Rory Culkin Recalls Starving and Hurting Himself to Play Ghostface, Stalked ‘Scream’ Cast

Rory Culkin pushed himself mentally and physically while playing Ghostface before taking the method acting one step further by stalking his fellow Scream costars.

Culkin, 36, reflected on his experience playing Charlie in the fourth Scream film for Ashley Cullins‘ tell-all book Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror, saying, “I was kind of torturing myself a little bit, thinking that’s what you need to do to get a good performance.”

The actor noted that he has “since grown away” from such an approach.

“I was kind of starving myself and listening to f***ed-up music. In my trailer, when they would call me to set or give me a five-minute warning, I would start slapping myself,” Culkin shared in the book, which was released on Tuesday, August 19. “I wanted to feel something weird. I remember just wanting to feel like beaten, a little bit.”

While Culkin called that the “peak” of his “self-torture,” he also recalled missing out on a group gathering.

“I remember kinda disappearing into the woods by myself and using it as an opportunity to stalk them, look at them through the woods,” he added. “They couldn’t see me because I was far enough away and I put myself in the shoes of the killer, which is creepy to say.”

Scream, which was released in 1996, focused on Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) as she faced off against numerous killers hiding their identity behind the infamous Ghostface persona. In the film, she received help from fellow OG Scream characters Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette), which led to the creation of three sequels in 1997, 2000 and 2011.

The franchise was revived nearly a decade after Scream 4 was released, allowing Scream to introduce fans to new protagonists Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega). With changes came surprising exits, such as Campbell’s decision to part ways with the franchise after filming the fifth installment due to failed salary negotiations. (She returned for the seventh movie after Ortega, 22, left due to scheduling and Barrera, 35, was fired after being vocal about her support for Palestine.)

After joining Scream 4 in 2011, Culkin spoke about his experience with the horror franchise.

“I saw all the Screams, the first one especially, and with Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich, you could just tell that [director Wes Craven] unleashed them,” Rory, who is the brother of fellow actors Macaulay Culkin and Kieran Culkin, told Fangoria in 2016. “Like, Lillard had it in him, and Wes was like, ‘Do what you want.’ And then it was ‘My mom is gonna kill me, man!’ So, so good!”

Rory put in the work after being cast as Charlie.

“I watched all three after I found out I was going to be the killer, and there were certain things I wanted to take from certain people, and others I wanted to avoid. I wanted to find my own reasoning for killing people, and also, I feel like often, when someone’s revealed as the villain, their reasoning is, ‘Because I’m crazy!’ and they act all insane,” he noted at the time. “I wanted to be human and explore, why am I crazy? Why am I killing people? You don’t see it in the film, but in my mind, I was struggling. Every time I would kill someone, I would cry and feel bad about it. I felt I hadn’t seen that in a Scream movie, a remorseful killer — that’s what I was going for.”

According to Rory, he didn’t get a chance to film any Ghostface scenes with him wearing the mask.

“Not on camera, but I requested one for rehearsing, and when I wasn’t shooting, I would walk on the side of the highway in the mask. That was fun,” he shared. “I’d be on the side of the road, and some guy would pull over and say, ‘Do you need help?’ and I’d be like, ‘No, no, I’m fine!’”

Rory concluded: “I pulled one gag after we wrapped up for a day: I was all bloody and went into a gas station. I charged in there, put my hands on the counter and said, ‘What year is it?’ covered in blood.”

Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror is out now.