Scream actor Matthew Lillard offers a candid response regarding what the role of Stu Macher actually means to him. Released in 1996, Wes Craven’s iconic slasher film would kickstart a franchise that now consists of six installments, the most recent of which was released earlier this year. While there have been many memorable Ghostface killers over the years, Lillard’s Stu, who served as the surprise villain of the first film alongside Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), remains a clear favorite.
Now, 27 years later, Lillard opens about Stu’s legacy in the Scream franchise in a recent interview with Collider. The actor shares some surprising thoughts about what the character actually means to him after all this time, revealing that it’s the audience response to the character that he actually cares about. Check out Lillard’s full comment below:
“I don’t really care about Stu Macher. It’s a part I played. It’s like if you’re a plumber, do you care about the house you did down the street and around the corner? No, it’s your job. And I love that job, it’s been nice to have that in my resume, but the reality is that it’s a part I did 20-plus years ago.
“So, what is important to me is that what it means to other people is deeply relevant when you see them all the time, and powerful. It’s not something I understood before that.”
Stu’s Scream Legacy Explained
While it’s always hard for a franchise to top its first installment, Stu and Billy have really taken on a life of their own as Sidney Prescott’s (Neve Campbell) story has continued. The reveal that it was actually two Ghostface killers and not just one came as quite a surprise in the first movie, and the unhinged dynamic between the two collaborators was both hilarious and terrifying. Billy very definitively met his end in the first movie, but Stu’s death was somewhat more ambiguous, leading to some persistent theories in subsequent films.
One of the most major theories that remained prominent even in Scream 6 was that Stu remains alive in the world of the films and that he may not be done killing just yet. The franchise is no stranger, after all, to characters suffering seemingly fatal wounds and then miraculously surviving. The two most recent installments have even addressed and played into theories that Stu is alive, with 2022’s Scream filled with references to the character and Scream 6 featuring dialogue teases that suggests there’s some question in-universe regarding whether he really died.
The Scream 6 ending, however, does feature one moment that could be seen as a nail in the coffin for those persistent “Stu lives” theories. After a climactic showdown, Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) pushes the exact TV that killed Stu onto Ethan’s (Jack Champion) head, and it very clearly kills him. It seems, however, that despite this, theories surrounding Stu will live on, and the character will continue to hold a prominent position in Scream lore.
Scream
Wes Craven flips the horror-slasher genre on its head with the 1996 release of Scream, the first in the long-running franchise. The residents of Woodsboro discover a series of murders are being committed by a dangerous ghost mask-wearing killer with an obsession for classic horror movies. To survive, a group of high school students, a reporter, and a town deputy will have to subvert horror expectations and stay one step ahead of the killer.
- Release Date
- December 20, 1996
- Director
- Wes Craven
- Cast
- Jamie Kennedy , Skeet Ulrich , Drew Barrymore , Rose McGowan , Neve Campbell , David Arquette , Roger Jackson , Courteney Cox , matthew lillard
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 111 minutes
- Genres
- Horror , Mystery
- Writers
- Kevin Williamson
- Website
- https://www.miramax.com/movie/scream/
- Franchise
- Scream
- Sequel
- Scream 2, Scream 4, Scream 3
- Cinematographer
- Mark Irwin
- Producer
- Cary Woods, Cathy Konrad
- Production Company
- Woods Entertainment, Dimension Films
- Budget
- $14 million
