Neve Campbell became one of the ‘90s most famous horror movie final girls after playing Sidney Prescott in Scream. Though her ability to survive the knife-wielding, mask-wearing Ghostface Killer(s) was fictional, it turns out that Campbell may have been channelling her actual ability to defy a murderous beast. During her promo run for the new Scream movie, she explains she came to the role having once lived through a bear attack.
During an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Campbell talked about filming a movie in Canada when she was 17 where her character, who she describes as being “one with the animals” except for those of the ursine variety, had to be chased by a bear.
She was instructed to give the bear a full bottle of Coca Cola to show that she was a nice human and then told to dip her hand in honey “and just run” to get the scene shot. The idea was that the bear would follow her and she would turn around before extending her hand and letting the animal, which we all know cannot resist delicious honey, lick it off.
The bear ended up doing the first part of its job—chasing Campbell—just fine but then decided to method act the role of dangerous predator a little longer by grabbing onto her leg and dragging her through the forest. The crew around her froze in disbelief. Her mom, who was on set that day screamed. And Campbell yelled “he’s biting me!” over and over.
Eventually, she says, the bear handler employed a sophisticated animal handling technique (throwing rocks) to get it to stop and Campbell was released. Because she was 17 and wanted to be a pro, Campbell offered to do the chase scene again soon afterwards to get it right.
This is impressive. Campbell can survive deranged slasher movie villains and bears. As long as she never encounters a furry beast wearing a scary white mask, why, we bet she could escape from just about any form of danger.
[via Variety]
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