Our friend u/SamGFilms is back with another Q&A, this time with Scream and Scream 2 stunt coordinator Tony Cecere!
I did a Q&A with Tony Cecere, stuntman/actor of Ghostface in Scream 1 & stunt coordinator of Scream 1 & 2!
By u/SamGFilms
September 1, 2021
Hey everyone! A couple of months ago, I did a Q&A with Tony Cecere, one of the stunt performers/actors of Ghostface in Scream 1, and he was the stunt coordinator of Scream 1 & 2!
He is a retired former actor, stunt performer, director, and stunt coordinator who worked on movies such as Swamp Thing, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Thing (1982), Ghostbusters (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), The Hills Have Eyes Part II, Chopping Mall, Child's Play (1988), Silent Night Deadly Night 4: Initiation, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Spider-Man, and Transformers (2007). He also worked on TV shows such as Jake and the Fatman, Angel Falls, Rescue 911, Sparks, and Nash Bridges.
Some may be saying, wasn't Dane the stunt performer who did EVERYTHING in Scream 1 and 2? That's where you are wrong because, in Scream 2, they wanted to separate the stunt performers wearing the Ghostface outfit so people couldn't think it is one consistent person/killer. They separated it between a couple of stunt performers.
In Scream 1, Tony Cecere, Lee Waddell, and Dane Farwell were the stunt guys of Ghostface. In Scream 2, Chris Durand, Lee Waddell, Dane Farwell, Ted Barba, Kurt Bryant, TJ White, Chris Doyle, Allen Richardson, and Rick Barker were the stunt performers of Ghostface.
In Scream 1, the only scene he did was killing Kenny in Scream 1. However, he did coordinate the other stunts in Scream 1 & 2. Let me know what you think of this Q&A!
1. How did you get into stunts?
There was a gym in Santa Monica, California, where stuntmen worked out at. I joined a gym and started training with them. The gym no longer exists, though, but there’s about 25 of us that went to the gym. They were in the stunt industry for about 30 years.
2. What stunts did you mainly specialize in?
You try not to specialize in anything because if you do, you won’t get called for other jobs, but I did do quite a few fire jobs in the movie industry. There was one year when I did 28 fire burns from Terminator to Ghostbusters to Rambo, First Blood, and Nightmare on Elm Street.
3. How did you get into doing Scream?
I was the stunt coordinator. I coordinated 16 of Wes Craven’s films. It’s always started way before Scream. Wes brought up that there was a stuntman scheduled to work that day. When the fellow in the van gets his throat cut, I actually had to stand on a box to be tall enough.
4. What scenes did you do as Ghostface? Do you happen to remember?
Yes, I slit the guy's throat that was in the van. Lee Waddell was the stuntman that killed Drew Barrymore.
5. How many people played Ghostface in Scream 1 and 2?
There were seven different people that did Ghostface. I did it one day when someone didn’t show up. There was TJ White, Lee Waddell, Rick Barker, etc. There could have been more, but I don't recall.
6. So, Dane Farwell wasn't the main Ghostface who did everything?
No matter what they say in the Screams' that I worked on, there was no main guy. The production would not allow me to keep anyone under contract, so we used various people throughout the Screams' that I worked on. There were times when I wanted one of them to work, and they were working on another movie, so I got somebody else to do the part.
7. Do you remember what else the other stuntmen of Ghostface did?
I don’t recall what all the scenes were. It’s too far back into many movies between now and then. Look at my resume on IMDb.com. All I remember is that Lee killed Drew, and I’m not sure if that’s 1 or 2.
8. How was it like to wear the Ghostface costume?
Hot. It was the first mask and rubber over the mouthpiece. We ended up cutting the mouth open like the eyes are and put in black cloth in there. We cut that away and put black cloth over it, so it made it easier to breathe.
9. How was it like to play a killer like Ghostface, especially in a horror production?
If you seen Nightmare on Elm Street, I was the one that doubled Freddy when he fell down the stairs, when he came through the mirror and when I was fighting a woman on the bed. That was another one of Wes Craven‘s movies that I worked in, and Scream; it was my basic job to figure out how to do the stance and who was going to do what and what it was going to cost.
10. How was it like to work with the great, but sadly late, Wes Craven?
He was one of the best men I worked with in the movie industry. We became great friends. I worked with him for 20 years.
11. Was that you trying to crawl through the hole of the van?
Yes.
12. Are you coordinating stunts for Scream 5?
No, I have retired.
13. Are you a fan of the horror genre since you worked on Wes's movies? If so, do you have a favorite?
No. Back in high school, I wouldn’t even watch them.
Article originally published at r/Scream.
 |
| Photo of Tony as Ghostface |
