10 Actors Who Begged For Their Horror Movie Character To Die

Initially, Barrymore was cast as legendary final girl Sydney Prescott in Wes Craven’s brilliant horror-satire Scream. However, Barrymore felt like her casting was too safe for a movie that was trying to push boundaries.

So, she switched. Changing her mind to play Casey Becker, the film’s first victim and around whom the opening scene revolves. Seeing a star like Barrymore would put the audience at ease, and they would assume that due to her fame, she would be the one to carry the viewer safely to the end of the movie.

In her own words, she explained her choice in a 2020 interview:

“In the horror film genre, my biggest pet peeve was that I always knew the main character was going to be slugging through at the end but was going to creak by and make it."

That’s exactly why Barrymore wanted to subvert these expectations: to really show the audience that nobody was safe.

We’re glad she made the choice, even if her bank account wasn’t but I think she still did fine out of it, as the opening of Scream became instantly iconic and was parodied and referenced across pop culture.