Scream star Heather Matarazzo has slammed the franchise’s producers over their pay dispute with Neve Campbell.
Back in June, The Craft star shocked fans when she announced her exit from the popular horror franchise.
“As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream,” she said, as reported by Deadline.
“I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.”
In a recent interview with Behind the Velvet Rope Podcast, Matarazzo showcased her support for the and her decision to walk away from the film.
“I think that if you are the head of a franchise and you are, in part, what cemented said franchise and you have a film that’s making hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, that the lead actor that played Sidney Prescott, which is the protagonist of all protagonist, should be paid what she’s worth,” the Princess Diaries star said.
Matarazzo, who played Randy Meeks’ (Jamie Kennedy) sister in Scream 3 and Scream 5, also called out the double standards that Campbell has faced since her departure from the highly anticipated film.
@heathermatarazz #duet with @screambot96 #heathermatarazzo only love for #nevecampbell #otp #screamqueens #screamfranchise #wescraven ♬ What If – Creed
“Notice that it’s always women that get criticized for this, it’s not men. We’re under this guise that whatever the man gets, he deserved it, but the second a woman is asking for equity that is similar or equal to she’s a f***ing problem,” she explained. “It’s a double standard and it’s one that I don’t subscribe to.”
Matarazzo’s comments come a month after Campbell told People that her Scream 6 offer would have been different had she been a man.
“I honestly don’t believe that if I were a man and had done five instalments of a huge blockbuster franchise over 25 years, that the number that I was offered would be the number that would be offered to a man,” she explained.
“And in my soul, I just couldn’t do that. I couldn’t walk on set feeling that — feeling undervalued and feeling the unfairness, or lack of fairness, around that.
“I love these movies. I love Sidney. I love this franchise [and] I’m so grateful for it. But at the same time, I really just couldn’t bear the idea of walking onto [the sixth film] and feeling undervalued.”
Scream 6 is set to be the first film in the franchise’s 26-year history to not star Campbell, who has carried the slasher movies since 1996.