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Scary Movie Cast And Crew Reflect On Whether The Movie Would Be Made Today

20 years old from the hit horror spoof, several people involved in making the film have reflected on what it meant for their careers and whether it could be made in 2020.

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Scary Movie debuted in 2000, earning $278 million on a $19 million budget and kickstarting a wave of parody films, few of which reviewed well or enjoyed quite the same level of success. Now, in a new retrospective oral history with Variety, many of the people involved have reflected on the film's influences, the movie's style of comedy, and how unpleasant the Weinsteins were to work with.

According to the report, Miramax wanted the rights to the movie because it parodied their property Scream, and they did not want anyone else to be able to do that. Co-writer Marlon Wayans calls the Weinsteins an "evil regime," stating that "they do what they want to do how they do it--and it can be rude and quite disrespectful."

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He also recalls finding out that he was fired off Scary Movie 3 ahead of the movie's production. "We probably could have sued or whatever, but part of us was like, 'All you can do is allow us to create something new,'" he says. "I could write a book on that whole thing, honestly. They definitely still owe us money, lots of money. What they did was really bad business."

Marlon's brother Keenen Ivory Wayans directed the film, and Shawn Wayans was a co-writer. Marlon and Shawn also featured as actors in the film. Marlon says that other Wayans family members were on set, too. "The nephews will always tell us when they don’t think something’s funny," Marlon says. "It’s cool for the youth to let them learn as well. They’ll learn what I grew up on with Keenen. I was on set since I was 11 years old."

Anna Faris made her Hollywood debut in the film, and has some interesting memories of how she flew to Burbank and slept on a friend's couch ahead of the audition after sending in a tape. "I started the audition with my mom recording me on one of those big, old VHS cameras hoisted on her shoulder," she recalls. 'And then with the second scene I went to my neighbors and I was like, “My mom can’t do this audition with me because it’s way too raunchy. Can you film it for me?'"

When the movie actually debuted, she again wanted to spare her mom from one of the film's more graphic scenes. "I had to tell my mom to go to the bathroom before the sperm-spraying scene," she says. Faris stayed with the franchise for some of the sequels, and admits that there were moments where she was hurt while filming. "In Scary Movie 3, there’s an airplane cart that lands on my face and we shot that the last day," she remembers. "As that cart slammed into my face, I thought, 'F*** these people. I’m about to break my f***ing nose."

In the piece, Marlon Wayans, producer Bo Zenga, and actor Jon Abrahams also reflect on the parts of the movie that have aged poorly, or would not allow the movie to be made today without some changes. "I think it would be difficult to greenlight," Wayans says. But at the same time, he stands by a lot of the movie's humor. "I think anybody can do a joke about anything and it’s just who’s telling the joke and what’s your intention? Is your intention to humiliate, or is your intention to make people laugh? Our intention is always to make people laugh."

Abrahams recalls a scene where he drops his pants to reveal giant throbbing blue testicles, and how the crew demanded they use a double because the audience would not want to see his butt. "I remember them being very kind in the confines of really outrageous comedy stuff," he says. "I just can’t see how that would fly in these times." Zenga reflects on a few elements that might or might not get a pass in a modern movie. "Anna getting knocked about might get through if it was really sold as, 'Hey, it’s a comedy," he says. "There’s a lot of gay humor that I don’t think would make it into a movie today. I don’t know if you could put an erect penis going through the wall and killing someone today."

There's plenty more insight into the film in the article. If you saw Scary Movie 20 years ago and still have fond memories of that period of blockbuster cinema, it's a fun reflection on a movie that likely hasn't aged well.

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smoke_dog_4ever

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"I think anybody can do a joke about anything and it’s just who’s telling the joke and what’s your intention? Is your intention to humiliate, or is your intention to make people laugh? Our intention is always to make people laugh."

I only partly agree with this statement - your intention doesn't really matter if everyone has an agenda to see your film/career/whatever spiral into negativity. You can have the best intentions in the world but trolls will be trolls. There's this belief that you can't write about POC, LGTBQ, or any other label if you yourself are not what you're writing about, and that is absurd. Just because you don't have the personal experiences doesn't mean that you can't write an accurate portrayal of something. Women do it all the time in our modern culture where everything is getting gender-rebooted, and you've got women writing male characters... and males writing female characters. But again, the point is that you can have the best of intentions but you are only as valid as the trolls allow you to be.

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DJK9

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Ah yes, the Wayans. Let's not forget their movie 'White Chicks' where they painted their faces white and pretended to be females.

....And yet, no outrage...no cancel culture...no fake apologies or empty promises to "do better". Nothing.

Interesting. It's almost like there's a double standard that everyone sees but pretends to ignore.

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Wraith3

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@djk9: Generally I'd agree, but obviously there's a history with black face. I think it's hilarious when black comedians do jokes making fun of white people, because they are usually true. They're telling you what they observe. I wish you could do it both ways without the history behind it because I think that would help heal a lot of sh*t if we could laugh at ourselves. We all do dumb stuff.

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Wraith3

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@Wraith3: Also everything they do is funny. They need to bring back In Living Color because SNL sucks now.

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BankAMG

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@djk9: because y’all not out here protesting. you want it to get cancel you got to get active. I hear all the time “white people people die from cops too” well get out there and march you want us to organize a march for you? You organize it and I’ll join your fight.

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Asultana121x

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Edited By Asultana121x

@BankAMG:

You missed his point completely. We don't give a crap they did that in White Chicks, and no else cared back then also cause it was just a movie for comedic purposes. Comedy is comedy. But nowadays..........

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Jinzo_111887

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The movies were kind of questionable in some regards. Take the original, the movie theater seen had the film parody Titanic only to go racist pretty quick. There was also a scene with an overweight girl in the garage who wasn't very smart and could be interpreted as fat shaming. That said, I'd rather not see these works of art have content cut and just have a trigger warning so people who complain can be mocked for ignoring them.

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Asultana121x

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@Jinzo_111887:

It wasn't questionable whatsoever, it's comedy, it was hilarious, that's it. We need to laugh more, not be offended by every measly thing that means absolutely nothing.

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Asultana121x

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I'll save them the trouble.......no it probably can't be made nowadays because comedy is essentially dead now. Hell, I haven't even watched a good comedy since 2014/2015 cause they barely make them anymore, and the ones that do come out now aren't funny at all.

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BankAMG

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@asultana121x: you can make anything you want. Laura ingram is still on tv after saying some outlandish things. If you want to break avatars then that’s probably won’t happen

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