As she was in the midst of making the first Scary Movie more than 25 years ago, Anna Faris learned an important lesson that would guide the rest of her career in comedy — people laugh the hardest when everyone's a target.
The sixth instalment in the horror spoof series first masterminded by the Wayans brothers (which is now playing in theatres) makes that crystal clear when a character being stabbed to death demands that onlookers refer to them by their correct pronouns. Elsewhere, the new send-up updates its crude humour to make jokes that touch on COVID-19, DEI initiatives, ICE arrests, the Epstein files, #MeToo and Drake's beef with Kendrick Lamar.
Faris, 49, says the gags are spread around equally and in keeping with the original's mantra which was to offend everybody equally.
"Because Scary Movie was my first movie, I learned very quickly to never be offended and to have a thick skin," Faris says in a video call from New York City. "You're going to do this because they're paying you and it's your job," she recalls thinking about how she approached the first movie. "So you're going to get sprayed to the ceiling with your boyfriend's pent up sperm and you're going to have bats fly out of your crotch. That was my introduction."
Faris, whose Cindy Campbell character hasn't appeared since 2006's Scary Movie 3, is back as a slightly unhinged prepper as she and her BFF Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall) face off against a bumbling new Ghostface killer.
'The whole franchise has felt scrappy and undervalued'
Faris had modest ambitions when she was starting out as an actress. She remembers how she taped her audition for the first film and crossed her fingers in 1999.
"I had decided to give Los Angeles a year," Faris recollects. "I'd never done comedy so Scary Movie was boot camp for me. I got to learn from all these brilliant actors. Then the movie became a cultural lightning bolt and suddenly I was a part of that."
Created by brothers Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, and Keenen Ivory Wayans, the irreverent parody launched Faris' career as it ruthlessly mocked the immensely popular Scream movies with its gross-out wisecracks and raunchy humour. After the first entry in 2000, the series proved to be immensely popular spawning four sequels and turning Faris into a household name.
Faris says that returning to the franchise after 20 years is "a dream come true."
"The whole franchise has felt scrappy and undervalued," Faris says. As she built her career by appearing in a steady stream of comedies, including the CBS sitcom Mom, which ran for eight seasons, Faris laments how Hollywood has snobbishly turned up its nose at slapstick comedies.
"I resigned myself that in Hollywood the spoof movie genre is a subclass," she says. But after grossing nearly $900 million worldwide, the Scary Movie films have had a type of staying power that is rare in the entertainment business and hard for studio execs to ignore.
Franchise return feels 'like such a triumph'
Faris says that even though Cindy hadn't appeared in the series in 20 years, she would be stopped everyday by fans of the cinematic universe.
"I've spent 26 years with people coming up to me telling me where they were when they saw the first Scary Movie. They remember that moment, laughing so hard, and the specific theatre. They come up to me and say the lines, 'Yo, that jacket is so tight, Cindy. Ya know what I mean?' I've had this love," she says.
Hollywood didn't always feel the love. The Wayans were dropped from Scary Movie 3 and 4 by the Weinstein Company, and a fifth chapter didn't feature any of the original actors. But when the siblings got the rights back in 2025, they immediately rang up Faris in hopes she'd agree to join a reboot.
Since Cindy last appeared in 2006's Scary Movie 4, Faris didn't think she'd get an invite if Scary Movie were ever to make a comeback. "I had resigned myself to that fate," she says. So getting a call from Marlon to return "felt like such a triumph," she says. Faris is back where she started and ready to make a new generation of moviegoers laugh again.
In addition to humorously imitating Scream, the latest Scary Movie lampoons Halloween, Get Out, Sinners, The Substance, Smile and M3GAN, among others.
"There's so much value in that collective laughter and being in the theatre and experiencing what the Wayans brothers bring to the table," Faris says. "I'm grateful that I'm a part of it."
Scary Movie is now playing in theatres.
