Friends of Neve Campbell, who recently announced that she will not be returning to the franchise she started for Scream 6 thanks to an insulting, shortsighted, lowball offer, are just as stupefied and outraged as her fans that the flick’s producers could be this stupid.
On Sunday, SLC Punk! star and Campbell’s fellow original Scream grad Matthew Lillard weighed in on the producers’ baffling decision, tweeting, “The fact that Neve Campbell isn’t getting paid her worth is straight up sexism. I think it’s horrible. There. I said it.”
The fact that Neve Campbell isn’t getting paid her worth is straight up sexism. I think it’s horrible. There. I said it. #Scream6 #scream #NeveCampbell #OG https://t.co/ge6FD87Soq
— matthew lillard —Will block. 0-F’s-given (@MatthewLillard) June 12, 2022
Lillard’s comments came after a Twitter Spaces conversation he had last Tuesday with Midnite Movie Club, the Los Angeles Times reports.
“Did Tom Cruise take less money for [Top Gun: Maverick]? Fuck no dude,” Lillard said. “So why is a woman supposed to take less? Why wouldn’t you pay her more as the series goes on? … Was Scream 5 a hit or not a hit? It was a smash hit. Did they make a shit ton of money? Yes.”
Not only is Campbell “a female lead of one of the most successful horror franchises” who should be compensated fairly, Lillard said, but she should be made whole for all the times she was not paid enough in the past.
“Should Neve Campbell be paid for the work she’s done in five movies of a franchise?” he said. “Yes.”
Jamie Kennedy, who played horror aficionado Randy Meeks in several of the five Scream films, made a YouTube video defending Campbell.
“Sidney Prescott is the center of Scream,” Kennedy said. “Neve Campbell is the face of Scream… The franchise gets rebooted. The franchise is more popular than ever… How can you make Scream without Sidney Prescott?” he asked. “It’s her story, her POV, her pain. Everything is her. She’s the heroine.”
Campbell explained that the offer from filmmakers “did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.”
Scream 6 to open on March 31, 2023. Jenny Ortega from 2022’s Scream 5—stupidly titled Scream—will return along with veteran franchise faves Courteney Cox and Hayden Panettiere.
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