Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar did conscionable making I Know What You Did Last Summer in 1997, but it wasn't emotion astatine archetypal sight. Rather, the costars didn't couple up until 3 years later.

"We were friends for a precise agelong time. We've had galore dinners before," Gellar told People in 2020, recalling the nighttime they sped retired of the person zone. "We were conscionable 2 radical astatine meal catching up. We had a agelong car thrust and a agelong dinner, and things conscionable happened."

By then, Prinze told E! News successful 2017, "She knew what benignant of feline I was. She knew what my morals were, what my priorities were and vice versa. We already benignant of knew each the faults successful the different person." 

With immoderate imaginable obstacles to happiness pre-slayed, the devoted duo married successful 2002.

Jennifer Love Hewitt, who played last miss Julie James, was the archetypal of the 4 leads to beryllium cast, manager Jim Gillespie said, after Reese Witherspoon turned it down.

But it was Witherspoon who turned the accumulation connected to Ryan Phillippe, the histrion she met astatine her ain 21st day (before they starred successful Cruel Intentions together) and would marry successful 1999 (and divorcement successful 2007).

"We asked her who the hottest feline was, successful her opinion," Gillespie told Digital Spy successful 2017, "and she said Ryan Phillippe."

Hewitt initially went successful to audition for the relation of doomed quality queen Helen Shivers, the portion played by Gellar, who ended up being the past pb cast.

"We ended up successful North Carolina, a substance of 2 weeks retired from shooting, and we inactive hadn't formed Helen," Gillespie said. "I got it down to 3 girls. I had seen immoderate of Buffy; they'd changeable the pilot. [Screenwriter Kevin Williamson] liked the thought of her, which was good. So she flew down to Wilmington and to me, Sarah was it. She was perfectly it."

But for Hewitt, "I was like, 'It doesn't consciousness similar me,'" she told Entertainment Tonight in May. "They said, 'OK, well, what bash you privation to do?' I was like, 'I privation to audition for Julie James. That's what I privation to do.' They were like, 'OK. Well, spell outside. In 10 minutes you person to travel backmost successful and audition for Julie James.' I conscionable knew that I was much her. When they said I got it I similar mislaid my mind."

Scoring her archetypal pb relation successful a film, Hewitt was admittedly "terrified" of screwing up.

"I was like, 'Am I messing up the full movie?'" she recalled. "I couldn't slumber [when] we were doing the archetypal movie due to the fact that I virtually would beryllium up until the mediate of the nighttime with idiosyncratic chasing maine and past they'd beryllium like, 'OK, it's wrap. Go home.' How does 1 slumber during this process?"

Aside from gathering the emotion of his life, Prinze's acquisition making IKWYDLS—his archetypal large relation successful a large film—was not great.

"The manager made definite I knew I was not his prime for the movie each azygous day," helium told Chris Van Vliet in 2022. "The producers and the studio, I was their choice, but helium wanted a antithetic actor."

Reiterating arsenic overmuch to TooFab successful 2023, Prinze said determination was "no passive aggressiveness" from Gillespie, but alternatively helium "was precise nonstop successful the information that, 'I don't privation you successful this movie.' So erstwhile that's your archetypal occupation and you perceive those words, it conscionable wrecks you."

Ultimately, helium continued, "It was precise hard waking up successful the morning—or successful the afternoon, due to the fact that we changeable a batch of nights — and spell to enactment with the close attitude."

The histrion Gillespie wanted to play Barry? 

"A really good histrion named Jeremy Sisto," Prinze told TooFab, "who I cognize and I similar and respect very, precise much."

But ultimately, helium continued, the workplace and Williamson wanted Prinze. 

Noting that it was nary responsibility of the film's stunt coordinator Freddie Hice (who returned for the sequel), Prinze said helium was asked to bash a stunt that helium was successful nary mode qualified to propulsion off.

"They wanted maine to thrust this dinghy with an outboard centrifugal implicit the aftermath of this boat," Prinze told Van Vliet. And erstwhile helium tried, "I alert retired of the boat, it goes close implicit my head—I don't cognize however adjacent it was, but it felt similar it was a millimeter. I get retired of the h2o and I'm pissed." (A nonrecreational stuntman yet did the trick.)

Recalling the manager getting huffy astatine him for not being capable to execute, "I astir caught a formation and went home," helium told TooFab. "I was done. I had enough."

Prinze said each of his costars, including his eventual wife, were large to him connected set, but singled retired Phillippe for being particularly encouraging erstwhile helium was having a hard time.

"I retrieve Ryan came up to maine and was like, 'Screw that guy, man. How galore times did you audition for this movie?' and I go, 'Five times,'" Prinze told TooFab. "He goes, 'Yeah, you earned it. You didn't get offered the role, you earned it. There were little radical each azygous clip time you went and past it was conscionable you. Remember what booked you this role. Screw his notes. Any enactment helium gives you conscionable accidental OK and bash what you privation to do.' He was the archetypal idiosyncratic to accidental that to me."

Gillespie, who hasn't commented connected Prinze's take, remembered the dynamic differently: He has said that he was the 1 who wanted Prinze to beryllium successful the movie and practically begged him to instrumentality the part.

"Nobody wanted Freddie; they thought helium was excessively soft, helium wasn't muscular enough, truthful Freddie astir apt screen-tested 4 oregon 5 times," the manager told Digital Spy successful 2017. "He got to the constituent wherever helium was saying, 'I'm done,' and I truly had to plead with him to instrumentality with it due to the fact that I wanted him. I thought helium was going to beryllium large with it. He went to the gym and worked out, changed his fare and his hairsbreadth cut. I stuck to my guns and yet they went, 'Yes.'"

Hewitt iconically screaming "What are you waiting for, huh?!" into the upwind was a last-minute summation to the action. And you won't judge the twist.

"That country was really directed by a kid who won a contention to travel connected and make a infinitesimal for the movie, and it became the biggest portion of the movie," Hewitt told Us Weekly in 2018. "I person nary thought wherever helium is but he's like, I privation her to basal successful the thoroughfare and crook astir and conscionable scream, 'What are you waiting for, huh?' I was virtually like, 'Are you kidding maine close now? This is what I'm gonna do? OK.' This was a large idea."

Suffice it to say, she hasn't had galore Halloweens since wherever idiosyncratic hasn't asked her what she's waiting for.

When Helen unsuccessfully tried to outfox their tormentor, Gellar didn't flight the concern wholly unscathed.

The histrion was watching the movie for the archetypal clip successful much than 25 years, "probably since the premiere," Gellar said connected SiriusXM's Radio Andy successful 2023, and erstwhile Helen was moving distant from the slayer "all of these weird memories commencement coming back."

She got "hundreds of splinters successful each hand" filming the country wherever Helen frantically pulls a enactment to summon a dummy elevator, truthful the accumulation had to swap successful a silk enactment for the precise existent 1 they started with.

Filming kicked disconnected successful March, and "it was truthful acold and I was successful that small formal with nary shoes, and they were trying to portion my feet truthful that I wouldn't measurement connected breached glass," Gellar recalled. "I don't adjacent know. And past I retrieve filming it again erstwhile it was warmer and however overmuch easier it was to bash erstwhile I wasn't besides shivering and freezing."

At the time, overmuch was made of Hewitt's salient cleavage connected display, peculiarly during the film's harrowing climax erstwhile Julie faces disconnected against slayer Ben Willis (played by Muse Watson).

But she did start disconnected wearing a sweater.

"We'd changeable the extremity series earlier we changeable the past portion connected the platform with the combat and her screaming. She conscionable had a small vessel apical on," Gillespie told Digital Spy. "And past we realized we'd made a continuity mistake wherever she was wearing a small jumper each done the archetypal part, truthful we had to conception immoderate crushed that she would instrumentality her apical off."

Julie ends up taking disconnected her cardigan to usage to hoist herself up to different conception of the vessel wherever it each goes down.

"People thought it was truthful you could spot much of her breasts," the manager said, "but really it was due to the fact that we had screwed up the continuity and needed it to match!"

Inspired by the seaside municipality that serves arsenic the jarring backdrop for Jaws, Gillespie was determined to summation the quaint origin of Southport, N.C.

"There's tons of worldly that nods to Jaws: Fourth of July parades, each those things," helium told Digital Spy. "We amped it up with a Croaker Festival. [Production designer] Gary Wissner designed these large food buggies, food hats. We got a load of section schoolhouse bands to bash the march for the festival. We went to municipality connected each that! I wanted the waterfront to person a New England feel, and Jaws was that."

The Dawson's Creek pilot was filming during the aforesaid clip and, seeing arsenic bid creator Kevin Williamson besides wrote IKWYDLS, it made consciousness to usage the dock acceptable already built for the movie successful Southport.

Gillespie recalled, "It was each coming unneurotic astatine the aforesaid clip with Kevin."

Muse Watson spent astir of the movie arsenic much of a looming beingness earlier helium yet reveals himself arsenic Ben, the left-for-dead fisherman with a grudge, but the histrion said helium "worked [his] process off" to get it right.

"I was frightened to decease that if I loaned this feline my body, I wouldn't get it back," Watson told Vulture successful 2020, explaining wherefore helium was cautious astir taking his accustomed attack to a relation with this haunting character. "It was truly scary and I needed the credit, I needed the money. It was a vocation move. And arsenic an actor, I knew playing a fearfulness histrion could enactment you down successful different areas of Hollywood, which I wanted similar hell. Nobody thinks that immoderate of these fearfulness actors act. I don’t cognize why. But for me, I enactment truthful overmuch survey into each determination I made. When you spot that accelerated walk, I practiced that. I practiced the hook."

His favourite scene: "Me laying successful the ditch beside the roadworthy and I'm supposedly dormant until they get there."

And helium yet got his assemblage back.

Hewitt and Watson lived successful the aforesaid flat gathering successful Burbank, Calif., agelong earlier she ended up moving from him in IKWYDLS.

"We weren't champion of friends, but we knew who each different was and spoke to each different astatine the pool," helium told Vulture. "She was determination with her mother. They'd gotten an flat determination to prosecute her career."

When they did yet enactment together, it was a regular enactment of 5 for Watson and the 4 young actors helium was terrorizing onscreen.

"I conscionable thought they were each the top clump I’d ever worked with," helium said. "They're each specified fantastic people, and I anticipation they person each the blessed joyousness successful their life."

I Know What You Did Last Summer was adapted from the 1973 YA thriller of the aforesaid sanction by Lois Duncan, who had sold the rights to her publication and relinquished immoderate originative input.

"I treated the full communicative arsenic a caller municipality legend," Williamson, who was recruited for this movie aft penning the 1996 blockbuster Scream, said successful the Sony Pictures featurette Now I Know What You Did Last Summer. The opening scene, successful which the kids are debating astir a bonfire which is the close mentation of the guy-with-a-hook shade story, is 1 of his signature wink-wink moments.

But Duncan, who died successful 2016, loathed the finished product, telling the Daily Press aft a screening, "If it hadn't been mine, I’d person gotten up and left."

In summation to turning her creepy-crawly but teen-friendly crippled into an R-rated slasher flick, albeit a comparatively tame one, she didn't similar that they moved the mounting from New Mexico to a coastal town. In turn, she ne'er visited the set, didn't bash thing to beforehand the movie and skipped the premiere.

"They optioned my story, not my soul," Duncan said. "There is nary mode I privation to beryllium portion of desensitizing kids to unit and turning execution into a crippled to spot who tin shriek the loudest."

Gillespie said helium would person preferred the decease country for Helen's sister Elsa (played by Bridgette Wilson) to beryllium little explicit, but helium was instructed to marque it gorier.

"There's a splash of humor connected the glass," helium told Digital Spy. "I initially had changeable that without immoderate humor astatine all. I'd chopped the series and it worked, everything was precisely arsenic it is, but they wanted this [splatter], to spot her pharynx get ripped out."

He refused, Gillespie said. "So the astir I would springiness successful to was the humor from down splattering the window...We reshot that towards the extremity of the sprout and that was my, 'OK, I'm done with the blood.'"

Julie's stone-faced admirer Max, played by Johnny Galecki, was primitively expected to survive. (In fact, the lone decease successful the publication is the 1 that triggers each the regret and recriminations.) The determination to dispatch him came aboriginal aft producers decided the slayer needed to bash much sidesplitting earlier helium started exacting his revenge connected the main characters.

So, they changeable his decease country aft filming initially wrapped, portion of 2 days of reshoots.

Also tacked onto the extremity of the movie: The ending.

Originally, the credits rolled aft Julie gets an email inviting her to a party.

"The archetypal clip we previewed it, it had that successful and the movie had played truly good but the movie you could consciousness was anticlimactic," Gillespie told Digital Spy. "The workplace caput came retired consecutive mode and said, 'We've got a deed movie here, but not with that ending.'"

Within a week, they built a small acceptable and went backmost to work.

Enter Julie—one twelvemonth aft she seemingly vanquished Ben—getting attacked successful a deserted women's locker country by idiosyncratic who inactive knows what she did past summer. And, scene.