Trivia: The first wave of ads for Scream worked hard to downplay that it was a slasher film. There were no clear shots of the killer in costume and emphasis was put on the killer's phone calls and characters trying to solve the mystery. Ads described it as a "thriller" and Wes Craven a "master of suspense" (rather than horror). Later ads proudly touted how "scary" and "terrifying" the movie was but still refrained from showing the killer's costume or using the word "horror."
Trivia: Drew Barrymore was cast in a different part and had to drop out, Craven thought about not making the movie without her, when she came up with the idea of her playing Casey and being killed off at the beginning because no-one would expect it.
Trivia: In the beginning of the film before Drew Barrymore is killed, Wes Craven needed to make sure she was as upset as possible for the scenes that followed. As Drew is a huge animal lover Wes kept reminding her of an incident where an animal had been hurt by a human which then led to her getting upset.
Trivia: Ghostface is mainly played by a stuntman, not the two actors he is portrayed to be.
Trivia: When the principal, played by Henry Winkler aka the Fonz, is in the bathroom, he goes to comb his hair, then realizes that it's ok, just like on Happy Days.
Trivia: Dewey was actually meant to be dead when he falls down after being stabbed in the back. The short coda of him being taken away in an ambulance was added in at the last minute. Director Wes Craven fell in love with the character and enjoyed working with David Arquette, and didn't want Dewey to die. So he decided to let the character live, so he could return for the sequels.
Trivia: Liev Schreiber took the role of Cotton to help pay off some school debt. He was offered a small pay-day for a day's work where he basically just had to walk a short distance then get into a car. He figured it'd be a simple paycheck, and didn't realise his character would end up becoming a principal player in the sequel.
Trivia: A strange urban legend went around shortly after the film's release claiming the various references to Sharon Stone in this film were because Stone had once seduced and had an affair with Wes Craven's wife.
Trivia: After the release of this film, Caller ID sales shot up by over 300% for a period of time. This was a pretty big deal, too, as it was the mid-90's and Caller ID was not a standard feature on phones as it is now. The spike in sales is sometimes attributed to young adults seeing this film and becoming frightened by the idea of receiving a phonecall and not knowing who was on the other side, although it's never been 100% confirmed that this was the case. Either way, it's an interesting correlation.
Suggested correction: It's one of those rumors I'd really love to be able to get a quotable, reliable source for. The figure "300% up" is referred to the US market, from what I understand, but again, color me surprised if it's an actual, legitimate figure and not just one random number.
Submitted a word change saying that's it's never been 100% confirmed because it is indeed hard to verify. But given it's also one of those "cool factoids" that people have thrown around for decades, I do think this rumor has a place in the trivia.
Trivia: Sidney was specifically blonde in the script. When Drew Barrymore switched roles from Sidney to Casey, it caused an odd ripple effect on the cast's various hair colors. It was decided to cast a brunette (Neve Campbell) for Sidney to give her a distinct look from Casey. In turn, Rose McGowan decided to dye her hair blonde so that her character, Tatum, would look more distinct from Sidney.
Trivia: Look closely towards the end of the movie when Randy is explaining the rules look at the videos on top of the TV. One of them is clearly the UK version of the Scream video cover under a different name. (01:10:10)
Suggested correction: Sadly, that's actually just a VHS copy of the 1995 film "Smoke" starring William Hurt, a different Miramax-released film. It has a similar font and spine-design as the UK "Scream" VHS... but it's a different movie.
Trivia: In the part where Billy and Sidney are in Stu's parents bedroom, after they've had sex, the killer comes in and stabs Billy. Watch the killer in the background after he stabs Billy - notice that there is no blood on the knife and the killer seemingly wipes the knife blade off anyways. Then there's a shot of Sidney, and then it goes back to the killer. At this point in time, there is now blood on the knife and he then wipes the knife blade off again. Would be a mistake, except we later find out Billy is in on it, so we can assume his accomplice Stu was wiping blood onto the knife the first time to maintain appearances, then removing it the second time. Nice attention to detail.
Trivia: Melissa Joan Hart was in the running to play Sidney.
Trivia: The lines in which the characters compare Sidney to Meg Ryan and Tori Spelling are leftovers from when Drew Barrymore was slated to play Sidney, who was specifically described as blonde in the script. Of course, when Tori Spelling actually appeared in Scream 2, it wasn't anything a little hair dye couldn't fix.
Trivia: The climactic scene at Stu's house lasts 42 minutes and accounts for 40% of the movie's screen time (if you don't count the closing credits). It was shot at a real house over 21 days - an unusually long time to shoot in a single location for a film this size - and was reportedly so tedious to shoot that everyone in the cast and crew were given T-shirts that read "I survived scene 118" after it was finished. It has jokingly been referred to as "the longest night in horror history" by the cast.
Trivia: The first major theatrical film scored by Marco Beltrami, who had previously only worked on small indie and television projects. Wes Craven and the studio wanted a new sound for the movie's score, and hired Beltrami based on a sample he provided. Beltrami ironically had never even seen a horror movie before, so he didn't approach the materially traditionally. Beltrami has since become an incredibly popular and prolific composer, with well over 100 credits to his name.
Trivia: In what was then an odd move, the film was released around Christmas, with producer Bob Weinstein taking a gamble that horror fans wouldn't have anything else to watch, so they'd go see it. The movie underperformed its opening weekend, grossing only $6 million. However, strong reviews and excellent word of mouth caused ticket sales to spike in the following weeks, and it remained in the top-10 for over two months, eventually becoming a massive sleeper hit and grossing $100 million domestically.
