Some of the new cast members were barely alive when the OG film debuted nearly 25 years ago.
New school meets old school in the fifth installment of Scream, and ET was exclusively on the set of the latest horror flick talking to the budding actors about mixing it up and instantly finding chemistry with the OG cast.
Scream first hit theaters almost 25 years to the day but, believe it or not, some of the new cast members were barely born when the first Wes Craven-directed film hit theaters nationwide on December 20, 1996. Newcomer Melissa Barrera, for example, was only 6 years old when the original debuted.
"I was too young to watch it," the 31-year-old actress said.
Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan's son, Jack Quaid, also joins the fold, but he was even younger than Barrera.
"I was four when it came out," he said. "But I do have a very vivid memory of trick-or-treating and there were a lot of Ghostfaces walking around and I remember being terrified."
The 19-year-old Jenna Ortega wasn't born yet, and Thirteen Reasons Why star Dylan Minnette further drove the point home when he said, "I was probably roughly negative 10 days old or something when Scream came out."
That being said, the fresh faces are keenly aware of the franchise's monumental success, which includes hauling in over $600 million worldwide. But perhaps the real gold mine for the new cast is the opportunity to work with the legacy cast that includes Courtney Cox, David Arquette and Neve Campbell.
In fact, Barrera said it was Campbell who paid the new cast such a huge compliment -- she let out a huge sigh of relief.
"The amazing Neve Campbell said about our cast, when we all kind of met together for the first time and had dinner, was that this cast seemed most like the original cast from the first film," the In the Heights star said. "Which that to us was such a big sigh of relief."
Mason Gooding, another newcomer, couldn't help himself and continued singing Arquette's praises when it comes to how the 50-year-old star kept the cast cool, calm and collected when they weren't filming gut-wrenching scenes.
"David, as I've mentioned and will continue to mention, took us all into a community room and taught us all how to paint like Bob Ross," Cuba Gooding Jr.'s 25-year-old actor son said. "And I feel like it was teaching us how to relax."
Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, which took over the series from Dimension Films, have seemingly struck gold conjuring up a plot line that perfectly blends the new and OG cast, as a new Ghostface killer once again terrorizes the sleepy town of Woodsboro.
With such a rabid fanbase, it's no wonder Quaid said he got one piece of advice that, if everyone follows suit, will only further help build anticipation for the upcoming horror film.
"Keep your mouth shut because you say something to somebody, the spoilers get out there," he said.
Scream is only in theaters Jan. 14, 2022.
RELATED CONTENT:
