Horror movie maestro Wes Craven tormented Hayden Panettiere and Emma Roberts on the set of Scream 4 with a series of spooky pranks.
The veteran filmmaker has revived his classic slasher movie franchise and drafted in the two young stars to join Scream regulars David Arquette, Courteney Cox and Neve Campbell.
Roberts admits she was genuinely frightened when acting out scenes involving the film’s iconic killer, Ghostface, after Craven ordered Roger Jackson, who voiced the character, never to appear on set.
The director was so determined to make Roberts and Panettiere’s fear as realistic as possible, he told a crew member to don the eerie Ghostface mask and jump out on the actresses throughout filming.
Panettiere tells Total Film magazine, “In order for us to be genuinely freaked out we weren’t allowed to see the man who does the voice. He was on set but they hid him from us, so we never got to meet him. That was part of Wes’ tactics: we couldn’t put a face to the voice we had to be listening to on the phone…
“That mask freaks me out more than any other. Especially with the knife and the person chasing us around. It’s like swimming in a pool and all of a sudden your brain’s expecting Jaws and you start swimming really fast to get out, but knowing there’s no shark behind you (sic). It’s the mental thing – oh my God, somebody’s chasing me!”
Roberts adds, “I definitely got scared, for real. Some scenes where I had to be running away from the bad guys, I got a little adrenaline rush. I got a bit of like, ‘This is fake but it’s kind of freaky…’ Hayden and I were in the middle of the scene and (a crew member) jumped out at us (wearing the mask). We were both like ‘Arrgghhh’ and totally freaked out. So that became a running joke.”
And it wasn’t just the younger stars who were subjected to Craven’s pranks – Campbell tells the magazine, “I had to open the door and there wasn’t supposed to be anyone behind it. And he jumped out! (I) should have known better.”
