Marianne Maddalena and Wes Craven |
Marianne Maddalena, producer of Scream and one of Wes Craven’s closest creative partners and friends for many years, has returned to the franchise as executive producer on Scream (2022)!
I had a chance to catch up with Marianne and she said, “I’m so thrilled to be working with Matt and Tyler on a new Scream. I’m a huge fan of their movie Ready Or Not, and I think they’re a perfect choice for the movie and I feel strongly that Wes would agree.”
Marianne produced and creatively contributed to many of Wes Craven’s most iconic films, such as Shocker, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Red Eye, the Scream film series and Academy Award nominated Music of the Heart with Meryl Streep.
Marianne Maddalena at Cafè Bizou, Agoura Hills, on Bastille Day, July 14th, 2021 |
As many Scream fans know, it was even Marianne who found the now iconic Ghostface mask while location scouting for Scream and worked hard to get it used in the film. Wes, having created such strikingly original characters and pop culture phenomenon such as Freddy Krueger, had originally wanted KNB Effects Group to create an original mask design for the film, but when Marianne saw the mask she knew it was perfect and it has gone on to be one of the great iconic images of film and our collective culture.
In his own words, on the commentary track for Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, (originally recorded for the Laserdisc release), Wes has this to say about Marianne: “Marianne and I have been working in a partnership for almost ten years, and she has been my Guardian Angel of getting us through all the shoals of production and also an inspiration for many of the creative ideas that come through in the making of my Horror pictures.”
From the 2001 DVD commentary track for Shocker: “This picture actually meant a lot to me because it was the first time I had sort of autonomy, as I said, and it was also the sort of the introduction of the partnership between myself and Marianne Maddalena, which has lasted now for I think 14 or 15 years and has created an environment for me making films that has been extremely beneficial and also a great friendship.”
Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette are all back reprising their roles from the Scream films. The new cast members to the series include Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sonia Ben Ammar, Mikey Madison, Mason Gooding, and Kyle Gallner.
To read more about Marianne Maddalena and Wes Craven’s decades long partnership, check out part 1 of my in depth interview with her, which includes Marianne meeting Wes for the first time!
The new Scream is scheduled to debut in theaters on January 14, 2022.