FILM INTERVIEW: EMMA ROBERTS & HAYDEN PANETTIERE

Joining the Original Cast of Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox & David Arquette in 'Scream 4'

By: Izumi Hasegawa

April 6, 2011

Emma Roberts adds another notch to her film repertoire by joining Hayden Panettiere and the iconic cast members of the Scream franchise in yet another installment, Scream 4.  The girls sat down with Buzzine and told us what it was like to join the team and bond with the cast members in the outskirts of Michigan, and Hayden tells us a terrifying story of how she almost got shot when she thought someone was breaking into her home...

Izumi Hasegawa: What was the draw of this for you? Were you a fan of this franchise, or were you a horror fan in general?

Emma Roberts: I was a huge fan of the franchise. I'm a huge fan of Wes Craven, and I thought the fact that he was coming back to direct this one meant it was going to be good, and I loved the part. I read the script and it was an interesting role. I'd never done a horror movie, so why not? 

Hayden Panettiere: It's an exciting thing to be a part of. For four years, I was on a show (Heroes) that was in the sci-fi and, at times, horror genre. Horror movies can really go one way or the other – they can go amazingly or they can go terribly – and it's generally an extreme, in one way or the other, so you have to be very careful. And then a film like this comes along. I love how long it's been since the last film. It's a sequel, but at the same time, it's a re-boot and it's a combination. It's cleverly remembering where it comes from. It really uses the cliches to our benefit and has grown with the audience. As generations go on, they just get smarter and harder to scare. It's a very cool movie and a fun thing to be a part of. Who wouldn't want to be in Scream? I was sitting on set thinking, "Aren't I supposed to be watching this movie? I don't think I'm supposed to be here." I never could have imagined myself on screen with Neve Campbell, screaming. It just doesn't make sense. 

IH: Did you have any say over your outcome in the film? 

ER: We didn't have any say in how we die. 

HP: Fortunately. I don't know that you would want to have say in that. 

IH: Were you let in on who the killer was going to be?

ER: We had to keep everything a secret. 

HP: I haven't seen the movie, and I have a feeling that they lied to all of us. I think we think the killer is one person, but it's not. How can they trust actors, really? 

ER: You can't trust actors. 

HP: Come on, I would lie to us!

IH: How was it to shoot in Michigan? What did you do on your downtime?

ER: I feel like we all got cast and then thrown into it pretty quickly. We were in Michigan during the summer, and we all stayed near each other, so we would get together and go to dinner, and go out and hang out. It was really fun. It was a fun summer. Arbor is really fun. We had a really good time there.

HP: It was a really cool thing to have the original cast there and to get to know them. Sometimes Neve would rent this cottage for a weekend and invite everyone out to have a barbecue, which is where Anthony [Anderson] and David [Arquette] almost set the trees on fire and made Tom Hanks' "I'm a man. I make fire" kind of situation. We all got to really bond. It was very much like summer camp.

 
IH: Hayden, what scares you the most in the world? 

HP: I actually had an experience where I thought somebody was breaking into my house. That's got to be the most terrified I've ever been in my life. I don't know if that's saying much. The fear, especially as a female in a house by myself... There happened to be a blackout in the area that I was living in at that time, so my alarm was going off, but nobody was coming. You go into this survival instinct mode--what a person would do when they feel like their life is in jeopardy. I found myself in the bathroom with my taser--which I have ten of--my panic button, and my cell phone. It was the most terrifying experience I've ever had in my life. That desperation and not knowing who was going to come or what would happen or what you would have to do is terrifying. I thought someone was breaking in, but I overreacted a little bit in the beginning. I grab my taser and button and my phone and hid in the bathroom. I wound up crawling out my window to find five or six guns with the laser beams pointed at me. I was running with my teser, so I was like, "Don't shoot me, please! It's me! It's me! It's my house!" They did eventually come, but they almost shot me. I'm not joking. 

IH: Your characters in the movie were horror movie geeks. Are you geeks in any way in real life?

HP: We're actors--we are geeks. We are geeky about it.

ER: I like to read. Does that make me a nerd?

HP: You are a nerd! She is a full-on nerd. You read a book in like an hour. She is a nerd.

IH: Were you intimidated at all to be the new guys on this successful franchise?

ER: I don't think I was intimidated coming into it, but I was definitely excited. I didn't know what to expect, so I relinquished expectations and just went into it thinking, "I hope I have fun, I hope everyone's cool, and I hope we make a good movie." For the most part, I think that's what happened, so I'm really happy. 

IH: Did you get to try on the Ghostface mask at all?

HP: I never went near that mask! 

IH: Emma, you have a famous relative in the movie, being the cousin of Sidney Prescott, and you have a famous relative in real life, being the niece of Julia Roberts. Do you feel any pressure with that kind of spotlight on you?

ER: No, I don't. I don't really think of it like pressure at all. I'm just doing what I love to do and I'm doing my own thing. I don't really compare it to what my aunt does, but I do admire her and I love all her movies.

Dimension Films' 'Scream 4' is released on April 8, 2011.