Even if you’ve never seen Isabel May, who stars in “Scream 7” (currently in theaters), you’ve undoubtedly heard her.
After May starred in Taylor Sheridan’s “1883” as the doomed Dutton ancestor Elsa, she became the haunted narrator of the entire franchise. Her narration, a mixture of naivete and worldliness clearly informed by Linda Manz’s work in Terrence Malick’s “Days of Heaven,” would return for the follow-up series “1923” and would cross over to the mainline series. In the closing moments of the “Yellowstone” finale in 2024, May returned. For longtime fans of the franchise, it was the only way that the show could have ended.
May has done movies before, but “Scream 7” is her first theatrical feature. She stars as Tatum, the daughter of Sidney Evans (nee Prescott), the “Scream” series’ ultimate final girl, portrayed in nearly every film by Neve Campbell. (She sat out “Scream 6” owing to a contract dispute, which in the metatextual world of “Scream,” gets a repeated mention.) Even her character’s name is steeped in the world’s lore – Tatum was the character played by Rose McGowan in the first “Scream” (she’s the one who got her head crushed in an automatic garage door). But, you know, no pressure.
As it turns out May wasn’t well-versed in the ins-and-outs of “Scream,” which began with the 1996 film written by Kevin Williamson (who returned to co-write and direct “Scream 7”) and directed by Wes Craven, because, prior to being cast, she had never seen the movies.
“This is based out of fear, of being scared,” May said. Still, she said, she had a “real awareness of it” via cultural osmosis. “It surrounded me for most of my life, every Halloween, you see a Ghostface.” She had known Williamson, having been a fan of his television series “Dawson’s Creek” and “The Vampire Diaries” (based on the book series by L.J. Smith). She also knew Campbell, who beyond “Scream” has had a long and storied career in film and television (how’s this for legendary – the musical guest on the episode of “Saturday Night Live” that she hosted in 1997 was none other than David Bowie?)
Prior to meeting Williamson, though, May binged the entire franchise. “Now I’m a proper fan,” May said.
Still, even after she boned up, she tried not to think about stepping into one of the most iconic and successful horror franchises of all time, with the series bringing in over $1 billion.
“I try not to think about because it’s so much bigger than me and I don’t think the onus is on me. There are people that the fans care about far more than me. I just thought about, Oh, I get to be another piece in the puzzle,” said May. “I’m really excited to be involved and I just hope people like me, but I know they love Neve, I know they love Sydney. I know they love Gail. Who doesn’t love Gail? There were other people involved that I knew people would care about more.”
May first spoke to Williamson on the phone, because, she assumed, he wanted “to get a feeler.” He had seen her in “1883.” “When the film was going to be made, and they knew they needed a daughter. I think he just thought of the last person he watched on television that he enjoyed, really, I think that’s where it came from,” May said.
While the production of “Scream 7” was more than tumultuous, with a changeover in the cast and two different directors leaving before Williamson signed on (the “Scream VI” team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and, later, “Happy Death Day” director Christopher Landon), May said that her character didn’t change all that much.
“It was only about two months between my casting and us filming. So they had really already thought deeply and long about how to structure the daughter into the story and what the dynamic between mother and daughter needed to be,” May explained. “And then I just came in and tried to ask the right questions. I knew that she needed to be a teenager and have the attitude of a teenager, but I didn’t want her to feel like a stereotype. I think Gen-Z and young people are actually a lot smarter and have more to say and are more self-aware than we give them credit for. I just wanted to ground her in something that I wanted. I want people to be able to connect with her that are 17-years-old. I don’t think we’re all just pissed off all the time.”
Much of the fun of “Scream 7” is the way that Tatum and Sidney clash as a new killer starts to bear down on their family. You can tell there’s a lot going on underneath the surface, emotionally, between mother and daughter. They feel very much like mother and daughter.
May said the process of bonding with Campbell was “relatively easy.”
“I think Never and I are a lot alike in many ways. And we went and sat down during prep and had a really lovely dinner,” May said. She said that, as an actor, she needed to pretend that they had known each other their entire lives and that their dinner was hugely helpful.
“A single dinner, you can learn more about a person than people you’ve known for years. It’s like you speed up a process and there’s a lot of substance in the conversation. We got deeply into it and discover things about each other,” May said. “I find her to be very moving and thoughtful. And she earned my respect in a different way through that conversation. I don’t know if I earned hers.”
‘Scream 7:’ Who is Ghostface This Time?
After the dinner, May was just as thrilled working on the material with Campbell, who was also a producer on “Scream 7.”
“She knows this franchise inside and out. She understands this character, obviously, more than anyone. I just wanted to throw things at her and see how she responded to them, and if it was an immediate rejection, not in a bad way, just like in a really natural way that doesn’t feel right,” May said. “I trusted that. I knew that impulses were right.”
By the end of “Scream 7,” it feels as if Campbell has fully passed the torch to May, including getting to best the villains together. Should there be an eighth film (and, given the box office so far, there most assuredly will be), May will undoubtedly take center stage.
“This is my first theatrical release in my career. I’ve never been in a movie theater before. I’ve never had people see my face on a big screen like that. I’m so kind of overwhelmed and grateful for that. And like to start my theatrical experience in this way with this kind of reception is so wonderful. That’s all. I can’t think of anything more than okay, to be honest,” May said.
Among May’s upcoming projects are action movie “Karoshi,” from “John Wick” director Chad Stahelski and his 87Eleven production banner, and “The Last Mrs. Parrish,” based on the novel of the same name by Liv Constantine and directed by Robert Zemeckis.
“I have a list of directors I’m dying to work with and I will do everything my power to be able to get through that list, not only because I want that experience as an actor, but you learn so much from these folks,” May said. Zemeckis was on that list. She was dazzled by his filmography and the fact that Steven Spielberg mentored him.
“That guy just has a track record like no other. I could just pick his brain if he was in the mood and I just digested it and felt incredibly grateful to be able to have those one-on-one discussions with him,” May said. “I’m really excited about that project. I’ve never been able to play an antagonist.”
Also, at this point, you might be hearing her again soon enough, given her role as the voice of the “Yellowstone” franchise.
“Taylor told me before he started writing ‘1883’ that I would be the voiceover for everything. I didn’t realize I would end ‘Yellowstone.’ He just sent it and didn’t say a word about it. And I just went, ‘Okay, cool. I know what to do.’ I know that character so well. She is me in some ways and I know the purpose that she serves in the ‘Yellowstone’ world.”
When we asked what the next mountain she wants to conquer is, she shot back, “To quote Madonna – world domination.” (She was kidding.)
“No, more seriously, I want to build something that lasts. I’m so interested in pursuing every aspect of storytelling, I think I want to reach really, really high, and hopefully I can continue to build an acting career that I can be extremely proud of in the future,” May said. “But I’ve seen certain creatives that have explored every avenue of this industry and they’re becoming younger and doing that with so much confidence. And I’m incredibly inspired by that. I want to do that as well. That’s my objective.”
“Scream 7” is in theaters now.
