David Arquette on working with Courteney Cox in Scream 5: "There's a real beauty to the relationship that you can't really fake"

David Arquette and Courteney Cox in Scream 4
(Image credit: Dimension Films)

Scream 5, simply titled Scream, is on the way after a lengthy break. Franchise mainstay Neve Campbell is once again back as Sidney, while David Arquette and Courteney Cox are also returning as Dewey and Gale.

Arquette tells Total Film in the new issue of the magazine – featuring Scream on the over – that he was "always open for it, but I wasn't sure if they'd ever make one again". Between Scream installments, the actor laid his life and career bare in the wrestling documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette, in which co-star Cox charts their relationship by saying, "We met on Scream 1, we hated each other on Scream 2, we got married Scream 3, we got divorced Scream 4."

How would Arquette update that statement now? "Still divorced!" he laughs. "No, but a great co-parent, is what I'd say. I always love working with Courteney. There's an intangible quality of having a relationship with somebody, and then being able to act with them, that you kind of can't act. It's like the Everly Brothers singing harmonies – there's a real beauty to the relationship that you can't really fake."

Talking about how the film franchise has endured, Arquette says it's the indelibility of the Ghostface mask, adopted anew by every film's killer(s). 

"I love how iconic Ghostface is," he says. "It'd be hard to think that they would stop, because he's just a great, menacing horror character." 

Scream opens in UK and US cinemas on Jan 14, 2022. For much more on the film, pick up a copy of the new issue of Total Film magazine when it hits shelves (real-world and digital) from Thursday, November 11. Check out the new cover below:

Total Film's Scream cover

(Image credit: Paramount/Total Film)

And if you're a fan of Total Film, why not subscribe so that you never miss an issue? You'll save money on the magazine, you'll get it before it hits shops, *and* you'll get exclusive, subscriber-only cover like the Scream one below. Don't miss out on another incredible cover that's not available in stores...

Total Film's Scream subscriber cover

(Image credit: Paramount/Total Film)
Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.