Rory Culkin tormented himself and stalked his co-stars while filming Scream 4
Released fourteen years ago, Scream 4 (watch it HERE) was the last entry in the Scream franchise from director Wes Craven. We’ve heard some interesting stories about ideas that didn’t make it into Scream 4, like the fact that one version of the opening sequence would have had heroine Sidney Prescott killing a Ghostface slasher right at the start and that Kristen Stewart was asked to participate in the opening sequence that we see in the finished film. We’ve also heard that Aubrey Plaza auditioned for the film and messed up by getting too into the idea that she could play the killer. In the newly released book Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror by Ashley Cullins (pick up a copy HERE), it’s revealed that Rory Culkin, who did play a killer in the movie, also got too into his character and spent the production tormenting himself. He also stalked his co-stars a little bit.
Scream 4 had the following synopsis: It’s been many years since the killer “Ghostface” left a deadly trail across the city of Woodsboro. In order to overcome the trauma of these terrible events, Sidney Prescott wrote a self-help book. She returns to Woodsboro to launch her book and is reunited with old friends Gale Weathers and Sheriff Dewey. However, Sidney’s arrival also triggers the return of “Ghostface”, putting Sidney and everyone she loves in jeopardy. The film starred Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Marley Shelton, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Anthony Anderson, Adam Brody, Mary McDonnell, Alison Brie, Marielle Jaffe, Nico Tortorella, Erik Knudsen, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Lucy Hale, Shenae Grimes, Aimee Teegarden, Britt Robertson, and, as mentioned, Rory Culkin.
Culkin told Cullins (with thanks to Us Weekly for sharing the quotes), “I was kind of torturing myself a little bit, thinking that’s what you need to do to get a good performance. I was kind of starving myself and listening to f-ed-up music. In my trailer, when they would call me to set or give me a five-minute warning, I would start slapping myself. I wanted to feel something weird. I remember just wanting to feel like beaten, a little bit.” At the peak of his self-torture, he skipped a group gathering and “I remember kinda disappearing into the woods by myself and using it as an opportunity to stalk them, look at them through the woods. They couldn’t see me because I was far enough away and I put myself in the shoes of the killer, which is creepy to say.” He never got to wear a Ghostface mask on set, but requested one he could use during rehearsals… and he would also put on that mask and go walking down the side of the highway.
As for his approach to his homicidal character, “I wanted to be human and explore, why am I crazy? Why am I killing people? You don’t see it in the film, but in my mind, I was struggling. Every time I would kill someone, I would cry and feel bad about it. I felt I hadn’t seen that in a Scream movie, a remorseful killer — that’s what I was going for.“
Culkin notes that he has “since grown away” from tormenting himself in the effort to give a better performance. What do you think of his approach to playing his Scream 4 character, and the resulting performance? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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