The Scream Actress Who Almost Played Sidney Prescott Instead Of Neve Campbell

Neve Campbell is one of the most beloved Scream Queens of the industry, with her recurring "Scream" role of Sidney Prescott ranking #2 on /Film's list of best Final Girls in the horror genre. But before she could do that, there was another actress cast as Sidney, someone who could've easily become the face of the franchise instead if she hadn't decided to switch things up: Drew Barrymore.

Yes, Drew Barrymore, the It Girl of the '90s. She was the obvious choice to lead a movie like this. Her name would easily draw in viewers, and, thanks to her early breakout role with "E.T." over a decade earlier, audiences had a built-in connection with her for the movie to capitalize on. The movie wouldn't have to work too hard to establish her character as likable because everyone already liked Drew Barrymore. 

But early into production, Barrymore realized she didn't want to play Sidney. She wanted to play the opening victim, Casey Becker, who stars in one of the most suspenseful horror sequences of all time. As she recalled in a 2011 interview with Entertainment Weekly, "I just read the script one night at my house and I just said, 'Oh my God, there hasn't been anything like this for so long.' I loved that it actually got tongue-in-cheeky, but it was still scary."

In a 2021 oral history from The Ringer, screenwriter Kevin Williamson talked about how he wasn't disappointed by Barrymore wanting to change her role; he was ecstatic because he'd always wanted a big name dying in that opening scene. He explained, "I wanted it to be this big, huge Janet Leigh moment. And then when she dies, you're like, 'Wait a second. Wasn't she on the poster? Wait. What's going to happen next?'"

Williamson added, "The studio was really into that too, and they were very good about keeping that all a big secret. They were really billing this as a Drew Barrymore movie." 

Sure enough, the marketing for the first "Scream" film strongly gave off the impression of Barrymore as the lead. Not only is she the face on the poster, but newspapers at the time would put Barrymore's name first — and sometimes no one else — on the movie's listing for local theaters. This was Drew Barrymore's movie, the marketing made clear, which made it such a fun surprise when she died within the first 10 minutes.

Richard Potter, the Dimension Films director of development, explained how he and the higher-ups at the production company quickly came around to Barrymore as Becker: "We're sitting around, you kind of see it dawn on each person: 'No, that's a great idea,'" he recalled. "Because you're going to see the trailer and the commercials, and you're going to be sure she's the star of the movie. There's no way she's going to die. When she dies at the end of that sequence, you're going to go, 'Anyone could die.'"

"Scream" wasn't the first time a movie had done something like this. As Williamson pointed out, Janet Leigh's character in "Psycho" famously did not turn out to be the movie's final girl, despite being featured so prominently in the marketing. The structure of "Psycho" was even bolder than that of "Scream"; outside of Barrymore's name recognition, the "Scream" opening is still a fairly standard opening kill sequence, whereas Janet Leigh's Marion doesn't meet her end until a full 48 minutes in.

Perhaps the best misdirection from a horror movie came in 1979's "Alien," which puts the now-iconic Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in what seems like a supporting role for the first half hour, and doesn't fully establish her as the main character until an hour in. Instead, it was Tom Skerrit who received top billing for the movie, and he acts like a typical lead right up until the alien mauls him to death. 

I'd argue "Alien" commits harder to this misdirection than "Scream" does; with "Scream," it's pretty obvious Sidney's the new final girl the second she appears, whereas Ripley stays in the background of her opening scene and remains removed from the center of attention for a significant period after it. The movie commits hard to the idea of Ripley as a random crew member before slowly revealing her true survival instincts. Barrymore may have been the best early lead fake-out in a horror film, but in terms of making the viewers believe that truly anyone could die, "Alien" still reigns supreme.