Shawn Wayans portrays Ray, the star football player (who often finds the closet a bit restricting). "He's your typical jock with a flip," says Wayans. "He's got a great girlfriend, named Brenda. She's great because she lets him go off and do his own little thing, and then he comes right back to home." Wayans, who also contributed as a writer, adds that working with this group was a memorable experience, "I think this is one of the strongest casts I've worked with since 'In Living Color'. The movie was written funny, but these people are adding their own humor to it and taking it to another level." On working with family, Wayans adds, "I love working with my brothers. It reminds me of being at home (but I get paid a lot more money)."
Marlon Wayans plays Shorty, the films geek/pothead who knows all the rules for an African American man trying to survive a thriller/horror movie and would prove to be a great help if he weren't always so stoned. Shorty takes high school to a whole new level. On his character, Wayans says, "Shorty's the outsider of the crew. He observes all that is going on. He doesn't normally go to the thriller/horror flicks because he sits at home and watches the bootlegs... and then talks about how stupid the characters in those films can be." He adds, "so, my character is kind of like the character Randy in 'Scream,' only if he was black. It's the point of view of what a young brother in that situation would really do." As for working with his family, Wayans says, "All we do is laugh. Even when were not working, were laughing. The only thing is, being the youngest, they make me do errands. So, I made sure that we brought my younger nephew around the set so that we could bully him into doing all that stuff."
Cheri Oteri is the overzealous and cutthroat TV news reporter, Gail Hailstorm. On her character, Oteri says, "I spend more time berating my cameraman, Kenny, than actually getting the story. In this one scene, [after lashing out at Kenny], I fight to get Cindy's attention, so I literally fight her to get it. This aggressive behavior seems appropriate for a Gail, as her stations motto states, 'We bring you the news before it happens!"' Oteri adds, "working with Keenen and this cast was so much fun. We all just had a really great time with it."
Shannon Elizabeth is Buffy, the most beautiful girl in high school who believes that no shirt is too low cut and no boy is off limits. "Buffy is the leader of the pack who is very materialistic and must date the hottest guy in school," states Elizabeth. "But, she's also painfully stupid. She is so much fun to play because you can say or do anything with her and its never over-the- top." Elizabeth adds, "I thought the script was hilarious, and then when we were shooting, Keenen was able to push things even further and find even more jokes. He does such a good job at getting what he wants out of a scene and making things funny."
One of the Wayans' discoveries was the film's star Anna Fans, an actress who had never even been to Los Angeles for an audition, prior to trying out for the part of Cindy. Anna makes her feature film debut as Cindy Campbell, the all-American girl-next-door who oozes more sweetness than Donna Reed, especially when dealing with her drug dealing father or her sex-starved boyfriend. "Anna did an incredible job," says Keenen Ivory Wayans. "Her character is sort of a compilation of every sexy young actress you have ever seen at the center of a teen film — a mix of that whole Neve Campbell, Jennifer Love Hewitt style, but with her own warped reality."
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