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Posted: |
Aug 31, 2015 - 11:15 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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With the minor but steady success of his films, Universal continued to distribute Craven's product, his next being 1991's THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, bankrolled by Alive Films. In the film, two adults and a juvenile burglar break into a house occupied by a brother and sister and their stolen children, and can't escape. Craven was inspired to write the film after reading a real-life news story about burglars breaking into a house. When authorities arrived, the burglars had disappeared, but they discovered locked doors with noises coming from behind. Children had been locked up inside the rooms by their parents, never allowed to go outside.
Craven chose Wendy Robie and Everett McGill to play the parts of "Mommy" and "Daddy" after seeing them play husband and wife on the TV series, "Twin Peaks" (1990). The film grossed about $24 million in the U.S., on a budget of $6 million. Graeme Revell was the original composer, but his score was rejected in favor of one from Don Peake (though in the end credits, Revell received credit as composer for additional music). The most recent soundtrack release was by Hitchcock-Media in 2009.
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Posted: |
Aug 31, 2015 - 11:49 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Other than his main character of "Freddy" appearing in all of the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET films, Wes Craven's involvement with the franchise had been limited to collaborating on the screenplay for the third installment (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS). With the series seemingly ended in 1991 with the sixth film (FREDDY'S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE), Craven waited a suitable interval, then in 1994 came back with WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE, which he wrote and directed. The premise of the film is that the "Nightmare" movies had generated an evil force which, once liberated by Freddy's death, was set free to haunt the nightmares of the people involved in making the movies. They would include Craven himself; Heather Langenkamp, who was a teenager in the first movie and is now a young mother; Robert Englund, who plays Freddy; John Saxon, who appeared in the first and third films; and even Robert Shaye, founder and president of New Line Cinema, which produced the series.
Before making NEW NIGHTMARE, Craven watched all of the ELM STREET films. By the time he was finished, he claimed that he could not follow the story line at all. He further regarded the sequels to be weak compared to his original film. In NEW NIGHTMARE, Freddy is depicted much closer to what Craven had originally intended for the character--much more menacing, much less comical, with an updated attire and appearance. Just as Craven's former wife once played a nurse in one of his films, the junior nurse at the hospital in NEW NIGHTMARE is played by Craven's daughter, Jessica Craven. The film was another small success, grossing $17.4 million in the U.S. on an $8 million budget. J. Peter Robinson's score was issued by Milan at the time of the film's release.
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Posted: |
Sep 1, 2015 - 12:05 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Eddie Murphy produced and co-wrote the story for Craven's next film, the comic horror tale VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN. For his part, Craven brought in a number of actors with whom he had worked in the past: Jsu Garcia, Mitch Pileggi, Joanna Cassidy, Zakes Mokae, and Wendy Robie had all appeared in previous Craven films. (respectively: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984); Shocker (1989); Invitation to Hell (1984); The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988); and The People Under the Stairs (1991)). Craven suggested that Eddie Murphy play his character as vulnerable, but Murphy ignored his requests, and felt compelled to showcase his comedic talents. The 1995 film ended Craven's streak of boxoffice successes, just breaking even on its budget of $20 million. It would prove to be Murphy's last film for Paramount, the studio where he got his start in features. J. Peter Robinson's score has never had a release.
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Posted: |
Sep 1, 2015 - 12:42 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Craven came roaring back with 1996's SCREAM, the film that deconstructed the tropes of 1980s and '90s horror films. Craven originally turned down the film because he felt it was too violent, but reconsidered making one more gory movie for the hungry fans who continually told him that his best movie was THE HILLS HAVE EYES. The Weinsteins wanted to film in Vancouver as it was estimated that they could save $1 million in costs compared to shooting in the United States. Craven was adamant about filming in the U.S., as he wanted the setting to look like an all-American, suburban small town. Locations in North Carolina were initially considered, but rejected due to the fact that the sites that looked promising would've required costly modification and repairs to be usable for a film production. The argument over where to film almost led to Craven being removed from the project, but the Weinsteins eventually agreed to keep the production in America. The film was shot in several small California towns.
In his script, Kevin Williamson had only described the antagonist as a "masked killer," which gave Craven no specific information on what type of mask to use or how to conceal the body. Craven discovered the Ghostface mask while scouting for filming locations in California. He was walking through a possible filming-house, and inside one of the rooms he saw the mask hung on a wall. He sent a photo to Dimension Films and they told him to have the prop department make a mask similar to the mask in the bedroom, as they did not own the rights to the mask. The stars of the film have become iconic--David Arquettte, Neve Campbell, and Courteney Cox. Craven had seen Neve Campbell in "Party of Five" (1994) and asked her to audition for the part. He believed she could portray a character who was "innocent", but who could also realistically handle herself while dealing with the physical conflict and emotions required by the role. Courteney Cox approached the production herself to pursue the role. She was interested in playing a "bitch" character to offset her "nice" "Friends" image. This image was the main reason why the producers initially refused to consider Cox for the part. Cox continued to lobby the studio as she felt she could believably play the character; her efforts ultimately succeeded.
Mark Irwin, the director of photography, was fired a week before shooting was to end. Craven, upon reviewing some dailies, found that the footage was out of focus and unusable, and Irwin was ordered to fire and replace his camera crew. When Irwin responded that they'd have to fire him too, they did just that.
The film was sent to the MPAA over nine times for re-consideration, as they were going to slap the movie with a [NC-17] rating. Each time, the MPAA made Craven cut out more of the film's gore-heavy shots. Executive producer Bob Weinstein eventually had to step in, which secured the film's [R] rating. Craven wanted to know what Weinstein had said to the MPAA to get them to give the film its [R] rating. Weinstein said he told them to view the film as a comedy and not a horror film. This completely changed the MPAA'S view point.
Marco Beltrami landed scoring duties after Craven's assistant was on an Internet chat site, asking if anyone knew of any fresh musical talent. At the time of the film's 1996 release, only a single track from the score appeared on an album of rock songs. Varese Sarabande issued excerpts from the score in 1998 and a complete edition in 2011.
SCREAM won the Saturn Award as Best Horror Film from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, and Craven was nominated as Best Director. At the MTV Movie Awards, SCREAM won the award for Best Movie. Shot on a budget of $15 million, SCREAM grossed $103 million in the U.S. alone, making it the biggest success of Craven's career.
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Of course, a sequel was inevitable. Screenwriter Kevin Williamson had the idea for a sequel while writing the script for SCREAM, discovering that there could be more to the story. SCREAM 2 began principal photography just six months after the release of SCREAM, and it was released less than a year after its predecessor. Of course none of that would have happened without the immense success of the first film.
Many of the actors involved in the production, including Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Jerry O'Connell were starring in their own television series at the time, allowing the production limited availability to schedule their involvement. Gellar in particular was in-between filming of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and had only recently finished work on another Kevin Williamson -penned film, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (1997). Despite the hectic scheduling, Gellar admitted in an interview that she agreed to perform in SCREAM 2 without having read the script because of the success of SCREAM.
SCREAM 2 did almost as well as its predecessor, taking in $101 million at the domestic boxoffice. However, production costs for the 1997 film had climbed to $24 million, compared to $15 million for the first film. Varese Sarabande released excerpts from Marco Beltrami’s score in 1998, on the original SCREAM release.
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Taking a break from horror, Craven decided to direct MUSIC OF THE HEART, a story of a schoolteacher's struggle to teach violin to inner-city Harlem kids. For once, a Craven film was not advertised as "From the Director of A Nightmare on Elm Street." But it would prove to be his only film outside of the horror/thriller/sci-fi genres. Craven told the Weinsteins that he would only direct SCREAM 3 if he could also direct this movie. The film was released by the Weinsteins' regular Miramax distributor, rather than the Dimension Films subsidiary that they used for their less prestigious products.
After Madonna pulled out of the lead role, Sandra Bullock and Meg Ryan were briefly courted before the part went to Meryl Streep. The film was the third collaboration between Craven and actress Angela Bassett, who played "Janet Williams." She appeared on the show "Nightmare Cafe" (1992), also created by Craven, and she was the lead female character in VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN.
Meryl Streep was nominated as Best Actress by the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes, and by the Motion Picture Academy, marking the only time in his career that Wes Craven directed an actor to an Oscar nomination. Streep lost the Oscar to Hilary Swank for BOYS DON'T CRY. The film itself was not a financial success, grossing only $15 million on a $27 million budget. The Epic Records soundtrack that was released contained pop songs and a classical piece, but none of composer Mason Daring's background score.
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The band was back together again for SCREAM 3. But Neve Campbell's contract allowed her to be on the set for just twenty days, which is why “Sidney” has less screen time than in the other films. As a result of her role being reduced, more emphasis was put on the supporting characters. A scene in the film involved Sidney being pursued by Ghostface through film set replicas of locations from SCREAM, including her character's home. The scene was not present in the script itself, but Craven paid to have the sets constructed, knowing he wanted to revisit the original film in some manner. After the construction of the sets, the scene was then written around the resulting areas, producing the scene in the final film.
Kevin Williamson was unavailable to write SCREAM 3, but he did write an outline for the film. Screenwriter Ehren Kruger all but ignored the outline, and his script was written mostly on the fly, with pages usually completed the day they were to be filmed. The characters bore so little resemblance to their appearances in the prior films that Craven himself did rewrites.
Craven filmed three different endings for the film, and didn't tell the cast which one he was going to use. Marco Beltrami’s score for the 2000 film was released by Varese Sarabande. After yet another battle with the MPAA over the film’s rating, Craven became disenchanted with the horror genre and its emphasis on gore and violence. This prompted a hiatus from filmmaking for Craven; he would not direct again for five years. SCREAM 3 was the lowest-grossing of the three SCREAM films, but it still managed to pull in more than double its $40 million production cost in the U.S. alone.
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Craven returned to directing with 2005's CURSED, the story of a werewolf loose in Los Angeles that changes the lives of three young adults (Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson, and Jesse Eisenberg). Kevin Williamson wrote and co-produced the film. The production was plagued by problems and script issues. When filming was stalled, many cast members were cut and replaced due to scheduling conflicts. They included Illeana Douglas, Heather Langenkamp, Scott Foley, Omar Epps, Robert Forster, James Brolin and Corey Feldman. All of these actors had filmed scenes which were cut when the movie was re-written and re-shot. Over half of the movie had to be re-shot. It was also originally going to be rated [R] with graphic violent scenes, but the studio insisted on gore being cut down to make it a more marketable [PG-13] film. Consequently, the film's release was delayed for over a year. The original U.S. R-rated cut was shown theatrically in Canada, and was later released in the U.S. as the unrated DVD. The film flopped at the U.S. boxoffice, grossing under $20 million against a budget of $35 million. Only one track of Marco Beltrami's score was released, on a Treadstone/Image Records CD of pop and rock songs.
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RED EYE (2005) found Craven in more mainstream thriller territory. In the film, a woman is kidnapped by a stranger on a routine flight. Threatened by the potential murder of her father, she is pulled into a plot to assist her captor in assassinating a politician. It was a film originally written by Carl Ellsworth for Sean Penn and Robin Wright. However, Craven opted for younger leads--Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy. Originally allotted $44 million, the movie's budget was later cut back to $25 million. This increased the film's profitability considerably--it grossed $58 million in the U.S. Marco Beltrami's score was not released until April of this year, by Intrada.
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PARIS, JE T'AIME was a compilation film--a collection of 18 short films, by as many directors, all set in a different Paris neighborhood, and all exploring some aspect of love. Wes Craven wrote his own segment, called "Pere-Lachaise." It starred Emily Mortimer and Rufus Sewell, who played an unmarried British couple staying in Paris on their "honeymoon." Some of Pierre Adenot's score for the segment was included on the Polydor CD that was issued in France. The film premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, played some U.S. festivals, and had a brief commercial release in the U.S. by First Look International in 2007.
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Posted: |
Sep 1, 2015 - 10:32 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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The band got back together for one final time in SCREAM 4. Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette all returned, along with newcomers Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere [edit]. Regular Jamie Kennedy, however, did not return. Craven was adamant that he was not going to return as director unless the script was as good as the first SCREAM, so Ken Williamson returned to write the screenplay. Williamson had repeated clashes with the producers, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, resulting in them once again hiring Ehren Kruger (the writer of SCREAM 3) for rewrites. Consequently, the final script varied heavily from the original drafts. Nevertheless, Craven later stated that the main ideas, story ,and concept of the movie were written by Williamson. Varese Sarabande released Marco Beltrami's score. The bloom was off the rose for this final SCREAM installment. The 2011 film just broke even in the U.S. on its $40 million budget, and had to rely upon overseas receipts for its profits. It was the last film that Wes Craven would ever direct.
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Posted: |
Sep 2, 2015 - 1:48 AM
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By: |
CindyLover
(Member)
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The band got back together for one final time in SCREAM 4. Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette all returned, along with newcomers Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettierre. Regular Jamie Kennedy, however, did not return. Craven was adamant that he was not going to return as director unless the script was as good as the first SCREAM, so Ken Williamson returned to write the screenplay. Williamson had repeated clashes with the producers, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, resulting in them once again hiring Ehren Kruger (the writer of SCREAM 3) for rewrites. Consequently, the final script varied heavily from the original drafts. Nevertheless, Craven later stated that the main ideas, story ,and concept of the movie were written by Williamson.
On the DVD commentary both he and Hayden Panettiere (not Panettierre*) suggest there were quite a few changes to the script. Not the least of which was that the movie was supposed to end with Kirby being found in a "We got a heartbeat!" scene.
*In fairness, she does have one of the most frequently misspelled last names in English-language movies/TV.
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*In fairness, she does have one of the most frequently misspelled last names in English-language movies/TV.
Thanks. I've informed the American Film Institute of their error, and corrected my post above.
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I assume you haven't seen any of the Scream sequels, or you'd have known that Jamie Kennedy's character couldn't have come back, as he was killed off in Scream 2 and it would have been a stretch for any more tapes to be left unfound for a decade, to match the one he left in Scream 3.
I actually did see SCREAMs 2 & 3 (but not 4). All I said in my post was that "Regular Jaime Kennedy, however, did not return." . . . And he didn't.
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