Josh Segarra Talks Scream VI, Danny’s Intentions, and A Scream VII… Musical?!
In Scream VI, Sam (Melissa Barrera), Tara (Jenna Ortega), and twins Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding) leave Woodsboro behind for a fresh start in New York City. But they soon find themselves in a fight for their lives against a new Ghostface. Kristen Maldonado of Pop Culture Planet spoke with Josh Segarra, who plays “cute neighbor” Danny, about the new film, Danny’s intentions, and a Scream VII… musical?!
Segarra fondly looks back on his first Scream experience. “Joining this franchise is an honor. I remember exactly where I was watching Scream one,” he shared. “I got a text from a buddy when casting was announce. He immediately shot me a text like, ‘Bro, do you remember that we were together for Scream one and now you're in this movie? Man this is crazy,’ and it's like, ‘I know! It is pretty nuts!’ So it's an honor. I'm very, very lucky that they let me come play and they gave me this shot.”
Joining the cast of Scream VI felt like being welcomed as a new kid in school. “Whenever you're a newcomer on set it's like starting at a new school. They were a family before I got there, but they really ingratiated me with open arms,” he said. “They just brought me in. It was as if I'd gone to that school for years.”
A New Yorker at heart, Segarra was impressed with how the film brought the Big Apple to life on screen. “It feels like a Halloween night, right? Shooting those scenes, even though I knew it was acting, oh, it felt very, very real being on that packed subway,” he said. “Our set decorating team was incredible. There was no detail that was forgotten on that set. Just the right amount of grime in the tiles, the right amount of gum stuck on the walls. Everything was perfect. I'll remember that day forever because we all walked into that subway station and we're just floored. The train was a real moving train. We all have videos and pictures just running around with our faces all lit up. That was a really, really fun scene to shoot.”
Another scene he loved? The Bodega scene. “I wasn't able to be in that Bodega scene, but that Bodega scene is a very real New York moment,” Segarra laughed. “We all know what that would feel like if you're eating on a Sunday morning, all of a sudden Ghostface walks in and interrupts your chopped cheese.”
The ladder sequence with Ghostface was one that he shared bonded them all for life. “It took a few days to film that scene because when you're doing stuff like that you're shooting it from the street, you're shooting it from inside the apartments, you're shooting coverage inside the apartments. That was a grueling and amazing experience to shoot that scene because me and the girls are forever connected after that. I'll tell you that by day three, day four, day five, I was scratched and bruised up these shoulders, tired from opening that ladder a hundred times,“ said Segarra. “But it does not compare at all to what the girls went through because if you watch that scene closely they're doing all that stuff on the ladder. When Ghostface’s shaking the ladder, that's them up there. Their bruises, their scars, their scratches, they're very real. They put their bodies on the line for that and it forever will be a squad after that for sure.”
By the end of the film, Danny comes through with reinforcements to help the Core Four, but can we really trust him in a Scream VII? “I know Danny's intentions are pure. I mean, when they decide to go to the theater and she tells him you can't come with us, you told me not to trust anybody, I'm sure it breaks his heart. he's in love with Sam and all he wants to do is protect Sam. That's his MO, right? So getting to have that moment at the end where I come in with reinforcements is really cool. I felt very good, very warm inside, very fuzzy,” he shared. “Then we'll see what happens with Danny in VII, you know? We'll see where it goes. I hope he stays pure. I don't want my man to get all messed up in here, you know what I'm saying? He's in love. Don't take that.”
We’ve seen Segarra in Arrow, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and The Other Two, but did you know he’s a triple threat? He can sing, act, and dance, even originating the role of Emilio Estefan in Broadway’s On Your Feet!, telling the story of icon Gloria Estefan. With those chops — and In The Heights’ Melissa Barrera as his co-star — it’s a no brainer he told Inverse that he’d love to see Scream VII go the musical route. “I mean, do we go with… after everybody is killed, right? Just laid out. Ghostface just swipes everybody and all of a sudden you hear Danny come in. He's like, ‘Get on your feet! Bah doo bah dah dah dah!’” he sang to us, calling out musical numbers from the Broadway show. “And everyone is slightly looking up, like, ‘Not now, Danny! Not now, man!’”
Segarra continued: “Remember ‘Wrapped?’ Maybe we do ‘Wrapped.’ Ghostface’s walking around the city. Everybody's just getting wrapped up together. A real nice, flowy number. Everybody in their Ghostface garb flowing in the wind. That'd be really sweet.”
It’s no surprise that horror has been a traditionally white space, but this new relaunch of Scream successfully puts Latino and Black characters at the center of this story. As a Puerto Rican actor coming into the game, it means a lot to Segarra. “It's my heart, you know? My parents came to the States. They came to Florida after they graduated from the University of Puerto Rico. They were giving pharmacists a couple extra bucks if you were bilingual. My mom learned English when she moved to Florida and they had me. My parents have had my back my entire life. They never, ever made me feel like I couldn't accomplish anything. For that, I'm forever grateful to them,” he said. “So to be at a Scream premiere in New York City and to be FaceTiming with my parents beforehand and to see their joy and their pride because I'm happy — I'm there with my wife, with my baby sister — it's not lost on me. To everybody out there that has my back: Gracias por todo. Gracias por tener mi espalda. Pa’lante. Off we go, you know? Off we go.”
Scream VI is playing in theaters.
