Skeet Ulrich has watched the original Scream only three times, and he does not expect to return to the franchise. The 56-year-old actor told Us Weekly that he recently did a live commentary with Matthew Lillard while watching the 1996 horror film, and it was only his third time seeing it. It had been a long time before that rewatch, Ulrich said. It held up, he added. We were laughing at ourselves.
Scream, released in 1996, followed Sidney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell, as she faced killers hiding behind the Ghostface persona. She got help from Gale Weathers, played by Courteney Cox, and Dewey Riley, played by David Arquette. The film led to three sequels in 1997, 2000 and 2011. Ulrich played Sidney’s boyfriend, Billy Loomis, who turned out to be one of the two killers opposite Lillard’s Stu.
After Lillard was brought back as a deepfake in Scream 7, Ulrich weighed in on his costar and friend’s theory that Stu could still be alive. I do support his theory, Ulrich said. One-hundred percent. He then addressed the chances of Billy faking his death too. I don’t think a gunshot wound to the head is survivable, he said. Ulrich continued that Lillard wanted to rejoin the franchise for a while, and when it finally happened, he was excited for him. I called him right away, he said.
Despite returning in Scream 5, when new protagonist Sam Carpenter, played by Melissa Barrera, has a vision about her dad, Billy, Ulrich does not see himself filming more content for the franchise. Without Melissa Barrera and Sam Loomis, there’s no Billy Loomis, the actor said in reference to Barrera being fired in 2023. He was in her head. They had their chance at it and didn’t quite get to complete the three-film arc that they talked to me about.
Ulrich is still grateful for his experience within the Scream universe. Among the highlights is his friendship with Lillard. We really primarily started doing conventions together, and the dinners after a day of work led to just getting to know each other, Ulrich recalled. That’s gone on for the last 10 to 12 years. In the beginning we finished Scream and he went one direction and I went another. Ulrich wound up moving to a farm in Virginia. Lillard was all over the world filming. So they did not really see each other for a long time.
Then when they did, it was just a rekindling. We’re both fathers, Ulrich said. He’s an incredible father, and we had so much more to discuss later in our lives than we did back then. So I’m proud to call him a friend. He’s somebody I can call and throw anything at and he’s got a good answer and good advice for it.
Ulrich reflected on the horror movie’s legacy while making an appearance tied to Angry Orchard Video. They just have the same sense of nostalgia that the movie has, and there’s just an intriguing aspect to what they do that I think it lends really well to Scream, he told Us Weekly. It’s pretty wild though. Thirty years later and people are still interested.
Angry Orchard is channeling the spooky season with its Halloween collaboration with Scream. It includes the limited-edition Thriller Variety Pack. The glow-in-the-dark packaging and seasonal flavors include Mystery Caller, Caramel Apple Curse, Blood Orange and Headless Pumpkin. I like Mystery Caller, believe it or not. As I should, right? Ulrich quipped. He complimented the pop-up’s ability to recreate a video rental store in honor of Scream coming out in the ’90s. I remember going all the time in West Hollywood to the Blockbuster there, and people were just trying to find what they wanted to watch, he said. But if you knew exactly what you wanted to watch and it wasn’t on the shelves, you would wait for the return box and go and check in the return box. There was just a real social element to it and a way for fans to interact that, unfortunately, we don’t get anymore.
