David Arquette Chats Scream For the Next Generation, His Passion for Bozo The Clown & His Own Unflappable LGBTQ Advocacy

Whether it’s stepping into the shoes of Dewey Riley in Scream or into an even larger pair for an upcoming Bozo the Clown biopic, David Arquette delivers heart with every role he takes. Fans will get to see that first hand as Arquette makes his first visit to Ocean Casino Resort for “Behind The Scream: A Live Conversation with David Arquette” this Friday, October 10th. I sat down to chat with David Arquette about his passion for everything from the squared circle to Bozo the Clown and he exclusively told me about the LGBTQ trailblazer he is about to portray.

Michael Cook: You are coming to Ocean Casino Resort on Friday, October 10 for “Behind The Scream: A Live Conversation with David Arquette”. Is it surreal after all this time for Scream to still have such a rabid & devoted fan base?

David Arquette: It’s very special. I mean I feel very lucky that we did something that resonates thirty years later.

MC: Does it feel different portraying Dewey Riley for an entirely different generation?

DA: I don't know, it’s special when you meet someone and they say “Our first date was Scream and this is our daughter, now she loves the movies too. It's kind of really cool and it happens more than you think.

They definitely feel different without Wes (Anderson). I think it's evolving and I think it's interesting to see where it goes next. I love that Kevin Williamson is directing his first of the series since he created this world.

MC: It must be absolutely surreal that a simple choice to take the role in the original Scream has become such a large part of your legacy. Being part of a horror movie legacy is not something you probably considered when you decided to be an actor.

DA: No, I never really considered it. Growing up, there's such an exciting time when you first get to see a horror movie. Seeing Halloween and just all of the excitement that comes with that. The fear, the thrills, the jump scares and all the things. My son is now eleven and he's just starting to watch horror movies and there’s just this really fun element; I remember watching them with my friends. When I first read the script, I was like "Wow, this is such an interesting take on it. you know, it takes the audience into consideration and the love of horror films and it kind of talking about pop culture and all these elements”. I just thought that was really such an interesting thing to play a cop that got no respect. There was just a funny thing and then to see the further trajectory of the character and then he had this sort of dark ending, it was also really interesting as well. It was sad for me, I'm still a little upset at them, I've got to say. It was an interesting arc for a character. You don't often get an opportunity to play characters throughout so much time, so it is pretty crazy.

MC: Another wonderful aspect of the Scream franchise is that so many alumni like Drew Barrymore and Parker Posey have gone on to do truly amazing work post-Scream.

DA: Yeah for sure. Also people within the cast who have been in different sequels. One thing that Wes was always great at was casting. He had a real great eye for people so I am not surprised that some of the people go on and their careers totally blow up.

MC: Some of your own interests are wonderfully unique and truly touch on some pop culture touchstones, like professional wrestling. When did you develop a passion for the squared circle?

DA: Wrestling was something I loved a kid. When I started doing Ready To Rumble, I started to get into it again. It reminded me of all these moments growing up when I would follow it and how much I loved wrestling as a kid. A lot of wrestling has to do with your friend's fan base, who you watch wrestling with and talk about it with. I had some friends that I would do that with. Then once you get involved, you learn that a lot of people involved in the wrestling world are also really just fans of it. That's why they've become a part of it in the first place.

I’m involved with Bozo the Clown now, and wrestling goes with the clown world and the circus world, it's all people that love these kind of worlds. So when you get involved in them, you're surrounded by people that like the same things that you do. It makes it really fun and you get to be able to talk to people about it and reference things that a lot of people might not know if they're not into it.

MC: I used to watch classic WWF matches with my dad and memories like that are so much of the connection I think also.

DA: Totally! It’s amazing. you do the indie circuit, you're exposed to a wide variety of fans. A lot of the time, especially at the indie circuit, you see a lot of older women, like grandmothers. That’s really interesting dynamic, to see grandparents get fired up about a wrestling match. probably one of my favorite things.

MC: It is so wonderful to see so many of the classic wrestlers on the fan festival circuit occasionally also.

DA: I get pretty amazed. I ran into Honky Tonk Man recently and we had a match at a casino one time. It was so much fun it was one of my favorite matches. You know, “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart, Gregg Valentine, it was a really wild match that we had.

MC: The weekend you’re visiting the Ocean Casino Resort is also the weekend of the annual National Coming Out Day. It was a tremendous example when you are your family showed so much public support for your sister Alexis Arquette when she came out as trans, especially since it was a very different time then. Was it ever difficult to be so overtly supportive?

DA: Yes and no. Yes, it’s your family, you're going to support, but it comes with learning how to like make the mistakes of misgendering someone. You apologize for it and figure it out, so that was a learning process. It all was new to us and new to the world to sort of understand and how to engage it. It did come very naturally to support Alexis though.

One of the saddest things is the world to me, is I did a movie called John's years ago and I had three months to research it. I lived right off Santa Monica Boulevard, and I'd always walked down to the Formosa Cafe. I would pack my pockets with $5 bills, and I would see a street hustler, and I'd give them five bucks, and I'd say, "Can I ask you a few questions? I'm going to play street hustler in a movie coming out” and I had this list of questions like “How did you get out here?, How long have you been out here?, What's in your pockets, if you don't mind me asking? Do you do drugs? Are you gay? What do you how did your parents react? What's your sort of schedule"? It was really informative for me, because I literally put in my pocket I saw them have in their pockets. I ran into a character who was essentially the character that I was playing. But most of them were rejected from their families; that’s the bottom line, and it was so fucking sad; it’s just so heartbreaking that parents can do that and that really stuck with me.

I’m actually going to be playing Canada's first gay judge, a guy named Harvey Brownstone. I haven't told anybody. It's not even actually announced, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind. I get to play Harvey Brownstone and my tag team partner, R.J City was so funny when I told him, he said, He said, well? He said, "Well, I know you can play a gay, but a judge?! (laughs)! I'm really excited about that because he had a similar experience where his parents who had really traumatic sort of response; his mom, especially.

My own mom, as open minded and progressive as she was, had a hard time with it. It was something we knew, we all knew Alexis was gay, but my mom had a hard time, and she explained later, that she knew how hard a road and how tough a journey it would be for Alexis and it made her scared for her.

MC: All of you can now look back and see the legacy that Alexis left, she is someone that because she kicked the doors down that many people didn’t realize needed to be opened at that time.

DA: Yes! It’s scary what’s going on in this world. It’s super creepy. It's It's it's gross. It's so gross.

MC: You mentioned you are involved in the Bozo the Clown film; when are we going to get that on the big screen?

DA: Well I’ll be playing him. We’ve got an incredible script and an incredible director, we’re just sort of trying to secure the financing it. We have half of it and it's just trying to get the second half, that’s been challenging. I hope it to be soon, but by this time next year we'll definitely have a documentary out. We’re doing the finishing pieces on that and we have a record that we just finished that should be released soon. We have a four song EP that is available already. that’s available already. The Bozo the Clown in Brazil is also back! He’s quite active there, they are huge fans of Bozo there. There are going to be toys at Burger King and it’s a whole deal!

Tickets for “Behind The Scream: A Live Conversation with David Arquette” on Friday October 10 at Ovation Hall are available here.

Follow David Arquette on Instagram.