The Scream franchise must be doing some hefty rewrites right about now, given that Neve Campbell recently announced that her character, Sidney Prescott, won’t play the game anymore. Neve’s co-stars rallied around her following her announcement that she’s a no-go for the sixth film, given that she felt undervalued by producers, who offered her a subpar salary compared to what she brings to the franchise. It’s a stark reminder that not even a Final Girl is guaranteed parity, and Campbell is sticking with her hardened stance.
Neve spoke to People about her new Red Cross initiative, and in doing so, she reiterated how “I did not feel that what I was being offered equated to the value that I bring to this franchise, and have brought to this franchise.” That’s been the case for over two decades because Sydney basically is the Scream franchise (even more than Courteney Cox’s Gail Weathers or David Arquette’s Deputy Dewey), and Neve believes that no similarly successful dude in Hollywood would be treated the same way:
“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… And in my soul, I just couldn’t do that. I couldn’t walk on set feeling that — feeling undervalued and feeling the unfairness, or lack of fairness, around that.”
It’s a valid (and probably accurate) point. Following Neve’s initial departure, ComicBook pointed out how Matthew Lillard (who played Stu Macher from the first movie) agreed while saying, “Did Tom Cruise take less money from Top Gun Maverick? F-ck no dude. So why is a woman supposed to take less? Why wouldn’t you pay her more as the series goes on?” And Jamie Kennedy claimed to have seen the Scream 6 script, in which Sid “played a heavy part.” We’ll find out how those rewrites went on Scream 6‘s March 31, 2023 release date.
Meanwhile, Neve is otherwise doing fantastic. She’ll soon be seen alongside Anthony Mackie in Peacock’s Twisted Metal adaptation, and she’ll return for a second season of Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer series.
(Via People)