Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy has begun with the release of Fear Street Part 1: 1994 today. The film follows a group of Shadysiders as they discover a terrible curse that haunts their town. The first streaming release stars Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Maya Hawke, Ashley Zukerman, Darrell Britt-Gibson, and more.
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ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief spoke with Fear Street stars Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, and Benjamin Flores Jr. about their lead roles, getting to feel like a 90s kid, and the depiction of forbidden romance. Check out the video below or read the full transcript.
Tyler Treese: Kiana, the characters really feel like friends and family in the films. Did you do much off-screen in order to really strengthen that bond?
Kiana Madeira: We did a lot off-screen. It wasn’t necessarily to strengthen the bond, but I think it kind of happened naturally. For example, when we first started filming, we went to a KISS concert that happened to be in Atlanta at the time, which was also really cool because KISS is very nostalgic and old-school and so are these films. So that was just the first outing that we had as a cast, and we had such a blast there. Yeah, that kind of set the tone to how much fun we all had together. It didn’t feel like we were forced to hang out, which was nice. We genuinely wanted to hang out with each other, and I think that just helped contribute to the chemistry that we have on screen.
That’s great. Olivia, Sam and Deena, they have this kind of taboo relationship, but it’s not really the one that one would expect. It’s that it’s a Shadysider with a now Sunnyvale resident, and then later on we see a more dated view on that relationship. Can you speak to the romantic elements and what it really added to the film?
Olivia Welch: Since day one of working on the movies and even in pre-production, Leigh always discussed with us, that these are horror movies, but love is in the center of them. That’s so important and having like two women at the lead of this movie that survive and fight for each other was so integral to the story and something that we all really wanted to honor and respect and show on-screen. I think it was really cool for us to do the love story in ’94 and then the love story in ’66. So that history repeats itself and there are things and prejudices that have been set in society long, long ago and that they reverb throughout history and how toxic that is. In the same way of our stories, it’s the love that these two people have for each other is what overcomes those elements. So it was really something that we were so thoughtful about and really cared about so much and fostered throughout the movies. I hope people see those parallels in the two films
Benji. I know you’re a lot more outgoing than your character in the film, but he references the Konami code a few times and he has a really fun scene playing Castlevania. Are you much of a gamer yourself and how much fun was it getting a taste of being a 90s kid?
Benjamin Flores Jr.: Oh, first of all, it was amazing. It was so fun. Like I loved wearing the outfits. I love just using the lingo. Using all the props and stuff. It was amazing being a 90s kid. I really miss it. But, yeah, no, I’ve never really been a gamer up until we were in quarantine. Then I was just like, what else is there to do? I’m just going to keep playing games all day and then it became a problem. So then I had to dial back on that. But no, I’m working on it. I’m getting my feet back on the ground, but no, I’ve never been a gamer.
