“You like scary movies?” Wes Craven’s 1996 Scream is a bona fide classic flick centred around a serial killer wearing a Ghostface mask. Known as one of the best horror movies, a new secret behind the movie’s success and frighteningly good performances has been revealed. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Craven kept Ghostface’s actor’s identity hidden.
In an interview to celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary, some key players from the first Scream film revealed that the identity of Ghostface’s voice actor was kept secret during filming. Roger Jackson has voiced Ghostface in every Scream movie, including the latest instalment in the slasher franchise Scream (2022). Although he is a well-known figure today, according to the 1996 thriller movie’s crew and cast, having the actors never meet or see Jackson made the stars’ fear more believable.
“We hid him. We had separate rooms. He was never around. He was never at craft services. He was absolutely incognito,” producer Marianne Maddalena explained. “It made it scary for the actors, and Wes just got better performances out of them. It’s a completely different thing than a script supervisor reading the lines. He has an amazing voice, but I don’t know how menacing he would be in person, you know?”
Jackson also recalled having to hide from his co-stars. The star shared what it was like filming the opening shot of the original ‘90s movie, where he calls Drew Barrymore’s character.
“The first night when we were filming the bulk of the scene with Ms Barrymore, I was outside the window under a little canopy trying to keep dry because it was raining,” Jackson said. “I’m looking at her through the window while I’m talking to her on the phone, but she couldn’t see outside. Then on the second night, they moved me to the garage of the house and set me up with a monitor so I could watch the camera feed.”
Ultimately Craven’s choice to hide Jackson from the rest of the cast seemingly paid off. Scream would go on to be one of the highest-grossing slashers on record, only beaten by David Gordon Green’s Halloween reboot in 2018. The film would spawn multiple sequels, a spin-off TV series and lead to Ghostface becoming an instantly recognisable figure in pop culture.