Scream icon Neve Campbell weighs in on theory original film had a secret gay romance
Scream characters Billy (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu (Matthew Lillard) (Woods Entertainment)
Scream‘s Neve Campbell has weighed in on the long-running fan theory that the film’s characters Billy (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu (Matthew Lillard) were secretly gay.
In a new interview to promote the highly-anticipated fifth instalment in the Scream series, the 48-year-old actress – who plays Sidney Prescott – was asked if she ever wondered if “there was a burgeoning love relationship going on there?”
“Perhaps, perhaps,” she told Pride Source. “Yeah, it’s very much a possibility, and now that [screenwriter Kevin Williamson] is out and talking more about that, I would imagine that’s a big part of his thinking.”
The Craft actress then added: “Well, I don’t know clearly, ’cause Kevin hasn’t said to me clearly that’s what it is, but it is a possibility, right?”
The Wild Things star continued: ‘If I were to theorise, I would say that there was perhaps some confusion with them. Pretty confused guys.
“And that maybe some of their anger comes from not being allowed to be who they want to be, if you wanna go there.”
Her comments come after Scream screenwriter Williamson previously reflected on how his own sexuality informed Campbell’s character, Sidney Prescott.
For those who don’t remember, Sidney develops major trust issues after learning her boyfriend murdered her own mother.
Williamson said that she faced the same battle for survival as many young, gay kids, as he told the Independent: “One of the things I’ve wrestled with is trust and Sidney trusted no one. Did she really know her mother? Is her boyfriend who he says he is? In the end, she wasn’t even trusting herself.”
I love the first Scream film so damn much. ??
I must say that I forgot how queer-coded Billy and Stu’s relationship dynamic was — I love it! ?? pic.twitter.com/rSxRbu51qD
— Amy ??? (@amy_trostle) January 9, 2022
billy and stu from scream were dating and you cant change my mind— hourly devon tweets (@dvntwtbot) January 11, 2022
Sidney is only able to identify that Officer Andrews and Richards are gay in Scream 2 after seeing Billy and Stu cuddle in the kitchen pic.twitter.com/WlafcCLnoh— ?Story with Gale Weathers? (@MichaelRyanP) January 9, 2022
Billy and Stu of Scream would have loved Brokeback Mountain— Monday Mourning (@MissMondayM) January 11, 2022
Williamson explained that Sidney is anything but the “final girl” – the horror film trope of the virginal teenager who outwits the slayer.
But as a closeted gay kid growing up in North Carolina and Texas, final girls were a figure he had long related to.
He added: “As a gay kid, I related to the final girl and to her struggle, because it’s what one has to do to survive as a young gay kid, too.
“You’re watching this girl survive the night and survive the trauma she’s enduring. Subconsciously, I think the Scream movies are coded in gay survival.”
Scream will see the original cast reunite to once again battle Ghostface in the leafy town of Woodsboro.
Returning stars Campbell, Courtney Cox (Gale Weathers) and David Arquette (Dewey Riley) will be joined by newcomer Jasmin Savoy-Brown, who stars as a new queer character, Mindy Meeks-Martin.
“What I love about playing Mindy is she’s a queer Black woman, just like myself,” she told Logo. “So, I’m really proud of that. I felt I could just fully exist just as myself which is a person who happens to be queer and the writing reflects that.”
Scream in out in cinemas from 14 January.
