Kara Warner from MTV recently interviewed the legendary Wes Craven by phone, describing him as “a warm, lovely man.” Despite her best efforts to squeeze out juicy details about Scream 4, the horror maestro remained tight-lipped—though he did confirm one exciting detail: the script is fully from none other than Kevin Williamson, the writer behind the original Scream trilogy.

“I think all of us wanted to do something written by Kevin [Williamson] and to work together again,” Craven shared. “We all had such wonderful times on the first three. It has been a return to a great deal of fun—just the pleasure of working together again. We know each other inside and out. There’s a lot of shorthand and a lot of fun memories from our past escapades.”

On the Original Cast

Craven also revealed that Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette were already attached to the project before he signed on:

“Well, I could take credit for it, but it wouldn’t be accurate.”

On the Young Cast

About the new generation of Woodsboro victims (and suspects), Craven had nothing but praise:

“The young cast is amazing. They’re extremely bright and a very varied cast. … They’re just great to work with. It’s fun to be doing that combination of the sort of classic actors of the first three and this new group of kids. [They] have very different and fresh personalities and great acting talent.”

On the Plot

When pressed about the plot, Craven gave a tantalizing but familiar outline:

“It’s a clear and/or pretty well-known [fact] that it’s a return to Woodsboro for Sidney Prescott, who is Neve’s character. Courteney and David have, as they did in real life, gotten married and are living in Woodsboro. So it’s the story of Sid’s return to Woodsboro and the series of events that take place there where those three are thrown together in a wild and crazy way, and then a group of kids that get meshed in the plot.”

On Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell Cameos

When asked about the recently confirmed appearances of Anna Paquin (True Blood) and Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Craven offered a cryptic but intriguing answer:

“I don’t know what I’m allowed to say,” he laughed. “They do have a very significant and exciting role in the film, let me put it that way.“