[Editor’s note: The following interview contains major spoilers for “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”]
One of the great delights of the new “I Know What You Did Last Summer” for fans of the original is the movie’s thoughtful, satisfying use of the first movie’s stars: Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt don’t just make perfunctory cameo appearances, they’re integral components of the plot. Which leads to another great delight — and surprise — when Prinze turns out to be one of the movie’s two killers.
For co-writer and director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, securing Prinze and Hewitt on board early was key — she ensured they were on board with the direction she wanted to take before even writing the script. “There were some big swings with the characters, so those were conversations I had early on with them,” Robinson told IndieWire on an upcoming episode of the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. “I didn’t want to run in a direction that one or both of them would have disliked.”
Robinson was determined to craft versions of the characters that would feel like a natural evolution from where they began in the 1997 film, and was delighted when she met Prinze in a diner and found that he was quickly on board with his character crossing over to the dark side. “It was not necessarily the pitch he thought he was going to get from me, but he was immediately on board,” Robinson said. The fact that Prinze was a huge horror fanatic who constantly recommended films to Robinson during production was an added bonus. “I leaned on him hugely during this process.”
That said, the greatness of Prinze’s performance in the film comes from the fact that he plays his character without a shred of self-consciousness or winking at the audience — the revelation that he’s the killer is as tragic as it is scary, thanks to the clarity and depth with which Prinze delivers his climactic monologue. “He committed so hard,” Robinson said of Prinze in his final speech. “That was the last thing we shot with him, and I was so taken aback. Everything was layered and deep and nuanced, and you could feel that pain. He executed it so beautifully.”
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson on the set of ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’Matt Kennedy
While Prinze and Hewitt’s appearances in “I Know What You Did Last Summer” were announced well in advance of production, Robinson and the studio kept a couple other performances by legacy cast members secret until release. Perhaps the biggest surprise was a cameo by Sarah Michelle Gellar; while the appearance is completely justified as part of a dream sequence, it nevertheless comes as a shock because Gellar gave interviews publicly proclaiming how ridiculous it would be for her dead character to return to the franchise.
“It was a very easy misdirect because neither of us have lied,” Robinson said. “People say, ‘Is she going to be in the movie?’ and I say, ‘She’s dead.’ And she is dead. It was fun to…obfuscate, but not lie.” Robinson had worked with Gellar on her previous movie, “Do Revenge,” so when the director was offered “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” Gellar was her first call. “I said, ‘I kind of want to do this. Is this weird?’ And she was so supportive. She was like, ‘You have to do this.’”
Another surprise cameo comes in the film’s post-credits sequence, when Brandy returns as her character from 1998’s “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.” Like Gellar, Brandy had been evasive in pre-release interviews, making her appearance more surprising — and, thanks to the way Robinson ties all the films in the series together, more satisfying. “I always wanted Brandy in the film, but I wanted to make sure that it felt true to the story we were telling and the characters and the tapestry.”
The fact that Hewitt’s character had retreated into isolation due to her trauma gave Robinson the hook she needed to bring Brandy back. “I liked that the events of this movie pushed her back to her former best friend, and now her potential partner in crime,” Robinson said. “The movie had a reason to push you to Brandy and give you that prize at the end of enduring the experience of ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer.’ It gives you a fun moment of levity at the end, where you have someone commenting on the craziness that you just witnessed. It felt true and it felt right.”
“I Know What You Did Last Summer” is now playing in theaters. To make sure you don’t miss the Jennifer Kaytin Robinson episode of Filmmaker Toolkit, subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.