Matthew Lillard says his cameo appearance in Scream 7 as Stu Macher is the culmination of two decades of “campaigning” for a return to the slasher franchise.
Matthew Lillard spent decades “petitioning and campaigning” for a return to the Scream franchise.
The 56-year-old star makes a cameo appearance as Ghostface killer Stu Macher – a part he first played in the original Scream film in 1996 – in the new movie Scream 7 and found it “amazing” to feature in the slasher franchise once again despite his character seemingly dying in the original picture.
Matthew told Nerdist: “It was amazing! I’ve been waiting. I’d sort of been petitioning and campaigning for that call for 20 years.
“At some point, I was originally supposed to be the killer in Scream 3, so I was like, ‘Well, come on. He’s alive. I mean, we’ve validated the fact that he’s alive. He’s going to be in three, so he can still be alive.’
“So that was super fun… I think the fans are going to love the movie. I think it really hearkens back to what the original was. And for me, getting a chance to come back and play in this world after all these years is really lovely and I’m excited.”
Stu is one of the most popular characters in the Scream franchise and Matthew thinks that his alter ego’s “human moments” make him appeal to fans.
The Scooby-Doo actor explained: “I think that he does have these moments towards the end of the film, like when he’s crying on the phone to his mom. He’s funny. I think he feels a little more like an outsider.
“(Billy Loomis) is drop-dead gorgeous, and Stu’s a little weird and gangly and silly. So I think there’s something about him that’s approachable. It’s like a first love kind of thing, I think.”
Matthew’s association with Scream continues with Ghost Face Vodka, a limited-edition spirit released through his Macabre Spirits company, and he admits that the Scream antagonist is a useful marketing tool.
He said: “I know firsthand the power of Ghostface in terms of a piece of machinery. It’s the number one mask in the entire world for Halloween, and everyone knows it a first sight.
“And so we started to think about building something around that fandom for that fandom. We will never just slap a logo on something and say, ‘Hey, look at this! This is a Ghostface thing!’ We have to actually give something to the community.
“So we actually created a game that you can play on the back of the bottle called Killer Bash. And it’s basically a game of mafia. Everyone logs in with their phone using a QR code and goes into a game experience. We created a game so that you can sit around with your friend and play.”
The Five Nights at Freddy’s star continued: “It took a long time to get the rights. (The Ghost Face Vodka) had 45,000 people sign up for early access, and it sold out in less than two hours with over 10,000 bottles.
“The whole thing has been such a massive success that we just did a deal with Total Wine and More, and we are going to bring Ghost Face Vodka to shelves this Halloween season.
“So we couldn’t be more excited. Everyone’s going to be able to get it, play the game, and toast. It’s going to be a blast.”
Matthew Lillard spent 20 years ‘campaigning’ for Scream return
