’ because I was attached to play the Sidney character. I said, ‘Is there any chance you would let me play the girl that gets killed in the beginning because this is what I want to accomplish with that. In every horror film, it’s like that the hand just goes. They just get away…and you kind of always have this tension but you kind of know your hero is going to make it.'” she said. “I thought, what if I die and then it will be like all bets are off, anyone can get killed in this movie, and we would take away that sort of cliché safety net of the girl always gets away. So I thought this was the best way I could serve this movie and this script, and I believed it.”
That was a smart, creative decision on her part. Financially, it was dumb. Creatively, it was brilliant.
I wonder if we would still be talking about the Horror film had she stayed as Sidney. It is not that she would’ve been wrong in the role. The movie stood out that they killed off her so quickly. What do you think?
