Welcome back to Behind The Scenes Saturday!! Normally, I start my articles with something cheeky and fun, but I just can’t do that here. After we lost Hayden Panettiere, I wanted to pay tribute to her and my favorite role of hers, Kirby Reed. Today’s post is dedicated to her and her film, Scream 4! I hope you enjoy!! R.I.P. Hayden ♥ we all miss you.

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com and IMDb.com)

(WARNING!! PICTURES MAY BE GRAPHIC!!)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• This was the last film that Wes Craven directed before his passing in 2015.
• After Dewey (David Arquette) was stabbed in the first film, he was left with a limp that you might notice he doesn’t have in this film. Although it wasn’t explained in the film, the script dismissed it with a screen direction note: “His limp is nearly non-existent. Years of physical therapy.”
• Before 2022’s Scream, this franchise was one of the only horror franchises to have both its main characters, as well as its director, return for all of its installments.
• Courteney Cox (Gale) and David Arquette met while filming the first Scream movie and they got married in 1999. They filed for separation in October 2010. Although there was a small amount of tension between them on the set of this film, they remained professional and respectful of each other. They later divorced in May 2012.
• The film’s screenwriter, Kevin Williamson repeatedly clashed with the Weinstein brothers, so Ehren Kruger was once again brought on to do re-writes, and the script varied heavily from the original drafts.
• When Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) and Jill (Emma Roberts) are talking in the school hallway, you can briefly see a bust of Principal Himbry, who was killed in the first film. Later, Wes Craven said that he felt that it didn’t look enough like him.
• During the Stab-A-Thon party, you might be able to see a dummy of Tatum Riley stuck in a pet door. Some audience members also dressed as Dewey and Gale.

• Wes Craven stated that he was not going to direct this film unless the script was as good as the original Scream.
• In the scene where Jenny (Aimee Teegarden) talks to Marnie (Britt Robertson) about the Stab movies, she states that, “Stab 5 has time travel, which is by far the worst”. This might be a nod to Wes Craven’s time travel pitch that was rejected for A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.
• As seen in the film’s gag reel, there was an on-going prank on set where Ghostface would pop out at times he wasn’t supposed to, scaring many of the actors at different times. One of the best moments was where Britt Robertson was running away from Ghostface and she wasn’t expecting to round the corner and have another Ghostface pop out at her.
• For the first time in the franchise, a CGI-added knife was used. This was because Wes Craven didn’t want to use prop knives that are rubber, cardboard, and collapsible.
• While on his search for a bookstore that they could use for the film, Wes Craven spotted a new bookstore that hadn’t opened yet in downtown Northville, Michigan, called the Next Chapter Bookstore Bistro. Craven fell in love with the building instantly, as well as the name, so he decided to use both in the film. He also hired the owner’s chef to prepare the food and pastry for a scene in the film.
• Hayden Panettiere was very unhappy with all of the re-writes and script changes that went on during production, especially in regards to her character. She almost quit the film as a result. We are all very happy that she didn’t.
• This is the first Scream movie to not feature the song, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

• In an early draft of the script, Dewey and Gale were going to have a baby. This was changed because the filmmakers felt that bringing a baby into the film would make shooting “impossible”.
• Neve Campbell (Sidney) and Emma Roberts both admitted that they’re terrified of horror films. Roberts stated that she hid under the covers while watching the first 3 Scream movies. Campbell admitted that she just didn’t like being scared.
• Lake Bell was originally cast as Judy Hicks, but she had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, and she was replaced with Marley Shelton. 6 days later, Lauren Graham, who was originally cast as Kate Roberts, dropped out due to scheduling changes and the constant script changes, and Mary McDonnell replaced her.
• The roles of Chloe (Kristen Bell) and Rachel (Anna Paquin) were written with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan in mind.
• In the first film, a V/H/S copy of Clerks can be seen. In this film, we get to see a copy of Clerks II in Kirby’s house.
• Emma Roberts had blonde hair and she wore flats to her audition. Wes Craven offered her the part, but he said, “You’re a little too small, and we need to dye your hair dark”. So of course, her hair was dyed and she had to wear lifts in her shoes throughout the film. Hayden Panettiere also had to wear high heels in order to appear taller in the film.
• Kristen Stewart turned down the opportunity to be the film’s opening kill. She believed that she couldn’t match Drew Barrymore’s performance from the first film.

• Hayden Panettiere searched for Roger Jackson (Ghostface) every day, including days where he was listed on the call sheet, but she never found him in person. It was Wes Craven’s intention to keep the rest of the cast from meeting him in order to keep them afraid of him and his voice when they filmed.
• The role of Deputy Perkins was played by Anthony Anderson. Anderson appeared in the Scary Movie sequels. Scary Movie and Scary Movie 6 parodies the Scream franchise.
• Emma Roberts was the only actor playing a high schooler in the film who was an actual teenager. She was 18 when she did this film. Rory Culkin (Charlie) and Britt Robertson were 20, Hayden Panettiere, Aimee Teegarden, and Marielle Jaffe (Olivia) were 21, and Nico Tortorella (Trevor) and Erik Knudsen (Robbie) were 23.
• Neve Campbell stated that Hayden Panettiere and Emma Roberts came into the production with great energy, enthusiasm, and attitude. She said, “You guys were a similar age to we were when we started, and it was fun to see how you guys bonded like we did.”
• David Arquette wanted to play Dewey as a legitimately good cop, this time around, who’s actually able to solve the crime.
• Deputy Perkins’ first name is Anthony, making him Anthony Perkins, an obvious nod to the actor who played Norman Bates in the original Psycho.
• In the opening scene, Rachel is criticizing Stab 6 for using Facebook as a method for Ghostface to stalk and kill his victims. In the original script, the killer actually was going to use Facebook to taunt his victims, but it was scrapped and used for Stab 6 as a joke.

• This is the first film in the franchise to not be edited by Patrick Lussier, Wes Craven’s long time editor. After Scream 3, Lussier switched to being in the director’s chair, directing movies such as the My Bloody Valentine remake, one of the many remakes that Kirby mentioned in her “game” with Ghostface.
• In this film, Deputy Hoss (Adam Brody) states that “It sucks to be a cop in a movie, unless you’re Bruce Willis.” Before this film, Brody worked with Bruce Willis as a cop in Cop Out.
• Christina Ricci auditioned for the part of Judy Hicks.
• Aubrey Plaza, Gal Gadot, Amanda Bynes, and Gabrielle Union auditioned for the role of Rebecca Walters (Alison Brie). Winona Ryder was offered the part, but she turned it down.
• Alia Shawkat, Aly Michalka, and Charlyne Yi auditioned for the part of Kirby Reed.
• There was a rumor that Patrick Dempsey was going to return in this film as Mark Kincaid, but Kevin Williamson denied these claims.
• They had to re-shoot one of Ghostface’s close-ups because Wes Craven felt the new mask’s cheeks were too chubby. They found an older mask and successfully re-shot the scene.

• Several supporting characters had their on-screen presence reduced as most of their scenes were deleted, including Olivia Morris, Kate Roberts, and Judy Hicks. Mary McDonnell skipped the premiere of the film because she was so upset that her role was reduced to about 2 scenes.
• Emma Roberts worked with all three of the female leads in Friends. She worked with Courteney Cox in this film, she worked with Lisa Kudrow in Hotel For Dogs, and she worked with Jennifer Aniston in We’re The Millers.
• Lucy Hale originally was cast as Marnie Cooper. However, due to her scheduling conflicts with Pretty Little Liars, she had to take the smaller role of Sherrie. Drew Barrymore also had that conflict in the first film when she was originally going to be Sidney, but had to take the role of Casey due to scheduling issues.
• At about 54 minutes in the film, an extra walking past Hayden Panettiere gave her the oddest and nastiest look, and she reacted to it. The woman apologized to her afterwords, and it’s unknown why she did it in the first place.
• Ashley Greene, Scout Taylor-Compton, and Selena Gomez were considered for the part of Jill Roberts.
• Deputy Hicks was named after Michael Biehn’s character in Aliens. Biehn and Marley Shelton worked together on Planet Terror 4 years prior to this film.
• Shane Dawson auditioned for the part of Robbie Mercer, but he was turned down due to his lack of acting experience at the time.

• In early drafts of the script, Kate was going to be a realtor, and she was going to be Kate Prescott, Neil Prescott’s sister and Sidney’s paternal aunt. This was of course changed and she was now Kate Roberts, Maureen Roberts’ sister.
• Filming took about 60 days, about 2 weeks longer than they originally planned.
• Jenna Coleman auditioned for the part of Olivia Morris.
• After Lauren Graham dropped out of the film, Kim Rhodes was considered for the part of Kate Roberts.
• Rutina Wesley signed on to play a character named Marcie Perkins, a possible relative to Deputy Perkins. She had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts and instead of re-casting the part, they just wrote the character out completely.
• Before working with Courteney Cox on this film, Alison Brie attended many tapings of her show Friends. She wasn’t kidding when she said Gale “was her ‘90s”.
• In this film, Trudie (Shenae Grimes-Beech) mocks the Saw movies. Erik Knudsen previously appeared in Saw II as Daniel Matthews.

• For the first 3 Scream films, Courteney Cox had difficulty traveling back and forth to work on both them and her show, Friends. She had a similar problem with this film as she was also shooting for Cougar Town at the time.
• Hayden Panettiere panicked over her delivery of the “Bambi” line and after Wes Craven called cut, she approached him and asked him if it was okay. He had no complaints.
• In a different draft of the script, Kirby was going to be living in Stu Macher’s former house and the final act of the film was going to be set there. The idea ended up scrapped and later used in 2022’s Scream.
• A deleted scene confirmed that Neil Prescott passed away after appearing in Scream 3. Dewey was explaining to Gale that this was the first time Sidney’s been to Woodsboro since his death.
• Despite Deputy Perkins walking a few steps after being stabbed in the head being seemingly unrealistic, it was actually medically accurate. Wes Craven once watched a television special about a man who was stabbed in his head the exact way Perkins was stabbed in the film, and that man was actually able to take himself to the hospital.
• The outfit that Trevor wears in the final act of the film is the same outfit that Neil Prescott wore in the final act of the first film. Like Neil, Trevor was bound and gagged, and the killers intended to frame him for the murders. Unlike Neil, Trevor doesn’t survive.
• Before filming, Wes Craven asked his fans on Twitter what his cameo in the film should be. His cameo ended up getting cut from the final film. The deleted scene showed that he was a forensics technician at Jenny and Marnie’s crime scene.

• The original opening was going to take place at a party celebrating the completion of Sidney’s book. Ghostface would’ve attacked the party and stabbed Sidney pretty badly. The rest of the film would’ve taken place 3 years later. This idea was vetoed because the producers felt the time jump would’ve disrupted the flow of the film.
• A deleted scene showing the aftermath of Jenny and Marnie’s murders showed Marnie hanging from the ceiling fan and Jenny tied to a chair, mirroring Steve and Casey’s deaths from the first film. This is what Gale was referring to when she asked Dewey at the press conference if there’s any comment on the killings being similar to the original Woodsboro murders.
• An early version of the script had Jill get away with the murders she committed, and even though Sidney survived the attack, she would’ve had amnesia and not remember that Jill was one of the killers. Jill then would’ve been attacked by a Ghostface, with the implication that someone else new she was one of the killers.
• There are some very small twitches on Jill’s face in her final shot. They were initially digitally removed in post-production, but Wes Craven had them add it back to keep the possibility of her return open.
• In the original cut, Kate was a red herring. After Olivia was killed, Kate would step out of the house to look for Jill and tell Sidney that she was out cold from making a mistake with her medication, raising suspicion on her.
• In another early draft of the script, Deputy Hoss was going to be one of the killers.
• There’s a deleted scene that greatly hinted at Charlie being one of the killers. As he, Robbie, Olivia, Kirby, Jill, and Trevor are sitting together, Charlie makes a comment about the murders and Trevor, clearly agitated, says, “This isn’t a movie.” to which Charlie replies, “It will be”. After Olivia dies and Sidney is on the phone with Ghostface, she yells, “This isn’t a f***ing movie!” and Ghostface replies, “It will be”.

• This is the only film in the franchise where Dewey isn’t stabbed or cut by the killer in some fashion. The worst he got here was getting hit in the head with a bedpan by Jill.
• After negative test screenings, Rebecca’s death scene had to be changed. Originally, she would step out of the elevator and head towards her car when Ghostface calls her. Her car would then move around with the alarm going off, prompting her to return to the hospital only to break the handle of the door. Test audiences complained that this scene was too funny to take seriously.
• Mathew Lillard visited the set one night, and both Emma Roberts and Rory Culkin were incredibly nervous to meet him.
• At the start of the film, Kirby tells Jill, “Before you get in the car, you have to promise not to kill me”. This was great foreshadowing of Jill being the killer, and it’s funny because she doesn’t kill Kirby and her accomplice, Charlie also fails to kill her.
• In the original script, Deputy Hicks was going to be killed off-screen and Sidney was going to discover her body during the final act at Kirby’s house.
• Hayden Panettiere sympathized with Anthony Anderson as his death scene sees fake blood pouring all over his face and hair. She says it stains your hair and pulls your eyebrows out. She also said that when she worked on Heroes, she had pink hair for four years.
• Nico Tortorella was understandably nervous about the squib going off right on his groin where his character gets shot at.
• Another hint at Jill being one of the killers happened when she was in class. When everyone in class gets a text message informing them about Jenny and Marnie’s deaths, Jill is the only one who doesn’t reach for her phone, likely because she already knew what it was going to say.