'Scream 7' star Matthew Lillard gives credit to franchise for changing his life

Matthew Lillard, the OG Ghostface killer aka Stu Macher in the Scream franchise, has revealed how the film has changed his life forever.

Lillard played the titular role in the 1996 horror movie alongside Courtney Cox, Drew Barrymore and Neve Campbell.

The actor is all set to reprise the role after 30 years in the seventh sequel of the film series.

In a recent promotional interview, the 56-year-old was asked about his "personal favourite scary movie".

The question was also a tribute to the original film in which the Ghostface asks Barrymore in the opening scene, “What’s your favourite scary movie?”

Considering that he rose to fame with the popular terrifying franchise, Matthew’s answer was obvious.

He responded, “Scream, because it changed my life forever.”

Matthew confessed that, “there's nobody in our entire franchise from that first film that thought we would be here 30 years later."

Directed by Wes Craven, Scream movie was not planned to be a franchise.

The Scooby-Doo actor stated, “Frankly, it was two TV actresses in the days when TV actresses didn't cross over to do films. I was like, ‘Oh, this is a little horror movie. It'll be fun,'" he tells PEOPLE.

He admitted that he knew since the first film that it would change his life.

"Little did I know in any capacity that A. it would change my life, and B. here we would be 30 years later still celebrating Ghostface in any way, shape or form", added Lillard. 

Scream 7, directed Kevin Willaimson, is slated to hit theatres globally on February 27.