[music]

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It. I'm Alison Stewart. There are certain lines from horror films that are indelible. There's "Here's Johnny!” from The Shining. Jigsaw told his victims, "I want to play a game" in Saw, and then there's this one.

Ghostface: "What's your favorite scary movie?"

Alison Stewart: That's a 1996 quote from Ghostface, the infamous slasher of the Scream franchise who returns in the latest installment, Scream VI, set right here in our fair city. That's right, the knife-wielding psycho plans to carve his way through the Big Apple. In the new film, our protagonists and survivors of the latest Woodsboro California killings, Sam, Tara, Mindy, and Chad, left their quiet West Coast town to reinvent themselves. There's only one problem, no one escapes Ghostface. The killer follows them to NYU, their apartment, the bodega, the subway.

Early reviews of the film have noted its slightly darker tone. A Variety review states, "In Scream VI, Ghostface is far from coy." He burst right into the center of scene, attacking Sam and Tara in a bodega. The cashier has a shotgun, but that's not enough to stop him.

Scream VI premieres in theaters this Friday, March 10. The filmmaking trio Radio Silence took on the franchise for Scream V. They are also known for the horror films V/H/S and Devil's Due. Today, Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli, the directors. Bettinelli-Olpin, am I saying that right?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Bettinelli-Olpin, yes.

Alison Stewart: Thank you, are with us now. Tyler and Matt, thanks for being with us.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Thank you. Honored to be here.

Alison Stewart: Hey, listeners, are you a super fan of the Scream franchise? Our phone lines are open to you, 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Maybe you want to tell us what's your favorite. Have you seen Scream V? Do you plan on seeing Scream VI in theaters? What questions do you have for the directors? Give us a call, 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC, or you can reach out on social media at All Of It WNYC. Were you guys listening? Did you hear Parker Posey?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: We did. We are Parker Posey fans. We love Jennifer Jolie, and hope that there's more story for her character.

Alison Stewart: You heard it, she's game. She was fully game. I just want to put that out in the universe that Parker Posey is game to come back to the Scream franchise.

Tyler Gillett: Fun fact, there's a little bit of an easter egg, a nod to Jennifer Jolie, for people who are paying very close attention on the marquee of the theater in the third act of this movie.

Alison Stewart: Good to know, love a good easter egg. Matt, how did you get involved? How did this team get involved with the Scream franchise?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: We had all made a movie together called Ready or Not with the producers and the writer. It weirdly fell into our lap because we had such a good time together on that one, and the tone is kind of similar. We're all giant Scream fans. It's weird how Scream led us to our careers and then our careers led us back to Scream.

Alison Stewart: Tyler, what was something that you were a fan of the Scream franchise?

Tyler Gillett: Oh, man, I don't even know where to start. I think for us, what ultimately solidifies it as one of the greats is its unique tone. It's something that I think, in so many ways, we've drafted off the blueprint of that first Scream, our entire career. I think that aiming to hit that balance of terrifying, funny, deeply emotional, like all of that is something we aim to achieve in all of our work. Thanks to Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson's Scream. It shaped us in our tastes in some really profound ways.

Alison Stewart: Matt, what was something you thought we can bring-- Let's bring something new. Let's introduce something new. Let's respect the past, honor the past, but also take it forward.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: I think that was for us on this one, that was the characters. We got to introduce them on Scream V, but in this one, we feel like this new group of characters and actors, we really got to all dig in and get into like the deeper emotional stuff and understand where they're coming from and where they're going. That I think was the really exciting thing for us on this.

Alison Stewart: Tyler, for someone who's not necessarily a horror movie fan, might be thinking like, what are they talking about the emotional lives, the deeper thoughts? If you wouldn't mind, just in terms of filmmaking, why that's really important for a successful film, for a successful horror film?

Tyler Gillett: Yes, I think for us everything is scarier when you love and care about the people who are going through hell. That's the goal. For us, I think the kind of hack for these movies, the total hack for these movies is really making you care. For us, it's in the making. You care that you also get those moments of levity. You get those moments of really grounded character-based humor that makes you care and really sympathize with the characters. Then, of course, if you love them, it's so hard to watch them go through something terrifying.

Alison Stewart: We are talking about Scream VI, which is going to be in theaters on March 10. My guests are directors, Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin. Our phone lines are open, if you are a fan of the Scream franchise, 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Have you seen Scream V? Do you plan on seeing Scream VI in theaters? What do you like about the franchise? Maybe you have a question for its directors. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC, or reached out on social media @allofitwnyc.

Let's talk about the film being set in New York City. Why New York City?

Tyler Gillett: A number of reasons. I think for us the previous film is set in the familiar little sleepy suburb of Woodsboro. For us, I think that the franchise was just ready to be challenged in a new way. Credit to Guy and Jamie. It was the first thing that we learned about this sequel when we were going with that it was going to be in a new setting, and our heads exploded. We were so excited about the number of possibilities that that new location could present.

New York is such an iconic city, and people are so familiar with it, not only this cinematic history of New York, but it's the city that we've visited countless times and is so specific, and we love so dearly. It felt like there was just a whole different universe of possibilities to explore in the set pieces and just in the overall tone and feel of what this movie could be.

Alison Stewart: Matt, what did you see in the opportunities to set a horror film in New York City, specifically this one?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: There's the being afraid in public was a big part of it, the places that are traditionally safe, like the bodega, or I don't know how safe subways necessarily always are, but the idea that hopefully, you're safe in a crowd. That's something that we got to really play with, and then also just the verticality, getting in Woodsboro they're one, two-storey buildings here. We were able to, let's go up five, six floors, and see how that plays into it. We really want to make sure that we took the time to not just throw Woodsboro into the city, but to really make sure that all of the set pieces and the action in this were specific to New York.

Alison Stewart: You tell them in a follow-up on that. I thought when I heard this, I was like, "New York is not scary enough, you guys, come on." [laughs] You can have the best day ever in your city, you can have the worst day ever in New York City. What were some of the sorts of New York City scary stuff that you thought, "We can see this in, and this will help tell the story?"

Tyler Gillett: I think we definitely went back and watched a bunch of our favorite movies that are set in New York. Obviously, the identity of that city is represented in a variety of different ways in movies. I think for us, it was really just about trying to capture the energy of the city. I think Matt alluded to it, but this idea of feeling isolated, even when you're surrounded by this very boisterous energetic population.

There's something really interesting to us about telling a story for survivors who are trying to move on by becoming invisible in the crowd, and never thinking that the horrible thing that visited them in their small hometown is going to follow them to the big city. There was something just so chilling in that idea of the impossible happening. We really took pains to represent that as much as we could in these sequences.

Alison Stewart: It's funny, we were on our Slack channel for our team and people were like, "The Ghostface is all over the city. I'm not happy about this. It's freaking me out. There's one in the seaport. There's one in the subway entrance. This is really starting to get to me." I think the subway one is the one that really seems, that idea of you being underground. You being stuck. You being closed in, and people have seen it in the trailer.

Tyler, talk to us a little bit about that particular scene and what you wanted to accomplish with it. At least we've seen a trailer because we haven't seen the film yet. They're understandably tight with screeners.

Tyler Gillett: Look, we loved the idea of really steering into the idea of claustrophobia and paranoia in that sequence. Of course, setting this movie on Halloween was a big part of that. The fun of not only seeing multiple Ghostfaces in the crowd but seeing all of the slasher icons of the past and present represented in costume and basically making that subway feel like a fun house of horrors. We talked a lot about it just being this kind of wild, almost fantastical, almost cosmic kind of experience where really get to heighten things. I think that there's a different scare happening in that sequence. Then I think we've seen in a screen movie. I think the closest thing that's been represented in the franchise so far is the opening of two, which takes place in a movie theater where everybody's dressed and it goes face mask. We really loved the idea of playing with that sense of anonymity and the idea that it could be anybody behind the mask. Really building that sequence to service that was the goal for us.

Alison Stewart: Thanks a lot. Appreciate that.

Tyler: Sorry, my apologies.

Alison Stewart: [chuckles] Nighttime, so why you're hiding really great. My guests are director Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli, excuse me, Olpin. We are talking about Scream VI. We'll have more after a quick break. This is All of It.

[music]

You're listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest this hour are directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin. We are talking about Scream VI, which comes out tomorrow. They are the directors in the film. Let's talk a little bit about character developments when you guys took over the franchise. We were introduced to Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega as sisters in this film. Jenna blown up hugely since Wednesday, so great in that. There's a new cop on the scene too. Dermot Mulroney playing Detective Bailey. Matt, who is Detective Bailey in this film?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Detective Bailey is the spiritual follow-up to Dewey, who unfortunately, well, no spoil. Well, it came out a year ago. Dewey, things, didn't work out well. [crosstalk] Very sad. That authority figure is a real tenant of the Scream movies, and so Dermot's stepping into that role. He's a small town cop. He's from the Midwest, and he moves to the big city with his daughter. Dermot was really just to able to embody that Midwest cop in the big city thing. It brought a sense of Dewey into this one, too, which we really love.

Alison Stewart: Tyler, who are some of the familiar characters that come aboard for Scream VI that fans of the franchise will recognize?

Tyler Gillett: Well, you certainly will recognize Gale Weathers played by Courteney Cox, the legendary Courteney Cox. Then, of course, we've brought back Kirby Reed played by Hayden Panettiere who is just-- They say, don't meet your heroes. We've met all of our heroes and we love them all so dearly. Hayden's no exception. It was such a joy to work with her on this movie.

Alison Stewart: There's a whole universe going on of the course, of all of these Scream films. How do you keep up on them? How do you think about them interacting with one another? Calling back when you're thinking about this film because there are some people who will come to it just for this film, but there are also people who come to it with a whole history.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: We take a lot of time to make sure that this movie really plays as a standalone. If you want to go back and understand all that history, that's great. I think for us it's really important to make sure that the way that this story unfolds and these characters are introduced. If you're watching it fresh, that's fine. You don't need all that backstory, but if you have it all, it's also very fun.

Alison Stewart: Tyler, what is, we know the slasher part of it, the horror part of it. In Scream VI, what is the tension? What's the emotional tension and between whom?

Tyler Gillett: The emotional tension in this movie we think the beating heart at the center of this story is really the Carpenter sisters played by Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega. This story finds them very recently after the events of Scream V. They're both, and all of the characters really are in that messy stage of dealing with the events of the last movie, and figuring out how to move on.

Also how to be in each other's lives in a way that's supportive, but also in a way that affirms their independence. We think that at the end of the day that's really what's so relatable about this movie. The sister story at the core of it is something that we're so proud of. We took so much pains to protect that. It's in a big slasher like this. It's easy to just speed through the emotional stuff and just get to the sparkly things. For us, the emotional moments in this movie are really the sparkly things. As we said earlier, it is what makes everything around it matter.

Alison Stewart: When does that happen in the filmmaking process? When do you have to stop and slow down? Is it in the editing room? Is it when you're looking at the dailies? I'm curious when you have that revelation, like, "Wait a minute, we need to come back and invest in the emotional story."

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: It starts with the script. When we read the script, you know, I think that's the stuff that really we latch onto. Then when you're shooting it I think the actors they love all the big action stuff. Everybody wants to do their own stunts, that kind of thing. I think those quiet emotional scenes where the characters really get to grow, those are the things that everybody's really, really, really great at naturally. Then throughout the edit it's just making sure that we can find the right pace and hold onto that correctly. It's an ongoing process, but it starts with the script.

Alison Stewart: Without giving too much away, what are some of the tactics that this group uses to try to survive Ghostface. Many ones that are very New York specific, let's put it that way. [chuckles].

Tyler Gillett: I think the one, the one that really comes to mind right off the bat is the latter sequence obviously won't give anything away. One of the fun parts of designing that sequence was putting our characters in a situation that's seemingly inescapable. The only way out is to do this is this harrowing climb across the 16-foot air shaft in between apartment buildings.

It's one of a handful, but maybe the subway obviously very New York specific. That was another one that just felt like we can't wait for New York audiences to see this. Obviously the idea of being neighbors and being able to see into each other's apartments across the way is such a city-specific thing. We loved really playing with all of the ingredients of that in that sequence.

Alison Stewart: Wanted to ask about Mindy, the character. She survivalist of the group and she's a horror expert and she knows her stuff. She's explains the difference between sequels and recoils, and franchises. I'm going to ask you, Matt, for those who don't know the difference, a sequel, a recoil and a franchise?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Well, sequel is, I guess the movie after. I think we all know what a sequel is, but then the recoil is what our last movie was, where we're recreating, we're restarting a thing, but it's not quite a reboot. You're picking up, but it's been a long time. It's cool, but it's sort of a reboot. It's somewhere in between. Then now we're into Franchise Bill, where this is movie six. They're all tied. There's one story that leads to the whole thing and ties all of this together.

Tyler Gillett: You can really blow the roof off. [chuckles]

Alison Stewart: Oh wait, say more about that. Blow the roof off.

Tyler: No, look, I think that it feels like by the sixth movie in all of our favorite franchises you can tell that you just have to creatively challenge the material in a different way. For us, that meant that we could go to a place that's a little bit more bonkers, a little bit crazier. That for us I think it's the fun of being a part of a franchise, is that you get to maybe take risks that you wouldn't take on film number two, or even film number five, by the way. It feels like we're entertaining ourselves as much as we're trying to entertain the audience with this movie. [chuckles]

Alison Stewart: Some of the reviews, people have seen it that I read, and you can both respond to this, Matt, that it's darker in tone. People are coming back to that being a little bit darker. Do you understand what they mean, what they're talking about?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: I think so, yes. That's something that we talked about. We didn't talk about it necessarily as a darkness, but we did talk about it as we want to make this a little grittier, a little raw. That goes down to the way that we shot it, it goes down to the way that it was blocked, the performances, everything led to this. I think it really comes from the foundation of shooting a movie set in New York City and wanting to thematically tie all of that.

There's a relentlessness to this and a grittiness that I think isn't that present in the previous screen movies. Yes, we try to lean into that. That's really, really, really embodied in this one by the Ghostface character. It's a new Ghostface in this one. It's definitely not the Ghostface from the previous five movies.

Alison Stewart: Not your father's Ghostface. We've got from Twitter, somebody who's analyst. This is awesome. Angela Bassett says, "Hi, big slasher fan. My favorite scary movie is Halloween. Scream is very near to my heart though. My question is, was there any pressure directing such a large franchise after Wes Craven? By the way, I've loved every Scream thus far.

Tyler Gillett: A ton of pressure. I think if you'd asked us the day before we were told that we were going to read the script for five, we would've said, under no circumstance are we going to drop into this world and stand on the shoulders of that particular giant. Wes's work has influenced us in so, so many profound ways. We read the script for five, and we were floored by how good it felt. It felt like a balance of nostalgia and it was also something totally new. Then the people that we assembled to go and make it with the same crew that we'd worked previously with. It just starts to take shape, and you realize, yes, it's terrifying, but it's also full of possibility when it's designed right. It just felt like it was designed right from the start for us. Yes, it's terrifying but also like wildly exciting. We pinch ourselves every day that we get to be a part of this franchise.

Alison Stewart: What do you think, Matt? You want to weigh in on that? Any pressure?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Yes, Tyler pretty much said it all, but I will say that that pressure is also something that us, the cast felt it, the crew felt it. I think it also came with a reverence for the material that made us all really just make sure that we didn't mess it up and make sure that us as fans and as creators, we were able to funnel both of those things into the movie so that both the movies that we've made have been really just made with love. That for us, it's funny to say that about a violent slasher movie, but the core of all of these movies, because they're not about the killer, they're about the survivors. There is this deep, deep love that runs through it, both in the making of it and what you see on screen.

Alison Stewart: The Scream films are often noted for their humor and social commentary as well. Tyler, how did you think about the evolution of that element of the screen films, the horror and the social commentary, the comments you make in comedy and social commentary?

Tyler Gillett: Yes, I think it's one of the things that we love so much about all of the films in this franchise, that there's such a snapshot of the moment in time when they were created. I think it's one of the unique things, ingredients in the DNA of these movies is that they're so aware of themselves. They're so aware of where they fit in the conversation and they really are, I think at the end of the day always trying to have a conversation about the state of the genre, the state of movies, the state of fan culture and pop culture. That is just such a fun and fertile creative place to play in.

It's the idea that you can make a movie that in so many ways is trying to reach through the screen and tell the audience, "We are aware of what's happening. We are aware of your life and what you consume and your expectations." There's just something so much fun about the proximity between the audience and the movie with this franchise. It can't help but be contemporary if it's designed right because it will always be a reflection of contemporary opinions and where we're at in the state of the genre.

Alison Stewart: We get an extra layer of that here in New York City. Okay. Buckle up New York. Tomorrow, Scream VI hits theaters. I've been speaking with these directors, Tyler Gillette and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin. Thank you so much for spending time with us.

Tyler Gillett: Thank you, Alison.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Thank you.

Tyler: It's been so fun.

[mudic]

Alison Stewart: Hey, everybody. We've announced our Get Lit with all of its selection for March, and now we're excited to announce our musical guest, too. Remember, we are reading the highly anticipated new release. I Have Some Questions for You by Pulitzer Prize finalist Rebecca Makkai. You might know her from her acclaimed last novel, The Great Believers. This novel follows a podcaster named Bodie who gets drawn into an investigation into a tragedy from her past, the murder of her former roommate at an unleashed New Hampshire boarding school. The school's athletic trainer was convicted years ago, but there's more. As she digs, Bodie starts to wonder whether he was really the killer. She also begins to realize she might have been sitting on key evidence in the case.

You can get an e-copy of I Have Some Questions for You. New Yorkers you can. Thanks to our partners at the New York Public Library, and Rebecca Mackkai will join us for our live event on Tuesday, March 28th. Tickets are free, and you can grab them now by heading to wnyc.org/getlit.

Now for the musical guest of the evening. Since the novel transports Bodie back to her memories of mid-'90s adolescence in New Hampshire, we've invited a singer-songwriter who was emerging from the New England music circuit right around that time. Our March Get Lit musical guest is Dar Williams.

[music]

Yeah, there was a time I didn't like the love, I liked the climbers

I was no sister then, I was running out of time, and one liners

And I was afraid, like you are when you're too young to know the time

And so I watch the way you take your fear and horde the horizon

You point, you have a word for every woman you can lay your eyes on

Like you own them, just because you bought the time

And you turn to me--

Alison Stewart: Now Hudson Valley-based musician, Dar Williams will join us on Tuesday, March 8th, to play some songs live at our Get Lit event with author Rebecca Makkai. Once again, tickets are free and you can grab them now by heading to wnyc.org/getlit, and follow us on Instagram @allofitwnyc for book club updates.

 

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