Matthew Lillard is reflecting on his time filming the 1996 slasher classic Scream — and dropping a few behind-the-scenes tidbits along the way.
During a panel discussion at MegaCon in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Feb. 7, Lillard took a trip down memory lane with fellow Scream alum Skeet Ulrich.
“[The Scream set] was my experience of what college would be like,” Lillard, 55, said of filming in California. “We were a bunch of kids running around Santa Rosa. We worked 6 p.m. to basically 8 a.m., so we’d come off of work, and we’d all go to David Arquette’s room and drink like fools. And we were young. It was a pivotal moment in all of our lives; it changed our lives. And we’re all friends to this day. So it’s a college experience.”
Lillard also confirmed that he will be making an appearance in the upcoming Scream 7, slated for release in February 2026.
“I’ve been asked literally 1,000 times a day since the first movie ended if I’m coming back. And I’m happy to report I am,” he said.
In addition to Lillard, Ulrich and Arquette, the original film featured a number of Hollywood up-and-comers, including Neve Campbell, Rose McGowan and Jamie Kennedy, along with more well-established stars Courteney Cox and Drew Barrymore.
Ulrich also opened up about the shared time in their lives while on the panel, noting that none of the cast or crew had any idea that the low-budget ’90s film would become such a cultural phenomenon.
“We were a bunch of kids trying to, you know, break into the business in a bigger way,” the Riverdale actor, 55, said, adding, “We were really a bunch of actors who got together and took a chance on a film that even Hollywood didn’t necessarily want to take a chance on.”
Ulrich said that the movie was almost “shut down completely” two weeks into filming after Miramax execs reviewed footage of the now-iconic opening sequence with Drew Barrymore’s ill-fated character.
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“I don’t know if you know, but we started off shooting the sequence with Drew Barrymore in the beginning of the movie, and they finished that sequence and Miramax stopped production. They were like, ‘We don’t wanna make this movie anymore. We don’t know what it is.’ “
“It took [director] Wes [Craven] and two of the producers editing the beginning section of the movie together, rushing it to New York from Napa Valley for the Weinsteins to look at it and go, ‘Oh, okay, now we get it, keep going.’ “
“So we were really just up there enjoying ourselves, taking a risk,” he continued. “Do what you love to do, and you have no idea what may come of it.”
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