In the world of Scream, everyone’s a suspect—and every actor auditioning for Scream 4 had to prove they could keep a dark secret. The test? Reinterpreting the iconic scene where Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) reveals his murderous intentions to Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) in the first film.

Nico Tortorella, who plays Trevor Sheldon, recalls the intense audition process, which sparked rumors and misunderstandings among fans. Some even speculated that his audition hinted at spoilers for the film. Tortorella set the record straight during an interview with Zap2it, clarifying that the process was about capturing the essence of deception rather than mimicking Billy Loomis.

“I actually hadn’t seen any of the first three movies until after a few of my auditions,” Tortorella confessed. “The first audition was the Billy Loomis scene at the end of the first movie when he goes nuts and starts killing everybody. So I had no idea what was going on. I went in with my own interpretation of what was actually happening, which apparently worked in one way or another.”

The audition aimed to test the actors’ ability to bring something unique to the table while maintaining the film’s suspenseful tone. Tortorella elaborated:

“I don’t know if I necessarily had to play Billy Loomis, but they wanted to see all the guys [auditioning] interpret that scene and take it on to see how far they could really go.”

When asked about his approach to Trevor, Tortorella acknowledged the parallels to Skeet Ulrich’s iconic performance but emphasized his efforts to differentiate the character:

“I knew what he had established and I knew what I was walking into. But Trevor’s a totally different person, and 10 years later I think everybody is a different person. I just kind of had to make it on my own. Script-wise there’s definitely the parallels, but I had to keep it fresh in one way or another.”

Tortorella’s take on Trevor leaves fans intrigued, as the character’s true intentions remain a mystery. With Scream 4’s release just around the corner, audiences will soon discover whether Trevor is a hero, a villain, or something in between.