Can a great slasher be truly great if it doesn’t feature a great scream? When the vibe is right, audiences take their lead from the emotions of the characters, and a proper expression of true horror can push movie-goes over the edge. Ahead of the release of I Know What You Did Last Summer this coming weekend, I’ll tease you with the fact that Madelyn Cline gets to deliver a true glass-rattler in the film – but what you won’t know from watching the film is that getting the screen right was an arduous undertaking.
What made it so difficult? While speaking with the actress late last month during the legacyquel’s Los Angeles press day, I found out that the scene was filmed in the immediate aftermath of her having pneumonia (an infection of the lungs that can make it difficult to breathe at times let alone scream). The condition made it impossible for her to prepare for the scene in question in pre-production, and when the day came for her big moment on set, there were multiple takes that ended with coughing fits.
00:00I'm curious just about how you went about practicing that scream and just belting it out.
00:04You know, I didn't practice it because I was coming off of having, when we started, I had to have pneumonia for like a second.
00:17And so I would, I couldn't do, the only thing that would like get that scream out is if I just fully sent it.
00:27I had to push as hard as I could.
00:31And then as soon as Jen called cut, I'd be like, and they were like, are you okay?
00:37I was like, no, but it's, and then we would just go again.
00:42And I think though, I think the thing is for final girl scream or like for any, any, like any scream queen scream, anything like you just have to send it.
00:53You can't, there's no, you can't hold anything back.
00:55And I mean, what I was reacting to too, it's pretty gruesome.
00:59So that also helps, but just, just full send.
