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I wanted to write a horror movie that Id want to watch, he said.
But how do you scare an audience when all the magic tricks have been exposed?
More than 20 years later,Screamis still scary.
Thats my favorite part of the movie.
And that was great by us.
She had to wear a wig.
I remember Wes saying, lets just think of her as a Catholic school girl.
And I was like, okay, works for me!
You meet her and two minutes later shes in danger.
We need an instant connection.
Thats what Drew brought to it.
Its a great performance.
Her body language in the beginning is very swirly and rhythmic.
She pulls a knife out and slides it back in to the butcher block.
And then the minute she gets scared, her shoulders go inward and everything changes.
If you watch it again, just watch her body language as it transforms.
Drew was very adamant that she didnt want to see the man playing the voice.
We had him in a separate tent, and we had to keep him away from Drews vision.
She just wanted to hear the voice and be scared by the voice.
She didnt want to attach a face to it.
She didnt want to get one word wrong.
And Im talking even about her screams and her breaths and her No!
She was on the mark.
I was blown away by her rhythm.
But she was so careful.
A big inspiration for me was the opening scene ofWhen a Stranger Callswith Carol Kane.
It was one of those relentless scenes with mood and atmosphere and a slow build.
In my first pass of the scene, Casey Becker was actually babysitting.
Once Id written it, I realized it wasnt necessary.
Really, the scene was about Caseys boyfriend, who was outside strapped to a chair.
I wanted it to bejustlong enough that the audience thinks she might survive it.
Once I latched onto the game, I do remember I had written way too many questions.
I had much harder questions in the beginning, and the scene really went on forever.
From the page to the screen, we changed some things based on the house and the location.
All of those moments were created on the spot because of the house.
We wanted a house with windows everywhere.
Wes was always big on shooting on location.
That was a big learning experience, of learning how to let things go.
But this is the process.
Its a group effort.
It was mostly, oh wow, this is not what I envisioned in my head this is better.
It took them five nights to shoot it.
It was my first movie, and I had no idea what I was doing.
I was just standing there, asking constant questions.
Like, whats that?
Hes not here for you.
This isnt a study session.
And Wes was like, no its cool, its cool.
I found Wes to be the most calming presence on the set.
He saved all his dark impulses for the work.
He was just this quiet captain.
He always had a great connection with the actors because he was so quiet and intimate with them.
Watching the scene come to life was very emotional.
I called my mom and dad on the phone and let them hear Wes screaming cut!
It was a big deal.
It was the beginning of my career.
And you just never know how its going to play out it was such a question mark.
And it still is.
