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Skeet Ulrich Thought Matthew Lillard Was "Ruining" Scream Before He Realised It Was Meant To Be Funny

1 November 2021, 14:46 | Updated: 28 July 2024, 15:03

Skeet Ulrich thought Scream was a "serious documentary" before he started filming. Picture: Jason Mendez/Getty Images, Dimension Films

By Katie Louise Smith

"I saw it as this very serious documentary about two killers in high school."

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Can you believe it's been over 25 years since Scream hit our screens and introduced us to one of the greatest horror movie franchises of all time?

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Scream, Entertainment Weekly caught up with Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard, who played Billy Loomis and Stu Macher respectively, to discuss the making of the film, and their memories of being in the iconic slasher movie.

But the funniest part of the whole thing? If Scream had turned out the way Skeet Ulrich originally thought it would, it would have been a very, very different movie. Turns out that the actor didn't realise it was a dark comedy until he started filming.

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Speaking to the publication, Skeet elaborated on his previous comments where he said that he had absolutely no idea that Scream was meant to be funny. To the point where he thought Matthew Lillard and Jamie Kennedy (Randy) were "ruining the movie".

"Day one, scene one, take one," Skeet said, of the moment he realised that the movie was not as serious as he thought it was going to be.

Matthew Lillard couldn't get enough of Skeet's hilarious confession, laughing along as Skeet continued. He added: "I think part of it was the mindset of Billy and me getting into that mindset. I saw it as this very serious documentary about two killers in high school and I was researching serial killers and the psychology of them, so I didn't really key into the humour of the story until take one of day one."

Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich in Scream — Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich as Stu and Billy in Scream. Picture: Dimension Films

The former co-stars then discussed the school fountain scene where Billy, Stu, Randy, Sidney (Neve Campbell) and Tatum (Rose McGowan) discuss the murders of Casey and Steve, which was one of the first scenes they all shot as a cast.

While watching Matthew and Jamie act out their jokey back and forth, Skeet said he genuinely thought they were doing it wrong. "I just remember thinking, 'What are they doing?' Don't they know?," he said, before Matthew then joked that Skeet believed they were "ruining the movie!"

Skeet then added: "Like, 'This isn't funny. This isn't supposed to be funny.' And man, was I wrong."

For what it's worth, a dark pseudo-documentary about Billy and Stu starring Skeet and Matthew? We'd have watched the shit out of it, tbh.