Exclusive Interview with Scream’s Tom Maden

Tom Maden is an actor you will recognize from MTV’S newest hit series Scream. He plays Jake Fitzgerald, a typical “douche” high school boy with some secrets hidden. That is the opposite of Tom himself, whom I had the pleasure of talking to yesterday. We discussed this season of Scream, social media, and even flowers. Read about what he had to say bellow!

I was at comic con this weekend and the cast was saying that you guys had watched the original Scream’s together before you started filming. I was always fascinated with the relationship between Billy and Stu and in the last episode especially, I kind of got some of that vibe from Jake and Will. Going into it, did you draw from any of the original characters or did you go from a clean slate?

“One thing that I took from the original movies was actually Stu and Billy’s characters. Going into Scream I did draw from them a bit, but I also think it’s important to bring a bit of myself into the character.”

Speaking of comic-con were you bummed that you missed out on that this year?

“Yeah I was super bummed, but it made it better that not all of us went. Bex, Carlos and me were still shooting. It was hard seeing all the pictures of the cast and stuff having fun though! I wanted to be there. I am trying to see who I can talk to about going to New York Comic Con. This is going to sound lame, but I’ve actually never been to New York [laughs].”

Oh me either! I’m like 100% LA, I’ve never even been on a plane.

“You have to get out there and travel! I was born in Texas and then mostly grew up in LA. But you really should travel more!”

So far we’ve only seen one side of Jake really, will we get to learn more about his character down the road? Will we get to see him have a soft spot at all?

“Yeah we actually do get to see a bit of a different side to him. You know on the surface he is just a douchey rich guy, but there is more. That’s what I love about him. I have to give a huge hats off to the writers especially, because they’ve really done a great job of having a type of duality in each character. Everyone you meet has more to them and it’s nice to play that.

Again, we even got that in the original series going back to Stu and Billy, they’re not like your typical popular jocks. They’re just two dudes and they’re really weird, but then they’re also funny and they’re also murderers. Like yeah, they just kill people [laughs]. It’s just interesting to see things that aren’t typical.”

Make it or Break it was actually one of my favorite shows and I remember your role in it. After acting in a horror-based show like Scream and a more upbeat show like Make it or Break it, with your experience in both, do you have a preference?

 “I would say I think horror, because I get to explore the dark side while also knowing that there’s a balance. As dark as I go…it sounds so cheesy, but like the humanity of it all. I just get to explore you know what works for me, what’s good about me, what doesn’t work, what’s bad. Again it goes back to the duality of it.”

The cast seems really cool and down to earth! I’ve noticed you’re all really interactive on Twitter with the fans. Do you try to stay active on social media; do you like being connected with the fans?

“It’s funny, it’s hard for me, just as a person to accept, gosh what’s the word, to accept like praise? That sounds really bad. It’s hard for me to accept compliments. When people are like “love the show great job” I’m really happy for them. I’m stoked that they love the show, and stoked that it brings joy to their lives because that really is a big purpose for why I’m an actor, for people to experience joy. To me joy is like more than happiness. You know joy is both experiencing sadness and happiness together and knowing that one doesn’t define the other. There’s a harmony involved, and that again it goes back to the duality thing. I’m sorry I give really long-winded answers [laughs]. Long story short, yeah it’s nice to see the fans tweets.

What I mostly do with social media though is Instagram, I really love my Instagram. I like take pictures of flowers, I’m a big floral photographer. I like to bring that into the world, that’s my favorite social media activity.”

I don’t go on instagram as much as I used to but I’m going to make sure to follow you now!

“Honestly so many people just take pictures of themselves, so I feel like it’s important to stake a claim for the rest of nature. Flowers are literally pretty for the sake of being pretty. Their whole point is to be pretty, their survival relies on being pretty. I think of all the things to celebrate flowers are it.”

That’s such a cute answer! I work in a floral shop sometimes so by now I’m kind of immune to flowers. Now I think I’ll start appreciating them more!

“Exactly, like also check on the ones you walk past on the street. I can totally understand where you’re coming from though sometimes it’s hard when they’re like cut in boxes and packages.

Going back to the cast, you guys also all seem to be really close and I think it translates really well on-screen. Who was the first person from the cast you met?

“Actually I’ve known Bobby Campo, Robert, for about six years. I met him through a mutual friend. Then I didn’t see him for about three years, and then I shot an Indie movie with him called General Education. I hung out with him a bit, but then when we both booked Scream that’s when we really connected and became good friends. He was the first person I met and I’ve really enjoyed knowing him.”

Not only does the cast seem awesome but you guys are also now part of the MTV family, which seems to extend to so many people and shows now. If you could be on any MTV show, which would you choose?

“I’d definitely be on Teen Mom 2 [laughs]. No, I would say, Awkward. I love comedy I love doing comedy. I actually auditioned for a role on Teen Wolf! This is crazy! I can’t remember if it was the first or second season. I auditioned for Teen Wolf right afterm or before I auditioned for Make it or Break it.  I remember I got a phone call from my agent and I just KNEW I killed the Teen Wolf audition, like I murdered it. The casting director, she and I are on good terms, so I was like “oh this is mine!” Then I got a call from my agent, saying I booked it and I was like “YES I knew it, Teen Wolf!”. My agent was like “uh no Make it or Break It” [laughs]. It was just this moment of like ok great I booked it, I’m still working, but it just wasn’t what I thought. I haven’t watched Teen Wolf since then. I don’t remember at all what character or even what season. It all worked out though, the girl who played Payson, Ayla, on Make it or Break It, she was awesome like one of the coolest people I’ve ever met.”

I know it can be hard doing remakes, but just the pilot reached millions of views and got really great reviews! Were you initially scared going into Scream that it wouldn’t live up to expectations?

 “Yeah! There’s always a fine line that goes from how the show does and then my performance. It’s kind of the risk of, wow I’m going to sound really pretentious right now [laughs], but that’s kind of the risk of art. Putting something together, cultivating a project and building it up. Raising a performance like a child almost. Then putting it out into the world and hoping it’s accepted and hoping it works because you never know until it happens. It’s impossible. It can seem like the coolest thing ever, like a guaranteed lock to be a success, and sometimes it will be and sometimes it won’t be. At the same time, if something is rejected, it’s on to the next one. It’s just about embracing it and not taking it personally. It’s been so cool though! The cast, we really get along really well. We were just saying how fortunate it is that everybody can hang out with everybody at one time, and everybody’s chill. We’ve really worked to try to make sure that shows up on camera, like how close we are as a cast.”

Lastly, without giving away any spoilers because I don’t want to get you in trouble, do you have a scene you’re looking forward to seeing play out this season?

“Well it was in one of the trailers so I THINK I can say it [laughs]. Will and I get into a fight and that’s a good time. It definitely shows some true colors. We are like just the shadiest [laughs]. I mean the VERY first thing Will does is screw up the scent of her shampoo and he’s like way off about it. I love that he’s like “what is that lime?” and she’s like “mango” and they don’t smell at all alike. You can’t really trust a guy who doesn’t know his scents. You gotta look out for them. Kieran is very mysterious too, but that’s also just Amadeus. He’s like cool and calm. It’s crazy for me! I’m like how do you do that? I just feel like a fool so many times.”

 

Make sure to tune into Scream on MTV Tuesday’s at 10pm!