The Humble Reason Tori Spelling Was 'Ashamed' To Be Included In Scream 2's Photo Shoots

In the first "Scream," Sidney (Neve Campbell) is asked who she thinks should play her in the inevitable movie based on her life. Sidney responds with Tori Spelling, an actress who was at the time starring in the popular show "Beverly Hills 90210." In one of the franchise's funniest gags, in "Scream 2," we find out that Hollywood not only made the movie, but they indeed cast Tori Spelling in the lead role. 

"Scream 2" even shows an interview Spelling gives to promote the movie. Not only does Spelling casually spoil the first movie's big twist, but we see a clip of her acting out a scene from it. The scene plays out exactly the same as it did the first time around, but goofier. This is Spelling's only scene in the movie, and she never interacts with any of the main characters directly, which is why Spelling felt a little guilty in real life for being featured so prominently in the movie's marketing. As she explained in a 2025 People interview, "When 'Scream 2' was coming out, Rolling Stone wanted to do all the females of 'Scream 2,' and they asked me to be in it. And I was like, 'Oh my gosh, are you f—— kidding me?'"

Although Spelling was "psyched" about the experience, she was less excited when she realized that it was a standalone photo she took that made the front cover, instead of a photo of anyone else in the film. "I just remember showing up at the 'Scream 2' premiere with my like, head hanging down because I was so ashamed," Spelling said. "They deserve to be on the cover and I got made the cover." The photo in question showed Spelling reenacting the famous shower scene from "Psycho."

Hopefully, Spelling didn't feel too guilty over stealing the limelight, because misleading marketing is as fundamental to the "Scream" franchise as Roger L. Jackson, the voice of Ghostface. After all, the first movie went with the very misleading trick of propping up Drew Barrymore as the main character, only to brutally discard her in the opening sequence. If Spelling hogging up the Rolling Stone cover gave viewers a misleading picture of what the movie would be about, that only helped make "Scream 2" all the more unpredictable to first-time viewers. 

Although the "Scream" films have never quite pulled off a switcharoo as crazy as they did with Barrymore, almost every movie's marketing has had at least one moment that seemed shamelessly designed to mislead us to an absurd degree. Take, for instance, the "Scream VI" trailer, which features a shot of Ghostface standing behind Mindy (Jasmine Savoy Brown) as she attempts to crawl over a high-up ladder between apartments. 

Not only did this never happen in the movie, but it seems unlikely that there was ever a deleted scene where this happened, because the ladder scene's brutal climax relies on fellow survivor Anika (Devyn Nekoda) traversing the ladder only after Mindy gets to the other side. This was a clear-cut case of the "Scream" marketing not just misdirecting fans but straight-up lying to them, and honestly, we respect the hustle. We can only wonder what sort of delightfully dishonest trickery the current "Scream 7" marketing is pulling on us now.