The original cast of Scream remains iconic to this day, and one of its stars got her acting start in a music video for a rock-and-roll legend. Released in 1996, Scream changed the genre for the next decade, popularizing the subgenre of self-referential horror films. It turned into a massively successful franchise.
Neve Campbell headlined the cast as the scream queen, Sidney Prescott. However, her supporting cast remains just as iconic, with names like David Arquette, Courteney Cox, and Jamie Kennedy carrying the franchise through the sequels. Of them, it was Cox who got her start in a music video for Bruce Springsteen.
Courteney Cox Got Her Big Break In A Bruce Springsteen Video
Before Courteney Cox became a Hollywood star, she got her first big break with a role in the Bruce Springsteen video “Dancing in the Dark.” That song was on Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. album, and the song was a number one hit on the U.S. Mainstream Rock charts and number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
That made the music video a huge hit when it premiered on MTV, and it helped make Courteney Cox a major star. Brian De Palma (Mission: Impossible) directed the video, casting Cox as a young woman in the audience at a live concert in Saint Paul, Minnesota, whom Springsteen pulled onto the stage to dance with him.
Cox had some minor acting experience before this, appearing in the soap opera As the World Turns, and she was hired to come to Minnesota to appear in the video. However, Springsteen revealed in his memoir that he didn’t know she was an actress and thought she was just a regular fan picked out of the crowd.
This was also a bit of luck. Cox said in a YouTube interview that she was one of several young women hired to stand in the crowd, and Springsteen randomly picked her out to pull onto the stage with him. Whatever the reason, this was the moment that she became a star.
Courteney Cox’s Gayle Became An Icon In Scream
After appearing in the Bruce Springsteen music video, Courteney Cox’s acting career exploded. She landed a role on Family Ties as Michael J. Fox’s girlfriend and had several smaller roles before breaking out in 1994 as Monica Geller on Friends. Two years later, she was cast in Scream.
Scream saw Cox in a much different role than anything she had done before. She was the well-dressed and often antagonistic reporter, Gayle Weathers, someone who went from tormenting Sidney about the murders piling up to become one of her closest allies against the various Ghostface killers.
While Neve Campbell’s Sidney was the star of Scream, it was Gayle and Dewey’s relationship that caught many fans’ attention. Without Gayle, there wouldn’t be a movie, since it was her reporting and her books that helped carry on the Ghostface legacy. She was also a person who, over time, took the fight to Ghostface.
While Gayle started as an antagonistic, arrogant character, she really came into her own. Even after Sidney left the franchise, Gayle remained there for Scream 6, and her appearance was essential to the entire story. It is easy to wonder whether Courteney Cox’s Gayle might be the real final girl of the Scream franchise.
Other Stars Who Became Famous Thanks To Music Videos
While Courteney Cox owes her Hollywood success to Bruce Springsteen and the “Dancing in the Dark” music video, she isn’t the only major actor to get a big break in acting thanks to a small music video role.
Aerosmith is a band that really helped launch the careers of two actors. The first was Alicia Silverstone, who appeared in “Cryin'” in 1993. Two years later, she was starring in Clueless. The second was Josh Holloway, who had a role in the same music video and years later earned the role of Sawyer on Lost.
Before his breakout in the 2009 movie The Hurt Locker, Jeremy Renner worked in smaller roles after impressing critics in the 2002 true-crime film Dahmer. However, one year after Dahmer, and before most people knew him, Renner had a role in the Pink music video for “Trouble.”
While Pedro Pascal had roles in some movies in the early 2010s, his breakout came on TV in Graceland, The Mentalist, and Game of Thrones in 2013-2014. However, he then appeared in the Sia music video for “Fire Meet Gasoline” alongside Heidi Klum, which helped catapult him into big-screen success.
Bruce Springsteen’s Early Career Now Focus Of Musical Biopic
Fans are now getting the chance to learn more about Bruce Springsteen’s early career in the biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere. Jeremy Allen White stars as Bruce Springsteen in the film, which tells the story of the making of the 1982 album Nebraska. This was before he released the song that made Courteney Cox a star.
Nebraska was Springsteen’s sixth album, while his next, Born in the U.S.A., featured the song “Dancing in the Dark.” That said, this new biopic shows Springsteen’s continued path to greatness as he worked hard to make a difficult album that meant more to him than chart success.
Deliver Me From Nowhere hit theaters on October 24 and has received mixed to positive reviews, although Jeremy Allen White’s performance has received praise. While it didn’t showcase Courteney Cox’s breakout, the Scream actress can still point to Bruce Springsteen as the catalyst for her Hollywood success.
