The article contains major spoilers for Scream 6. Scream VI‘s Dermot Mulroney reveals he didn’t know he was playing Ghostface. Mulroney, known for his roles in My Best Friend’s Wedding, Zodiac, and August: Osage County, stars as the villain in the latest Scream installment. The horror slasher’s killer, known as Ghostface, first appeared in the original film in 1996 and has been the franchise’s persistent antagonist ever since, with new mysterious identities donning the ghoulish mask while murdering victims in each subsequent film. Scream VI also stars Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera and is set against the New York City backdrop rather than the suburbs as in the previous films.
Dermot Mulroney reveals that he had no idea he would be playing Ghostface when he was cast in Scream VI. In an interview with The Independent, the actor admitted that while he knew he’d secured a part in the film, it was a while before he discovered that his character was actually one of the killers all along. The film’s plot twist turned out to be a surprise for the actor while shooting the movie, as he was only given pieces of the script throughout the process. Here is the full quote below:
“I was told by my agent, ‘Good news, we have a call from Scream VI, they want you, they can’t tell you anything else, but they need to let you know that you are the bad guy,'” says Mulroney. “It wasn’t called ‘Ghostface’ there; it was just ‘the bad guy.’ I wasn’t even up on how intense people are following Ghostface. So then I get pieces of the script, but they neglected to tell me what part I’m playing. So I’m looking for two things when I’m reading the script, which part it is that I am and who it is in the script that’s going to wind up being Ghostface. So, for a while, I suspected that I was going to play the psychologist because Bailey is written so mildly I thought that’s probably not my part; it’s just a passing detective. It shows you that the script itself was quite ingenious in how they buried Bailey or made him incidental to scenes. Then I get to the end, and it is Bailey! It was me all along!”
Why Scream Takes Its Ghostface Reveals Seriously
Mulroney’s comments show the Scream team’s impressive commitment to the secrecy of their plot twists. It’s easy to understand why, as the franchise has become known for its surprising twists and identity reveals, with the endings becoming increasingly unpredictable and complex with each installment. With the modern threat of social media leaks, they’ve developed a fitting process that reflects the franchise’s signature self-awareness that keeps the actors in the dark and guessing who the killer may be, such as Ghostface.
Until the Scream IV release, theories suggested that the new installment would up the stakes, including having three Ghostface faces for the first time, which ended up being the case by the final act. Before this film, Scream films typically had one or two Ghostface killers. Hence, despite Mulroney’s comments about not learning his character being Ghostface until filming, he was only playing one of the three Ghostface killers, which broke a Scream record.
This secretive approach seems to have paid off since the film has already become a box office hit after its release, and its big numbers continue to rise. Despite Neve Campbell’s notable absence, Scream VI shows audiences are still invested in the horror series. Mulroney joins a long line of “Ghostface” in this franchise that continues to successfully reinvent itself with new Scream movies for each new generation.
Source: The Independent