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‘SCARY MOVIE 4’ OOZES WITH GRATUITOUS SPOOF: Veteran Regina Hall and newcomers Anderson and Shaq talk about the experience.
*The fourth film in the “Scary Movie” franchise arrives in theaters today with returning regulars Regina Hall and Anna Faris, and surprising expectations of a profitable opening weekend at the box office.
Continuing its tradition of skewering the year’s most memorable horror films, a number of “Scary Movie” newbies get in on the fun and games this fourth time around, including Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Hart and Anthony Anderson.
“This is a very successful, very profitable, very funny franchise,” Anderson said of his decision to take part. “You know what you’re gonna get from one through four. The only difference is the movies they’re spoofing in this.”
Films caught in “Scary Movie 4’s” clutches are “Brokeback Mountain,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Grudge” and M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village.”
The franchise, birthed from the Wayans family, began poking fun at the thriller genre in 2000. Keenen Ivory Wayans served as director, while Shawn and Marlon Wayans wrote the script and took roles in the film. The trio reprised their respective jobs the following year in “Scary Movie 2,” but Keenen opted not to return for the third go-round in 2003.
Writer-director David Zucker, the executive producer behind spoof film OGs “Airplane!” “Police Squad!” and “Top Secret!,” stepped in to direct Shawn and Marlon’s script for “Scary Movie 3,” and he returns to the director’s chair for “Scary Movie 4," helming a script from Craig Mazin, Pat Proft and Jim Abrahams.
“David’s a great director” says Anderson, a newcomer to the franchise who plays a character named Mahalik in the film. “He basically created this whole spoof genre that we’re in right now. You have to give him credit for that.”
Anderson, who wants to keep the nature of his scenes with Kevin Hart on the down low (hint, hint), does say that fans “can expect the same hilarity, the same over-the-topness, the same pushing of the envelope” in this fourth film. “All I can say is that what I’m involved in with Kevin Hart is very top secret. Hilarious.”
TV’s Dr. Phil McGraw and Shaq Diesel open the film recreating a scene from the 2004 horror film “Saw.” Both are chained to walls in a room so disgusting that it makes the original room look like you could eat off the floor.
“Poison gas fills the room,” explains Dr. Phil. “And you’ve got like a couple of minutes that you’ve gotta get out or die. He and I are chained to opposite sides of the room, so we’re trying to figure out how to get outta there alive.”
During the scene, O’Neal gets to poke fun at his free-throw woes, while Dr. Phil plays against his nurturing image.
“They made me do a crying scene,” says Shaq. “I was at the house practicing, and they said I nailed it, so hopefully it’s believable.”
Dr. Phil says don’t look for him to be as funny as the other actors in the film, “but maybe there will be some humor in me spoofing myself,” he says.
Actor Craig Bierko (“Cinderella Man”) also new to the franchise, spoofs Tom Cruise’s creepy couch-jumping appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” and “Scary Movie” veteran Carmen Elektra gets her clown on in a scene spoofing “The Village.”
“I’m playing the blind girl,” explains Carmen. “I think she had a different name in the movie, but in ‘Scary Movie 4,’ her name is Holly.”
“When you get the call from Dimension saying they want you for the part, the funny thing is just wondering what the hell am I going to be doing in this one,” Carmen adds. “I remember in the first one, I was stabbed in the chest and a breast implant came out on the knife. So, you just know that it’s gonna be really fun and the humor is gonna be very out there.”
Meanwhile, Regina Hall’s character Brenda limps into the fourth film having travelled a torturous road – literally – in the previous three outings.
“Brenda’s been through a lot, if you look at all of the movies,” says the Washington D.C. native. “So she’s lucky to be here. She takes life by the balls because she doesn’t know when she’s coming back.”
Brenda and the film’s bumbling star Cindy, played by Faris, are the common threads linking the film’s numerous spoof scenes. Plot, in this case, is insignificant, as fans of the franchise are fare more concerned with the potency of the satire.
The returning actors, meanwhile, are just content to reunite with each other each year, especially Regina Hall.
“I think I got the call that they were doing ‘Scary Movie 4” after opening weekend of ‘Scary Movie 3,’ she laughs. “It was exciting, because it’s the same gang. I have fun working with Anna. I probably have more fun working with her than anyone. It’s so effortless and, I think this is a word – synergetic. If it’s not, I just made it up.”
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