“Update: Apparently, a lot of websites are having trouble with giving proper credit as this story comes from Wiki, making it extremely unlikely. AnnaLynne McCord, the young sexy temptress of “Nip/Tuck” and star of the new “90210″, is said to have been offered a role in Dimension Films’ Scream 4, reports the Examiner.

HAHA, Kevin W. is the man. Via Twitter:

“Anna Lynn thing is not true. She’s awesome. But I’m still writing the script. No casting going on.”

Courteney Cox, who is set to star in a fourth Scream movie, elaborated on a few details that were revealed by writer Kevin Williamson a couple of days ago about the sequel, which picks up the story 10 years after the events in 2000’s Scream 3. Cox will reprise the role of TV reporter Gale Weathers.

“She has a kid now,” Cox said in a group interview Saturday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Pasadena, Calif., where she was promoting her ABC show Cougar Town. “She’s married to Dewey.”

Scream 3 ended with Deputy Dewey (David Arquette, Cox’s real-life husband) proposing to local newswoman-turned-true-crime guru Gale. The characters bonded during their investigation of the first Scream murders, through the campus crimes of Scream 2 and the film-within-the-film of Scream 3.

Williamson previously described Scream 4 as the beginning of a new trilogy. Cox has no trepidations about beginning another three films. “No, because [I take things] one day at a time,” she said. “But I heard the idea for Scream 4, and it’s fantastic.”

The Scream series tweaked the conventions of horror movies as film-obsessed killers terrorized teens a la their favorite slashers. Nearly a decade later, Cox said that she is ready for round four. “I’m excited,” she said. “It’ll be really fun.”

With Cox and Williamson both beginning new shows this season, Williamson expects to turn in a final draft for Scream 4 during hiatus and make final deals with cast and directors after that.

Scream writer Kevin Williamson offered more details about the proposed fourth installment he is writing, which he envisions as the beginning of a new trilogy of tongue-in-cheek horror films and which may feature original stars Courteney Cox and David Arquette.

“Oh, it’s a new trilogy,” Williamson said in a group interview today in Pasadena, Calif., where he was promoting his upcoming CW series The Vampire Diaries at the Television Critics Association summer press tour. “It’s 10 years later. It is Gale Weathers 10 years later.”

Cox played Weathers, the local reporter who became a sensation for covering the killings in the 1996 original. Cox met her real-life husband, Arquette, on the films; he played Deputy Dewey, and Williamson accidentally suggested where Dewey would be in Scream 4.

“Sheriff Dewey, I’m sorry, Deputy Dewey, oops,” Williamson backpedaled. “It’s Dewey and Gale, and that’s it [from the original cast]. They met on the set. We all watched it happen, so the idea that we got ‘em back and that their relationship is sort of the emotional core of Scream 4 … so it’ll be a lot of fun.”

It’s been nearly a decade since the last movie, 2000’s Scream 3, and horror movies have changed a lot in the post-Scream era—a fact Williamson acknowledged.

“Can you imagine what the Stab franchise must be like right now?” Williamson said, referring to the films within the Scream films that mimicked the events of the movies. “We’re going to have a lot of fun with it.”

Williamson also plans to bring back the “ghost face” mask that every killer wore in the Scream films. “Yes, it will be, but there may be another one,” he said.

In the meantime, Williamson is gearing up The Vampire Diaries, and Cox has a new show, ABC’s Cougar Town, debuting in the fall. The plan is to shoot in both hiatuses.

“Well, I’m going to finish the script in the next couple of months,” Williamson said. “Then we’ll just start the process. [Scream director] Wes [Craven] wants to read a script before he’ll sign on, which makes sense. We’ve sort of chatted about it. I’m sure he would love to get back in the saddle. We’re kind of a family. We’re a Scream family that still exists, so the idea that we wouldn’t have dad sitting at the head of the table doesn’t make sense, so I’m going to try to. We’re going to make that happen.”

Craven’s interest and schedule, as well as other factors, will also determine when Scream 4 goes before cameras. “It depends on the hiatus schedule,” Williamson continued. “It will depend on timing. It’ll depend on maybe when we get in serious talks with Wes, what his schedule’s like. It’ll depend on The Vampire Diaries, because I’m committed to this. I have another show at ABC that no one even knows about that’s in first position. That could come in and just change everything. It’s a show I was developing with Warner Brothers when this came along. This moved really, really fast, so it put the ABC show on hold. So I’ve got to go back to that soon.”

Williamson had departed the Scream franchise after Scream 2, leaving Scream 3 to writer Ehren Kruger. What finally convinced him to write a new one?

“Oh, well, they’ve been bugging us,” Williamson said. “Bob Weinstein has been bugging me for 100 billion years. ‘Where’s Scream 4? Let’s do Scream 4! Let’s just do it, Kevin, let’s just do it.’ Wes and I were like, ‘No way, no way, no way.’ Then, finally, I was taking some time off, and I was sitting around going, ‘OK, what if I had to do Scream 4? If I had to do Scream 4, what would I [do]?’ I wasn’t interested, but a trilogy? Now I’d be interested. Can we do that? Can we pull that off? Could we actually develop a trilogy? Then I started thinking about the story, and I created three different chapters, I broke it out and I got really excited about it.”

What’s the status with Scream 4 at the moment? Are we going to see you direct it?
“Bob Weinstein (The Weinstein Company co-chairman) has talked to me, he’s interested in me directing it. I had a brief conversation with Kevin [Williamson], I know that Kevin is writing. What I’ve said to Bob is I’m not closed to it, I’m not open to it, I’ll be perfectly happy to read a script and tell him what I think. That’s where it’s at and I’m not expecting a script until August. I don’t know what the premise is or anything.”

Do you know what form it’s taking? The word ‘reboot’ has been used.
“I don’t think it’s a reboot and Kevin, when he talked to me, said, ‘Remember, it’s not just Scream 4, it’s Scream 5 and 6.’ So I guess he has a trilogy in mind.”

It’s looking like the Arquettes are coming back. Do you know if Neve Campbell will be returning?
“I’ve been told, and I don’t think they’ll mind if I say this, the deals on David Arquette and Courteney are virtually set. I believe everybody else will be new.”

You satirised the horror genre with the original Scream trilogy. Is there a danger that it’ll either lose its edge or fall into self-parody the more films you make?
“There are a host of dangers in making more films. We have a saying in the United States, ‘Jump the shark’. You don’t want to do that, you don’t want to drive it into the ground. You’re avoiding those kind of dangers, hopefully, making the kind of film that has self-awareness from the characters where they’re talking about film. I’m sure you can run that into the ground very quickly. I don’t have a clue what Kevin is writing. He might be completely going around me, I don’t know.”

Were you flattered or annoyed by the Scary Movie series poking fun at Scream?
“I laughed but it was also annoying because somebody used my very shots and I didn’t have any financial participation in it! It was less than a year after we’d finished Scream 3 that that came out. You just have to keep moving in Hollywood because somebody will be right on your heels making parodies of what you’ve just done.”

Source: Digital Spy UK

# It is not a remake. It is a sequel.8:01 PM Jun 3rd from web

# @mwz24 It is a sequel. Scream 4. The first chapter of a new trilogy.7:20 PM Jun 3rd from web in reply to mwz24

Case closed. Enjoy some past Tweets from Kevin writing Scream 4 during his work on TV series Vampire Diaries:

# @efie Yep, working on a new trilogy.12:22 AM Jun 3rd from web in reply to efie

# I’m writing. No fangs. Only butcher knives. And a few other sharp objects. But no fangs.10:30 PM Apr 19th from web

And EW has learned exclusively that Williamson has approached Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette to return. Deals have yet to be signed, however, as all involved try to hammer out potential scheduling conflicts that could arise now that Courteney Cox Arquette’s pilot Cougar Town was picked up by ABC. (Agents for the actors have yet to return EW’s request for comment.) No word on whether Neve Campbell’s character, among others, will make the cut.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Mar 13 – Moviefone

What’s the latest on ‘Scream 4′? Any progress in your talks to direct it, and will any of the original cast members be back?

No, I’ve heard virtually nothing about it. There was an initial inquiry, frankly. And the deal is just to the extent that I’d be interested in looking at the script. That’s all it is from my end. I’m open-minded about it, but at the same time I’ve got plenty things of my own that I’m looking at doing. We’ll just have to see what Kevin Williamson [the writer] comes up with.

Feb 23 – Rope Of Silicon

The screen capture you see below was sent to me by someone named Caroline and I have no way of confirming the legitimacy of the report featured in the capture, but it would seem to ring true considering all the Scream 4 coverage Bloody-Disgusting has been reporting over the past month including this report which came one week prior to the date listed on the capture which appears to be a look at the William Morris Agency Intranet. (I did the photo manipulation work as it actually came as one big traditional screen cap.)

Photo: Someone’s Desktop

So, is original Scream creator ready to get back on board the Ghostface franchise with an all new trilogy? BD says he has been working on it already and they are making financial offers to David Arquette, Courtney Cox Arquette and Neve Campbell to appear in cameos as the franchise is looking to skew younger.

You will also notice the mention of a remake of Curtis Hanson’s 1987 thriller The Bedroom Window, which starred Steve Guttenberg and has the following synopsis posted at Amazon:

Architect Terry Lambert (Steve Guttenberg) takes pity on Sylvia Wentworth (Isabelle Huppert), the apparently put-upon wife of his brutish boss (Paul Shenar). Terry commences an affair with Sylvia and during a break between seductions, Sylvia hears a woman screaming from outside her bedroom window. She looks down to see a mysterious man strangling helpless victim Denise (Elizabeth McGovern). By the time Terry comes to the window, he can see only a crowd of spectators. The next day, Terry learns that another girl has been attacked and murdered, and begins to deduce that the killer may be the same person who assaulted Denise. He wants to go to the police, but Sylvia refuses to get involved. Or is she already involved?

Is any of it true or has someone just found a way to spend a few hours trying to stir weird Internet rumors? It seems real enough to me, but I am sure we will know soon.

Jan 21 – BD

“There’s big talk about it now, it’s not just the internet,” David Arquette states, “there’s actual calls being made.“

Jan 12 – BD

While SCREAM 4 is still very much in the early stages of development, we have a few exclusive facts to kick start the hype.

Fact #1: Kevin Williamson (writer of two of the SCREAM films (character credit on third)) is going to start writing a draft, although it may or may not become the shooting script (which is typical).

Fact #2: Wes Craven may or may not direct, but there is a very good possibility that he will return.

Fact #3: They are making financial offers to David Arquette, Courtney Cox Arquette and Neve Campbell to play cameos.

Fact #4: This will be a younger version of the SCREAM movies.

Back on January 12th we broke the news exclusively here on Bloody-Disgusting that Kevin Williamson was returning to writer Scream 4 for Dimension Films and that Wes Craven “may or maybe not ” return to direct the film. This evening we had the chance to speak to Craven, who has some very interesting stuff to say about the long-gestured project.

Scream (1996)After a special screening of Rogue Pictures/Relativity Media’s The Last House on the Left remake (which was pretty great), Bloody-Disgusting was lucky enough to chat one-on-one with the legendary Wes Craven about the remake, along with a bunch of other projects.

Craven confirms our exclusive news that the Wesinteins are moving forward on a Scream 4, while also telling us what it would take to get him back in the director’s chair.

“It would take it being really as good a script as the first one was,” explaining that he should also be compensated for his work on the franchise, “and the pay day reflects what I’ve done for that company and what Ive gone through on Cursed (laughs).”

When asked if he is involved at all in the new film’s tory, he explained, “I don’t know his ideas at all. But they have made a deal with Kevin [Williamson] to write.”

In our exclusive story, we reported that Williamson’s script will be a younger version of the SCREAM movies and that offers were made to David Arquette, Courtney Cox Arquette and Neve Campbell to play cameos.

Source: BD

“My last experience [with the Weinsteins] was kind of rough with “Cursed” so it would have to be under very very controlled circumstances,”

“There has been talk between Bob Weinstein and me about doing another ‘Scream.’”

“I don’t know whether that’s been made public so I’ll deny this. I never said it!”

“It would be with Kevin [Williamson]. Bob always liked that combination.”

And this from Shock Till You Drop:

“There has been contact. I haven’t spoken to Bob Weinstein but they have checked with my agent. I’m not saying ‘no.’”

“It really is: Is there a script? What I found increasingly in the series is that the script were being written while we were shooting. The first one was a written script, it went out to the whole town and the Weinsteins jumped on it. There was very little changed in that. But 2 and 3? There were a lot of other people, including myself, writing on those.”

While partying around at the San Diego Comic Con, we stumbled into Jamie Kennedy who talked with us a bit about the Scream 4 rumors. “Bob (Weinstein) wants us all to return in another film,” Kennedy tells BD. “I don’t know how I’d return, but he wants me back,” he jokes. He also reveals that a whole new batch of teens would be part of the film. This morning we caught up with Wes Craven who confirms the heavy talks, but denies being approached to return, while his assistant gave us a firm “no comment.” More info soon.