Although Ghostface’s body count has gone through the roof over the years, one of the Scream franchise’s first victims had to help bring out his killer instinct.
Stuntman Lee Waddell, who donned the mask and cloak for the debut 1996 film in Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven‘s slasher franchise, recalled “how impactful” it was working with Henry Winkler as the doomed Principal Arthur Himbry.
“I loved my time with Henry Winkler. Man, what a class act,” said Waddell at a recent GalaxyCon Q&A. “That’s the only time out of my career at that point, and I’ve never done it since, he was the only guy that I ever fanboyed out on. He got on set and, you know, I grew up on Happy Days.”
The stunt performer said he would “just geek out” on the actor. “I’m supposed to stab him and I was so just fanboyed out that I wouldn’t give him the energy to react accordingly,” he said.
Winkler taught him a trick that will stay with him “for the rest of my career” after Waddell was taking too many takes to finish the scene. “I’m just not giving him what he needs,” he said, recounting that Winkler took him behind the door where the killer was supposed to pop out.
Neve Campbell, Henry Winkler and David Arquette in ‘Scream’ (1996) (Dimension/Courtesy Everett Collection)
“[He was] literally hitting me in the shoulder,” he said. “And he starts kinda screwing with me, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’ Well, what he did was he went into the Himbry character, right, as the principal that everybody despised.
Waddell continued, “And he starts effing with me. And he says, ‘I’m gonna suspend you’ … and he’s getting in my face. And I realize what he’s doing, and in that moment, I clicked into Ghostface, and I got pissed. Righteously pissed. I’m like, ‘Oh, I get it.’ I snapped in and he starts screwing with me like this. I’m like, ‘Oh, I am going to gut you like a fish.’”
“I give him that burst of energy to get him to react. And it was a great take, and that’s what you guys see on the final cut,” noted Waddell.
Following his killer performance in the first movie, Waddell returned to play Ghostface in Scream 2 (1997).
About the Author
