Get Ready for the Jasmin Savoy Brown Takeover

When we meet virtually on a gloomy December afternoon, she’s cuddled up on her couch in a gray sweatshirt emblazoned with Bernie Sanders’s now-infamous Inauguration Day photo. The cozy piece lends

itself to being a perfect conversation starter, but we soon segue into the important topic at hand: her project Scream, which hits theaters January 14. The fifth installment of the bloody franchise takes place 25 years after the original murders. Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette are back as their beloved characters, but at the center of Ghostface’s wrath is a new cast of of-the-moment 20-somethings, including Brown, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, and Mason Gooding. Much like the films that came before it, it’s sure to be an instant cult classic. In fact, Brown knows so. “This is a group of people who very much respect the legacy of the films and the legacy of Wes [Craven] and respect and honor him and the fans,” she tells us. “Everyone will be very happy. I can guarantee that.”  

Brown was only 2 years old when the first Scream movie hit theaters in 1996. In fact, it wasn’t until after she booked the job that she finally watched the films for the first time. “I thought I was auditioning for Scary Movie, which I had also never seen,” she says. “I didn’t know what was going on. I was just happy to have an audition and then happy to have a job. And then I got there, and we started having all of these meetings, and I started watching the films and doing research and was like, ‘Oh, I just joined a really huge thing. Cool, cool, cool.’ I’m glad I didn’t know that ahead of time, or I might not have been so chill.” 

There is a certain pressure that comes with bringing back such an iconic film franchise so many years later, but the response to the new movie has been overwhelmingly positive so far, especially for Brown’s character Mindy Meeks-Martin. Fans quickly noticed the “little gay pin” she wears in the film’s promo shots. It’s a subtle nod to Mindy’s queer identity, which Brown is excited about showcasing on-screen. With so much secrecy surrounding the project, she can’t tell us much more, other than that Mindy has an older brother (played by Gooding) and is “smart and funny.”