Out promoting the DVD/Blu release of Scream 4
Scream 4 hits DVD, Blu-ray and various digital outlets today – bringing with it a bevy of bonus features including deleted/alternate scenes, behind-the-scenes clip and an audio commentary with director Wes Craven, Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere.
Shock took the chance to speak with Craven again, simply to pick his brain about the film and other topics.
When we pressed him for a reason as to why many of the deleted scenes featured on the disc were cut from the final film (we thought many of them should not have been removed), Craven informed us much of it had to do with time. After repeatedly watching many cuts of the film during post-production, Craven felt the excised scenes were stalling the pacing of the picture.
In addition to touching on Scream 5 and future projects (which you can read about right here), we asked him about…
What Has He Seen Recently While He’s Been on “Vacation”? “Not to say that it’s the best we’ve seen, my wife and I did go see Drive the other night and thought it was quite good. Great use of suspense and a character with minimal speech. It was a look back at an earlier, sort of, genre character. I thought it was really interesting. [The score] was not orchestral, but very strange and compelling.”
Reuniting with Marco Beltrami “Marco’s been really great and, at this point, he’s doing big pictures. He doesn’t get paid much for the Scream series, believe me. He’s doing this out of love, I think, for the film and wanting to be part of it. He and I had a lot of conversations about establishing the theme of Scream 1 again in this film and merging it with a theme he would develop for Jill, so he could switch between Sid’s theme and Jill’s theme, like when they’re in the kitchen and Jill is talking to Sid about how could she endure the things that she’s had. If you listen to it, musically, it’s beautiful and haunting. We also talked about tonal stuff and using a de-tuned piano for a specific sound. I sort of have a musical background, so Marco and I have a good time talking throughout the film.”
What is the State of the Hollywood Slasher Film? “I think, in some ways, I have to keep reminding myself that in the era of slasher films – the mid-’70s to mid-’80s – the word in Hollywood was that slasher films were dead. I had a great deal of problems finding money for A Nightmare on Elm Street. It has to do more with an inspired story rather than whether it’s a slasher film or torture porn, or whatever the hell it is, there is something ever-lasting and relevant about someone with a knife because it is such a primal weapon and a face-to-face weapon. It’s hard to get beyond it. If you had a villain chasing you with a gun, it’s not as scary, oddly enough.”
Source: Shock Till You Drop
