In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Scream 4 and Scream VI alum Hayden Panettiere (Kirby Reed) raves about her experience on set with Wes Craven for the fourth film.
When asked about the biggest pearl of wisdom Craven passed along, Panettiere recalls "memories of the timing of things. So, when you're sitting, he would be like, 'This is going to feel very slow. It's gonna feel like you're moving in slow motion, but when you put the music in and you edit it together, you have to build up that anticipation and you have to hit it right on the nail on the head. You can't be a moment over. You gotta be right on the nose.'"
The director behind not only the Scream films but the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise would tell Panettiere to "'Move slow, or move slower,' and I would be like, 'Geez, this feels like I'm moving at the pace of a snail.' But watching it afterwards," she remembers, "after he put it together and edited everything, he was so right."
Panettiere speaks of Craven with the highest esteem. "He was so spectacular. I mean, he taught me also how to be on set. I would love to direct at some point in my life, and he was such a fabulous — his spirit, the person that he was, how kind he was. He really was an amazing example. He set an amazing example for how I would like to be as a director, as anybody on set, but as a director if I hopefully direct in the future," she says, adding with a mischievous smirk, "You don't have to be an ass!"
She goes on to talk about her personal love for her character Kirby:
"I love that character. She is so powerful, and she is such a tomboy," she says. "I felt like I got to take the parts of me that people didn't know existed and put them into her. Like, I am that edgy tomboy who sticks to her guns."
To Panettiere, "you can't really define" Kirby, who plays a major role in saving the day in Scream 6. "You can't put your finger on on her. She loves guys, she loves girls, she loves the world that she lives in. She is sassy. And I got to bring all of those parts of me that I felt like I had to hide for years, I think, out in her, because I was so terrified that I was going to offend somebody."
Source: Entertainment Weekly