[Interview] Max Laferriere Talks Playing Ghostface in ‘Scream VI’

Max Laferriere is the newest Ghostface, taking on the iconic role behind the mask in this year’s massive box office hit Scream VI, and so of course we were excited to talk to him about stepping into a legacy bigger than he could have imagined, squaring off against Courteney Cox, and much more in a recent video conversation.

(Spoilers ahead.) While a record number of characters wear the mask in the film, in reality it was Laferriere performing the physical embodiment of Ghostface for every scene in which this film’s family of killers (not the wannabe from the opening) are attacking, slashing, and stabbing, and he was given a certain amount of freedom to bring his own style to the role, while always striving to honor its history. He tells HDN, “Just the way I had to move, the intensity of the movements, or the way I was swiping the knife or stabbing people. I felt like I was given freedom to move pretty much how I would move.” 

After working with Scream VI‘s stunt coordinator Alexandre Cadieux on coordinating Ghostface’s encounter with Gale Weathers, Max then learned that he would be the one behind the mask. “Alex called me, and he just asked me if I wanted to be the killer, the guy,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, I’m down. Let’s do it.’ But again, for me, I didn’t really realize what it was. For me it was a job. So I was like, ‘Yeah, absolutely, no problem’ 

“So I show up on set, and there was no costume in my trailer. The costume was inside the studio on set. So I go to set, and that’s when they decided to put the mask and the robe on me, because nobody could see that we were shooting Scream if people were watching with like long cameras or something. It was very secretive. 

“When I put the costume on, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is really cool. Actually this is really cool. And that’s when I sort of realized that Ghostface was a big deal. I remember when I was putting it on and I looked at myself in the mirror, and I felt honored by it. I felt like, ‘Holy crap, this is bigger than I thought.’ This is a big thing. This is a big character, because he’s kind of an entity… Once you have the mask and the robe on, he’s not that person. He is Ghostface. So I remember I was honored by it, and I just wanted to give it justice.”

One of his most challenging scenes to film playing Ghostface was the memorable fight with Gale Weathers, played by Courteney Cox, who he says did essentially her own stunt work. “The Gale fight was challenging,” he recalled. “It lasted for I think four or five nights. It was night shoots, so that’s hard to start. It’s a pretty big fight scene. Like the fight itself is going to be a good two minutes I think. So just breathing under the mask was really hard… I think that was the most challenging because there was so much movement and so much intensity in all the moves. 

“She (Cox) did most of her own thing. Most of the fight was her. She had a stunt double… But most of the fight, Courteney did it herself. Kudos to Courteney, because she moves well and she did most of the fight. So I worked with her for pretty much the whole thing.”

Of course we also talked about celebrating Halloween and what the holiday means to Max, plus additional details on shooting the film’s other kill scenes, his thoughts on possibly returning to play Ghostface in Scream VII, and more in our candid discussion over Zoom last week.

You can watch our full exclusive video interview with Max Laferriere below.

Watch our interview with original Ghostface Lee Waddell here.

Watch more exclusive interviews here!

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