Shout franchise star Liev Schreiber ended his run in the series with Cry 3, playing a key role in the original trilogy. He was briefly in the first film as Cotton Weary, a man wrongfully accused and serving a prison sentence for the murder of Maureen Prescott, the mother of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell). Cotton played a much larger role in the plot of Cry 2, which even saw him reunite with Sidney to take down the new Ghostface. Unfortunately, his luck ran out at the start of Cry 3as the film opens with the murders of Cotton and his girlfriend Christine (Kelly Rutherford).
In a new interview with GQ, Schreiber opened up about his time as Cotton Weary in the original. Shout trilogy. He recalled how “super cool” the experience was at the time, as he was still breaking into the film world when he was cast in the first film. Schreiber noted how he got “lucky” in the job, as he only shot a brief scene for the original film. The actor then goes on to give credit to screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who he says has been very collaborative with his approach to the films and their characters.
When Williamson was composing the script for Cry 3, Schreiber began to feel like there wasn’t much more to Cotton Weary’s character. As established in the second film, which saw Cotton trying to achieve fame with his story, the character was an attention seeker, which Schreiber says he told Williamson. Schreiber then admits he didn’t see the “value” in a franchise role at the time, and it also led him to ask to be killed off in Cry 3. Williamson agreed, but looking back on that situation more than two decades later, Schreiber now thinks he made a mistake. As the actor explains:
“All I remember was thinking, ‘You know, this guy is a bit of a ham. Cotton. He likes the attention. I think that was the piece that Kevin was interested in and kind of ran. I think I said something like, “Everyone has their 15 minutes. Cotton wants an hour.” At this point in my career, I didn’t really understand the value of being in a franchise. To be honest, I was like, “Let me get out of this while I can. Get out while it’s okay.” And I just thought it would be fun to be one of the iconic top killers. I was working and doing a lot of things, a lot of other things in New York, and acting, and I was like, ‘How many times can I play this character?’ And now I realize that you can play this character as many times as they want.”
Liev Schreiber Now Wants Cotton Stuck Around
Although Schreiber regrets asking to be killed, he acknowledges that at least his death was featured for the traditional opening scene which shocks viewers. That said, the actor also admits that part of the reason he regrets the call is that he’s seen how other legacy stars from the original movies have returned for recent films, over the past year. Shout and this year Cry VIand he would have liked to be involved.
“I kind of suggested they knock me off. Part of the device of the movies was that somebody in the first five minutes got killed, and we really don’t expect them to be killed. Which, now I’m kinda kicking myself, ’cause I wish I was in it (the new Shout movie theater).”
We never know. If Drew Barrymore teases that his original movie character may have survived, then who’s to say Cotton Weary couldn’t return in a future film?