By Actress Neve Campbell famously dropped out of appearing in “Scream VI” over a pay dispute with the studio.
The actress, who played Sidney Prescott across the five previous films, says she wasn’t being properly compensated to return and so the filmmakers just didn’t include her character.
A seventh “Scream” was put into development but faced numerous challenges as it saw the two film’s previous lead stars Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega along with director Christopher Landon all walking away from the project.
That left producer Spyglass Media Group with little option – if they were going to save the project they needed to do something. Their answer was to bring back both Campbell and original “Scream” writer Kevin Williamson.
Campbell had no obligation to come back and it was widely expected she would get well compensated for doing so. In a new interview with People, she explains the offer she got and why she walked away from the sixth film:
“I honestly don’t believe that if I were a man and had done five installments of a huge blockbuster franchise over 25 years that the number that I was offered would be the number that would be offered to a man.
I’m really grateful that the studio heard me when I talked about pay discrepancy and when I talked about [Scream VI negotiations] not feeling respectful.
When they first approached me [for Scream 7], I thought, ‘I don’t know what respectful looks like to them. We might be in very different places.’ But they started out in a strong place, so that was lovely.
It feels nice to have put that out into the world and to have been listened to and to have made a difference in that way. I hope other people get that opportunity too.”
James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick are penning the script with Williamson directing. Courteney Cox is said to be in talks to return as Gale Weathers, and it’s not clear who else is returning at this point.
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