Courteney Cox Is Also Haunted by Those SCREAM 3 Bangs

Scream 3 is a wild ride. And not just because it attempts to retcon the original film. The chaos is reasonably summed up in two words: Gale’s bangs. Almost as terrifying as the many Ghostface killers, Gale’s haphazard baby bangs live on in infamy. Certainly for Courteney Cox. To promote the latest installment of the franchise, confusingly also simply titled Scream, the core trio—Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Cox—virtually stopped by The Drew Barrymore Show.

They reminisce with their former co-star about the franchise’s storied legacy and how the new film, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, does right by Wes Craven’s vision for the series. And, of course, they talked about the Scream 3‘s bangs.

Scream‘s resident nosy journalist Gale Weathers has famously wild taste when it comes to her hair. A purposeful choice, it turns out. Courteney Cox told Barrymore that for each installment, she opted for a new look, one that felt “just over the top gross or ugly or too much.” With the bangs, of course, ranking as her worst look.

“That was a big lesson in life because that will forever be on film. And we only had one set. One set of bangs. I remember they were cut on the set,” Cox explained, describing that the person responsible for the bangs put the piece a little too far back on her head and subsequently cut it a little too short. And with the one set of bangs wasted, Gale–and Cox—got stuck with the look. But, we guess if they wanted “too much” look, they got it.

Courtney Cox as Gale Weathers wearing tiny bangs in Scream 3
Dimension Films

To make matters worse, since the look came together on set, the entire cast was hanging around. And per Campbell, they did a terrible job convincing Cox they liked Gale’s Scream 3‘s bangs. Even looking at an image of Gale’s shoddy cut had Arquette and Campbell reduced to giggles as Cox tried to explain what happened. Which, to be quite honest, feels fair. Sorry Courteney, but those bangs are tragic. If only Barrymore survived the Scream franchise long enough to bestow some baby bang advice. She did, after all, rock them throughout the ’90s. 

That is the origin of Gale’s tiny bangs. A sordid tale. But is it her evil origin story? We’ll have to see when Scream (2022) drops on January 14.