Kristen Stewart Reveals Why She Turned Down Opening Death Scene in Scream 4 : 'I Can't Do a Drew'
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; Everett Kristen Stewart (L); Drew Barrymore in Scream (1996)
"Scream queen" wasn't quite the path Kristen Stewart saw her career taking.
In an interview with Slant magazine published Monday, the Academy Award-nominated Spencer actress recalled turning down an appearance in 2011's Scream 4 — specifically, the opening death scene, which went on to feature Kristen Bell, Anna Paquin, Britt Robertson and Aimee Teegarden.
Stewart, 31, said she was contacted about portraying "the Drew [Barrymore] character that gets killed in the beginning," although they eventually "created a whole sequence where a lot of people got killed to emulate the Drew thing."
"But it was just going to be one person, and I was like, 'I can't do a Drew. I can't touch that,' " Stewart continued. "Do you know what I mean? But, yeah, so then they ended up doing, if I'm remembering correctly, a larger sequence and not just one victim."
In the beginning of Scream 4, Bell, 41, and Paquin, 39, play onscreen victims in the movie-within-a-movie, Stab 7, while high-schoolers Jenny (Teegarden, 32) and Marnie (Robertson, 31) are murdered after watching the flick at home.
Barrymore, 47, kicked off the now-five-film Scream franchise back in 1996, portraying doomed high-school student Casey Becker in the original movie's iconic opening scene.
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David M Moir/Miramax/Kobal/Shutterstock Drew Barrymore in Scream (1996)
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Of whether she'd ever sign on to do a Scream movie in the future, Stewart told Slate that she "would read the script" and added of the franchise's protagonist, "I love Neve Campbell so much."
"She was very nice to me, and it was very satisfying that she's a very nice person," she added.
Stewart went on to say she "love(s)" the original movie, and even "watched it recently, as an adult."
"It's so gnarly. I love the movie because it loves movies," she raved. "The coolest part of Scream is what it says about film. It's so self-aware. It folds in on itself like six times. I love how much [Wes Craven] loves movies and how embedded that is."
"It's a total film-nerd type of movie," Stewart continued. "It's not just a slasher flick. It's a beautiful movie. It's so hard to watch. I'm like, 'I don't have the stomach for that s--- anymore.' I was like, 'Oh, man, this is very, very, very intense.' "
RELATED VIDEO: Drew Barrymore Reunites with Scream Costars Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Neve Campbell on Her Show
While it has been more than 25 years since Scream hit theaters, Barrymore reunited with costars Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette on her daytime talk show in January to celebrate the release of the fifth film.
"This movie gave me everything; it was a springboard, I think, for all of us," Campbell, 48, said during the show. "Its success really helped pave the way for all of us in our careers, and my life would be very, very different without Scream."
As for Cox, 57, the Friends alum hilariously pointed out that Scream had a much more tangible effect on her life.
"Well besides the obvious I will not go to the bathroom in a movie theater or just about any sports arena," she said. "I always look underneath and prefer just not to go. I will not go into a parking lot by myself and if I do my heart is racing and I am constantly looking."
