A real serial killer and an off-screen relationship: 10 things you didn't know about Scream.

It’s been 27 years since Scream changed the way we answered our phones forever, but with a TV spinoff and soon to be six films, the franchise has no plans of going anywhere.

The original 1996 film followed a group of high school students as they become the target of a sadistic ghost-mask wearing serial killer. 

The subsequent three sequels bring back Ghostface and lead actor Neve Campbell until the series reset in 2022 after an 11 year hiatus, with Scream V, just titled Scream.

Check out the trailer for the upcoming Scream VI. Post continues below. 

The reboot brought with it a new slew of talent including Jenna Ortega and Jack Quaid whilst also featuring cameo roles for franchise originals Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and of course Campbell herself. 

Not only did the franchise refresh give us new faces, they changed the tired tone and direction the films were heading into, bringing back the dark humour and satirical tones that made the original such a success.

With the release of Scream VI just around the corner on March 9, we thought we’d take a look back at some fun facts you didn’t know about Scream.

Here are 10 things you didn’t know about Scream.

1. Courteney Cox fell in love with her future husband on set.

Courteney Cox married David Arquette in 1999 and despite separating a decade later, the pair co-parent their daughter Coco together.

Cast as Gale Weathers and David Dewey in Scream, Arquette claims he fell in love with Cox immediately upon meeting her at a pre-party prior to the first Scream Movie.

"I was being a little cocky and Courteney was like, 'Ah, I've heard of you,' and we just kept flirting for a while. She's just so gorgeous and she jokes around so much," Arquette told People in 2009. 

On the other hand, Cox told Good Morning America that she and Arquette "fell in love on the first, hated each other on the second, got married right before the third."

Image: Getty.

2. Scream was inspired by real-life serial murders in Florida.

Apparently the first film from 1996 was loosely based on Danny Rolling, the Gainesville Ripper. Rolling murdered five students in total; one from Santa Fe and the other four from the University of Florida. His weapon of choice was a knife, and he mutilated his victims' bodies, even decapitating one. 

Rolling's female victims were all white, petite, brunette women, who notably looked like his mother. He was eventually caught in 1990. 

Image: The Times.

3. Neve Campbell won’t be in Scream VI because of a low pay offer.

Despite being one of the faces of the franchise for over a decade, Campbell has discontinued her role as Sidney in the upcoming film. For many, there is no Scream without Sidney Prescott and while the last film shifted focus away from her and onto a new generation, the character was still a large part of the plot.

The actor spoke candidly to ET about her reason for leaving, feeling the offer they gave her was not reflective of the value both she and her character have brought to the franchise. 

"You just don’t realise the effect that a character can have on people and Sidney has had a huge impact on people. So it was hard for me to make that decision not to do [Scream 6]."

"I think it’s really important that we try to be on par financially with men and I fought for a long time to have that be a part of my life and to get to that place and I really just didn’t feel that what was offered to me really equated to what I bring to these films.

"The value that I bring to these films and that Sidney brings to these films... The idea of being on set and feeling taken for granted or taken advantage of just seemed impossible for me to endure, to be honest."

Image: Paramount Pictures.

4. Drew Barrymore almost played Sidney. 

Drew Barrymore shared last year on her talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, that they initially tied her to Scream as a 'silent producer' on top of being cast as the lead Sidney Prescott, but she had other ideas. 

Speaking to Sean Evans on Hot Ones, the actress explained why she took the role of Casey Becker. "In the horror film genre, my biggest pet peeve was that I always knew the main character was going to be slugging through at the end, but was going to creak by and make it. What I wanted to do is take that comfort zone away," she shared.

To kill off a high-profile actor like Barrymore in the first 15 minutes of the film was a pure stroke of brilliance that left the audience not knowing what to expect. 

"You kind of always have this tension, but you kind of know that your hero is going to make it. And I thought, 'What if I die?', and then it'll be like all bets are off, anybody could get killed in this movie," Barrymore explained on her talk show. 

5. Scream started originally as a one-act play.

Creator of Scream, Kevin Williamson, spoke to Comic Book about how after coming up with the concept, he began writing the story as a one-act play.

"The opening originally started out, I wrote the movie quickly, but what people don't know is that I wrote it as a one-act play. It was just a young character on the phone talking to us, but could it be a killer outside?"

That might explain why the opening scene is such a lengthy masterpiece, however after fleshing out more of the story, Williamson found himself with a feature length screenplay. 

"For a long time, I didn't have a career. I didn't know anybody. And I thought, 'Well, maybe I can just shoot that as a short film.' But when I decided to expand upon it and make it a screenplay, I thought that was like, 'Oh, wow! This is going to turn into a movie. This is just how you do it.' And I really got serious about it."

6. The film’s name was inspired by a Michael Jackson song.

Before Scream was Scream, it was titled Scary Movie, but the Weinstein brothers intervened. 

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Bob Weinstein said, "I didn’t want it to be a parody... I wanted to make sure I bought the script that I think I bought. Is it a funny movie with scares? Or is it a scary movie with humour?" 

After Williamson confirmed his intention to write a scary film with humour, Weinstein said, "Good, that is the way I saw it. But you got the wrong title."

Someone in The Weinstein Company must have liked the idea of a funny movie with scares called Scary Movie though, because not even a year after Scream was released, the horror parody Scary Movie dropped in 2000 with a comedic portrayal of Ghostface.

Image: Miramax Films The Weinstein Company

The final title Scream came about after Weinstein’s brother heard Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson’s song 'Scream' on the radio. Bob then called up his team and said, "Guys, we've got the title: Scream."

7. Wes Craven turned the job down twice.

The original script, still titled Scary Movie, was sent to Wes Craven, who already had The Hills Have Eyes and A Nightmare on Elm Street under his belt. 

Craven turned down the project twice because after his success, he was trying to expand his range beyond being labelled the 'horror guy.'

However, the elements of parody in the script enticed him and he eventually agreed to sign onto the project. 

Craven directed the next three films in the franchise. 

8. Barrymore accidentally called the police multiple times while filming.

Barrymore’s character Casey Becker attempts to call 911 several times throughout her intense first scene whilst she’s being stalked by Ghostface. 

On the set of the film, the prop master had forgotten to unplug the landline being used, and this resulted in multiple phone calls to real 911 operators by Barrymore, where she’d ring, scream desperately into the phone, and then hang up. 

Naturally, in the middle of a take, very concerned police called back to assess the situation and the crew suddenly realised what had happened. 

Image: Paramount Pictures

9. Ghostface's mask was discovered by accident.

It’s no surprise to fans of the film that Ghostface’s mask is an homage to Edvard Munch's painting The Scream, but what might be a surprise is how they found it by accident.

"No one could agree on a mask and I remember we were in a location scout, and we found Ghostface... in a box of stuff in a garage... Wes [Craven] immediately looked at it and said, 'This is like the famous Scream painting,'" Kevin Williamson shared in a video for the 25th anniversary of Scream.

"We took that to our production, and we said, 'Riff on this... make something like this.' They must've done 20 different designs. Every one of them was rejected by the studio, and finally we were like, 'Why don't we just get the rights to this mask?'"

And thus Ghostface was born from an existing costume mask designed by Brigitte Sleiertin for a company called Fun World. Created as past of a 'Fantastic Faces' collection in 1991, Dimension Films negotiated an agreement to use the mask whilst Fun World maintained ownership of the design and name of Ghostface, which ended up being a great financial decision for them. 

10. The final scene took 21 nights to shoot.

It sounds like an obscenely long amount of time but when you take into account that the final act is 42 minutes; it makes all the sense in the world. 

Taking place at one location during the party at Stu’s house, the scene took 21 nights to finish.

Filming became such a slog that the cast and crew jokingly dubbed it, "The longest night in horror history."

Feature Image: Paramount Pictures.