eenen Ivory Wayans, along with his brothers Shawn and Marlon, took Hollywood by surprise in 2000 with the runaway success of Scary Movie, an urbanized sendup of Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and a host of other well-known films. The success of the first film led to a less auspicious sequel, Scary Movie 2, in 2001.
In 2002, Dimension Films approached the Wayans brothers about a third film, but they passed due to other commitments. Eager to continue the lucrative series, the studio turned to one of the most successful film satirists of the last few decades. David Zucker created such classics as Airplane!, The Naked Gun and Top Secret.
Scary Movie 3, which opened Oct. 24, spoofs elements from The Ring and Signs, along with other popular films like The Matrix Reloaded and 8 Mile. Anna Faris and Regina Hall reprise their roles from the two previous films as well-meaning but accident-prone Cindy Campbell and her best friend, Brenda Meeks.
Zucker, Faris and Hall recently talked with Science Fiction Weekly about the making of Scary Movie 3 and the refined art of film parody.
David, what made you decide to do another spoof?
Zucker: I wasn't really looking for a spoof at all, but [Miramax co-head] Bob Weinstein called because the Wayans were doing so well on their own, and Scary Movie is just a wonderful idea for a franchise because there will always be new scary movies out. But they were busy on another project, so when Bob Weinstein came to me, my first thought was, "I'm not interested in the slasher genre—I never even saw Scream—or in the haunted-house thing." That's what I think scary movies are. But then he said, "How about doing Signs and The Ring, and then other movies around that?" And that got me thinking. So I went out and saw Signs and The Ring, and that got me excited about it. And it was a chance to return to something that I really like doing, which is the whole spoof genre.
Did you have any concerns about taking over the franchise?
Zucker: No. I mean, I know the Wayans and I like their work, and I know that they were inspired by things that I've done like Airplane and particularly Kentucky Fried Movie, because they did I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. So it was interesting that they were inspired to do what they do by our stuff, and then I'm taking over a franchise that they started. Because I think spoof was kind of going downhill until they kind of renewed the [genre]. The showed that a mass audience would go to a spoof, even though it was an R-rated thing.
Anna and Regina, how different was it working with David this time around?
Faris: Originally, when we found out the Wayanses weren't involved, it was hard, because we're both close with the family. They pretty much taught me everything I know, and they're also a whole lot of fun to work with. But David created the genre. We're both big fans of Airplane and Naked Gun and that whole series, so we were in really good hands. And working with David, he's such a gentleman. He's so kind and calm. So it was a different environment sort of energy-wise on the set.
Hall: I think the same thing. We had all new people in the movie. And we stuck to the script as opposed to having a lot more improvisation with the Wayans. Except for Anthony [Anderson].
Did Anthony improvise a lot?
Zucker: Anthony ad-libs a bit, but not too much that it becomes irritating. Besides, he's funny. He puts in some ad-libs and we keep them in because he's funny, and then if the audience laughs, they're in the movie. But the set isn't really as outrageously wild as you might think. Everybody's a professional, and Anthony is just about the most unselfish actor I've ever worked with, because we put him in with Kevin Hart, who we nicknamed Overlap. He never stopped talking. And Anthony's trying to get a word in somewhere. But he never complained.
In general, do you prefer that your actors stick to the script?
Zucker: For a joke to last through to the final film, first it's got to survive the 24-hour test when you write it. A lot of ideas come up, we laugh, and then the next day it's just not as funny. So in draft after draft of the script a joke has to survive. By the time it gets to the set, we pretty much know that it has a good chance to be funny, even though 10 percent of the jokes will be cut out during the preview process. So you can never be completely sure about anything. But anything that would come up on the set, it might be funny on the spot, but it hasn't really survived those tests.
Is it limiting for you as actors not being able to improvise?
Hall: For Brenda's character, improv would have been nice, but I don't think it was so limiting, because we had a PG-13 rating. And I think that having to keep the rating system in mind, it's very hard with those characters to just come off the head and say stuff, because it could be too much. That's why we got an R the first time. He had usually, with the dialogue, some sort of physical comedy. So to do both, it was nice.
Why did you aim for a PG-13 rating this time?
Zucker: The Wayans came up with a brilliant idea of doing an R-rated, gross-out, balls-to-the-wall spoof. And they did a great job of it, but I would not have been interested in doing that, although I thought what they did was funny. ... My concern was that I couldn't do a Scary Movie like they did. I would have to do it in my style and PG-13. If we could do it that way, on those terms, then I had no problem with it. Because we've done it that way, it's apples and oranges. So I could not do what the Wayans do. That's their deal. I couldn't do what the Farrelys do either. They can really push that R-rated thing. What I'm able to do is just do a PG-13 spoof. It's a challenge, because the ratings board is tough.
Why do you think horror and comedy are so often combined in films?
Zucker: It would not have been my idea originally to do the Scary Movie franchise, because I really didn't consider it. At least from my point of view, they don't mix, because horror is already outrageous and not really to be taken seriously, so how do you spoof it?
Faris: We both really liked Signs and The Ring, enjoyed them as films. They were also so visually striking in a way that they make easy films to spoof. But I think that Scary Movie came at a time when it was just so right. Even with a movie like Scream, that was sort of mocking itself, it was still appropriate I think for young audiences.
Hall: They can relate to all the things that we spoof. How many times do you look at a horror movie and everybody is like, "Why did she run left?" Or you know she's going to trip. Or you know that if you see two teenagers making out, you know they're going to die. Or if they walk into the shower alone. You know what I mean? It's like, "OK, someone's about to die." And I think those are the things that are so easy to spoof, because even though it scares you in a horror movie, because you know it's coming, if you put it in a comedic text and a different scenario, it's funny.
What do you think was the most effective parody in the film?
Faris: I really like all the Signs stuff. I think that was a strong film that obviously did very well at the box office. But I think it also works well.
Hall: I like the Ring stuff, too, just the opening with Pam and Jenny McCarthy just being in high school, with the uniforms, watching TV, and the remote is backwards and they're like, "We don't know what to do." And, you know, in The Ring, where she does see her friend, and her face is twisted and she screams, and Pam Anderson keeps saying, "Are you OK?" Her head falls off and she's like, "Are you all right?" I like that whole scene. It's really funny to me.
Zucker: What I always like to do in a spoof is you start out with the main things and then you can use other movies like Matrix or 8 Mile for character and scenes. Just like in Airplane, where we used Saturday Night Fever. But I found that you can't do it for plot. It was hard enough to combine Signs and The Ring. We went through many drafts trying to find the mix until finally we figured out really late in the game that we could put the well under the farm, because we really were trying to layer that in to combine those two movies for the plot. And the audience was willing to be grounded. They were perfecting willing to go along with us as long as we were doing a videotape that kills you and crop circles made by aliens. That was grounded in reality. But when we tried to put some scenes in from Matrix that were plot, it was like that was too much.
Do you miss any of the scenes that were cut out?
Faris: Yeah, I mean I worked really hard on that Matrix fight. Any day off they stuck me in training, which was awful. Because I've done enough of these to know that when they put me in training for some elaborate fight sequence, they're going to really cut it down to about 30 seconds of fighting.
Can you describe the scene you were spoofing?
Faris: Yeah, do you remember the scene in The Matrix where Keanu Reeves flies around a light pole? It was a whole bunch of that stuff. I fly around a light pole. I puke all over the place. I fight all these little girls. It just wasn't all that funny, I guess. But a lot of work.
How much of that was cut out?
Faris: There's a lot of those scenes. Scary Movie 4 might just be outtakes.
David, you've worked a lot with Leslie Nielsen in the past. How did you incorporate him into this movie?
Zucker: Originally, one of the movies that we were trying to bring in was Independence Day, so there was a lot more in the early draft of the script of that. And that included the Bill Pullman character, who was the president. And so Leslie's part is really the last vestige of that thing. But since we had it, we just had so many great scenes. And having Leslie in the movies seemed to provide a nice anchor for those parts. And he really helps in the ending. So we kept that in to give the story this mock importance, like it was national or world news.
So it wasn't written specifically for Leslie?
Zucker: No, it wasn't. We just wrote it thinking a Bill Pullman-type character because it was Independence Day. And then, as we wrote more drafts, we said, "This is getting to be more and more like Leslie," because Pat Proft was the writer and [the way] he writes, it's just Leslie.
What was the best part of the filming experience for you?
Hall: I love working with Anna, and that's probably the best part of the movie for me, is working with her.
Faris: I am great.
Hall: [Laughs] Indeed she is. And what is so great about it, though, is that that's who my scenes were with, so I got to work with someone I love to work with, and then a completely new director who we both really respect.
Faris: The experience would have been disappointing, definitely, for me, if Regina wasn't involved in it. We have a really great time together. Making our scenes was the most fun. ... And it was really nice to not be alone in coming back, too.
Hall: They wanted me to play Anna's part. I couldn't. I was ill [laughs]. But when I found out, and when read the script, I think we were both pleasantly surprised by how funny the script was. Because you really don't know when you sign on to do a sequel.
Faris: And I was pretty happy that I didn't have to do any raunchy love scenes.
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