HOLLYWOOD’S GREATESTUNTOLD STORIES
Shannon
Elizabeth
AGE 44
Buffy Gilmore
A revealing
turn in 1999’s
raunch-comAmerican
Pie put Elizabeth in
the Hollywood spotlight.
UP NEXT Starring in the
sports comedySwing
Away, out now.Regina Hall
AGE 46
Brenda Meeks
A rising star at
the time, Hall
appeared in
The Best Manand Love &
Basketball.UP NEXT Star-
ring alongside Amandla
Stenberg inThe Hate
U Give, based on Angie
Thomas’ YA novel.Shawn Wayans
AGE 46
co-writer;
Ray Wilkins
Wayans co-wrote
Don’t Be a Men-
ace to South Central
While Drinking Your Juice
in the Hood with brother
Marlon and Phil Beauman.
UP NEXT A cross-country
stand-up tour.Dave Sheridan
AGE 48
Doofy/the Killer
The Second City
alum created and
starred on MTV’s
reality prank seriesBuzz-
kill.UP NEXTRoles in a pair of
upcoming films: the deep-
space sci-fi movieWhite
Space and the serial-killer
thrillerDon’t Look There.Keenen Ivory
Wayans
AGE 59
director
The eldest
Wayans wrote
and directed 1988’sI’m
Gonna Git You Sucka, and
createdIn Living Color.
UP NEXT Wayans appears
inDying Laughing, a doc
on stand-up comedians.Bob Weinstein
AGE 62
exec producer
With brother
Harvey, the
producer spun
Oscar gold (Shakespeare
in Love), teen hits (She’s
All That), and theScream
franchise.UP NEXT ASin
City TV series andKnight
Riderfilm, among others.I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM
Shawn Wayans thought ofScary Movie
when a deluge of slasher films hit
theaters in the late ’90s. He pitched the
idea to brothers Keenen and Marlon,
who helped pen the script, which chroni-
cled the murders of multiple teenagers by
a masked killer with a taste for recre-
ational drugs. Miramax’s Dimension
Films snapped up the raunchy mocktail
of horror hits even before the script was
completed, despite it largely riffing on the
studio’s own franchise,Scream.
SHAWN WAYANS(co-writer; Ray
Wilkins) We just found these
[slasher] movies to be kind of ridic-
ulous, and I thought it would be
funny to do a parody. But it was one
of the hardest movies to write. It
looks like a silly, slapstick film, but it
wasnot an easy movie to execute.KEENEN IVORY WAYANS(director) In a
parody, you still have to tell a story.
What people tend to do is write a
bunch of jokes and just string ’em
together. That won’t hold up; you
have to create a narrative. To
[Dimension founder] Bob Wein-
stein’s credit, he was very good
about not being afraid.
BOB WEINSTEIN(executive producer)
When I thought about it, I said,
“Who better to spoof [theScream
franchise] than us?” [Laughs]
Screamstill stood on its own,
becauseScream wasgreat. We had
the guts to do it, I’ll put it that way.FARIS WHEEL
The hardest character to cast was the
lead, but after a long search, Keenen
chose a then-unknown Anna Faris.KEENEN The biggest surprise was
Anna. And it wasn’t really a surprise,
it was a gift. I had seeneverybody,
and I kept saying no to the point that
the casting people were getting
pissed. But I was looking for some-
one specific. I remember the casting
person saying, “I read a girl that I
think is right, but she’s never done
anything before.” And I was like,
[sighs] “Yeah,okay.”
ANNA FARIS(Cindy Campbell)I don’t
think I even had a headshot. I didn’t
have an agent. [After I got the role]
I remember feeling this odd combi-
nation of total elation, dizziness, and
loneliness. Like, “Has my life just
completely shifted?”
KEENENThe fact that she hadn’t
done anything before was perfect,
because she was going off of her
instincts, and she had this natural
innocence and was funny.
FARIS It’s true, I had no idea what to
say when he called “Action.” I turned
to [costar] Jonny [Abrahams] and
was like, “So wait, what are we sup-
posed to do?” And he was like, “Say
yourline.”
JON ABRAHAMS(Bobby Prinze) Anna
was just amazing. I mean, to come in
that green and to have that kind of
comedic timing wasbananas.DIE LIKE JADA
While shooting in Vancouver, the cast
repeatedly watched scenes from the
films they aimed to lampoon. Some tai-
lored their performances to the original
actors’ work.
SHANNON ELIZABETH(Buffy Gilmore)
I tried to doexactly what Jennifer
Love Hewitt did in [I Know What
You Did Last Summer]. My favorite
( Clockwise from
far left ) Anna Faris;
Jon Abrahams,
Shawn Wayans, and
Marlon Wayans;
Faris, Keenen Ivory
Wayans, Shannon
Elizabeth, and
Regina HallABRAHAMS AND WAYANS BROTHERS: ANDREW MACPHERSON/DIMENSION FILMS; FARIS,WAYANS, ELIZABETH, AND HALL: DIMENSION FILMS/EVERETT COLLECTION: ABRAHAMS,ELIZ ABETH, WAYANS: COURTESY OF DIMENSION FILMS (3); HALL, IVORY WAYANS: JACKROWAND/DIMENSION FILM (2), WEINSTEIN: MATHEW IMAGING/WIREIMAGE