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After the movie Scream became a surprise hit, it didn’t take long for it to seem like every horror movie coming out of Hollywood was ripping it off. In some cases, it was a great thing that Scream was so influential since some of the movies that followed in its footsteps were great.
Sadly, however, a lot of the horror movies that came out post-Scream flopped hard commercially and critically. With so many mediocre movies that were trying to be self-aware coming out, the horror movie landscape from the late-’90s was begging to be mocked.
Since the Wayans brothers have all been so successful, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that they were smart enough to recognize how ripe the opportunity to mock horror movies was at that time. As a result of how shrewd the Wayans are, several of them teamed up to bring the comedy Scary Movie to fruition.
On top of the Wayans brothers’ huge role in the movie’s box office dominance, Scary Movie’s rich and famous cast helped make the movie successful as well. With that in mind, it is amazing to know that a key member of Scary Movie’s cast was nearly cut because of the studio.
Why Did Carmen Electra Almost Not Appear In Scary Movie?
When the movie Scream was released, it became a massive hit for a myriad of different reasons including its impressive cast and amazing script. Another one of the reasons why moviegoers grew to love Scream is because of its opening scene.
When trailers for Scream were first being released and the movie’s cast began promoting the film, everyone involved slightly misled the public. Based on everything that came out before Scream was released, everyone expected Drew Barrymore to be a big part of the film.
As anyone who has seen Scream will already know, the movie started with a huge twist since Barrymore’s character was dispatched at the end of the opening scene. On top of that surprise twist, Scream’s opening also became iconic since anyone can imagine how scary it would be to pick up a phone and find yourself in a world of terror.
In the years since Scream was released, Barrymore’s scene arguably has become even more popular. The reason for that is fans were amazed to learn that Barrymore was the one who came up with the idea of playing a character who gets dispatched so quickly.
Given how memorable Scream’s opening scene is, the Wayans brothers had to know that Scary Movie had to perfectly spoof that sequence if it was going to succeed. Fortunately for everyone involved, the Wayans wrote a hilarious scene where they made fun of Scream’s opening.
Once it became time to cast Scary Movie, that is when things went awry. The reason for that is the movie’s director, Keenan Ivory Wayans, cast Carmen Electra in the role that was a take on Barrymore’s character from Scream.
While Keenan had faith in his decision to cast Electra, the people in charge of the studio behind Scary Movie didn’t feel the same way. In 2017 Keenan spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the studio fighting against Electra’s casting.
“Miramax just didn’t want to cast her. They didn’t think she could do it. They thought she was cheesy, because — and this is no disrespect to Carmen — she was one of the first celebrities to be known more for who they were than for what they’d done, you know? But what they didn’t like about Carmen was what made her perfect, and that’s what I kept trying to explain.”
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As Keenan went on to reveal, he had to promise the studio that he would be open to recasting if Electra proved to not be up to the role.
“I kept saying to them, ‘Look, trust me. If it doesn’t work, then we can hire somebody else, but let me at least shoot it.’ And so they finally gave in, and not only was Carmen amazing and really got what was funny about her [being the target], she just committed 100 percent to it.”
When Scary Movie was released in the year 2000, Electra’s opening scene became one of the sequences that viewers enjoyed most. With that in mind, it is very clear that Keenan’s instincts were right.
Why It Was So Difficult To Cast Anna Faris in Scary Movie
Since Keenan Ivory Wayans had such a hard time casting Carmen Electra in Scary Movie, it would have been nice if everything else in the movie’s pre-production was easy. Sadly, however, it turns out that Keenan also found it difficult to cast Scary Movie’s main character.
On top of publishing an article about Carmen Electra’s Scary Movie role in 2017, Entertainment Weekly also released an oral history of the film that year. While speaking to the publication for that piece, Keenan revealed how hard it was for him to find Anna Faris.
“I had seen everybody, and I kept saying no to the point that the casting people were getting pissed. But I was looking for someone specific.”
Fortunately for Keenan and Scary Movie fans everywhere, one of the casting agents asked him about meeting with an actor who had no experience. Based on Keenan’s description of how he reacted to the idea of meeting with a novice actor, he wasn’t enthused.
“I remember the casting person saying, ‘I read a girl that I think is right, but she’s never done anything before.’ And I was like, [sighs] ‘Yeah, okay.’ “
Of course, Keenan was very happy that he agreed to meet with Faris before long. While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Keenan spoke about how perfect Faris wound up being for her role.
“The biggest surprise was Anna. And it wasn’t really a surprise, it was a gift.” “The fact that she hadn’t done anything before was perfect, because she was going off of her instincts, and she had this natural innocence and was funny.”
Funnily enough, Faris shared an anecdote for the oral history about what it was like for her when she first started filming Scary Movie. Based on what Faris described, she really didn’t know what was going on at first.
“I had no idea what to say when he called ‘Action.’ I turned to [co-star] Jonny [Abrahams] and was like, ‘So wait, what are we supposed to do?’ And he was like, ‘Say your line.’ “
