The Big Picture

Emmy-winning casting director Avy Kaufman looks back on her filmography on an episode of Collider Ladies Night. While Kaufman is a self-proclaimed “scaredy cat,” she did agree to cast Scream 4 after working with Wes Craven on Music of the Heart. Kaufman explains why she was certain Emma Roberts was the perfect actor to cast as the Scream 4 killer.

The Scream franchise is loaded with rock-solid killer casting, but Emma Roberts’ delightfully unhinged performance in Scream 4 makes her a top-tier Ghostface.

Jill Roberts is introduced as the protagonist of Scream 4, your average high school student whose world is rocked when her cousin, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), returns to Woodsboro and brings all of her Ghostface baggage with her. As all of her friends are picked off one by one, Jill is positioned perfectly, never raising any suspicion, but rather, setting her up to be the next Sidney. Jill’s had enough of growing up in Sidney’s shadow. But now, if she’s the sole survivor of a new wave of Ghostface attacks, she’ll be the special one.

It’s a brilliant twist, but one wholly dependent on finding the right actor to sell it, and Roberts most certainly did. After effortlessly solidifying Jill as the protagonist for the majority of the movie, Roberts goes big with her killer reveal. Not only does she nail the traditional plan-reveal speech alongside Rory Culkin as Charlie, but then she takes the “stab each other so we look like victims” move to another level.

Jill tells Charlie, “What the media really loves, baby, is a sole survivor,” and then kills him. That means Jill has to make herself look like the sole survivor all on her own, stabbing herself against a wall, throwing herself onto a glass coffee table, and then some. Not only will I never forget the shock of seeing this all unfold for the first time, but Roberts’ pitch-perfect work in that scene gets better and better every time. Lines like, “I don’t need friends. I need fans,” and, “Sick is the new sane,” just do not work in less capable hands.

Director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson whipped up that especially bold role and handed it over to casting director Avy Kaufman, a self-proclaimed “scaredy cat.” While on an episode of Collider Ladies Night, Kaufman recalled how she got the Scream 4 casting gig:

“[Wes] actually asked me to cast Music of the Heart, the first movie he did that was not a scary movie. So we had a beautiful relationship and then he said, ‘Will you cast Scream?’ And I said, ‘If you explain to me’ because I’m a scaredy cat. You’re asking me to cast Scream? Nobody would ever ask me to cast Scream!”

Image via Dimension Films

Craven’s faith in Kaufman was well-placed because she added yet another exceptional ensemble to the franchise with the crown jewel being Roberts’ work as Jill. While discussing the process of casting a Scream killer, Kaufman confirmed, “Yes, I did know who the killers were,” and added, “[Wes] let me have fun with it versus being scared.”

What exactly was it about Roberts that gave Kaufman the confidence that she could convincingly portray the two drastically different sides of Jill? Much to my surprise, it wasn’t something Roberts did in the audition space, but rather, a film she made when she was first starting her career in the industry. Kaufman explained:

“Because when she was maybe eight years old I cast her as Penélope Cruz and Johnny Depp’s daughter in Blow. I used to cast kids all the time, and I would just sit and talk to them for hours to find out who they were because I don’t think you can really teach a kid how to act. So because, at a young age, I got to know her a little bit, that’s why I knew she could do both.”

Looking for more of Kaufman’s casting stories, like when she cast a young Leonardo DiCaprio in The Basketball Diaries? Be sure to check out her full Collider Ladies Night interview in the video at the top of this article or in podcast form below: