One of the most memorable sequences from ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’
Not long ago it celebrated its 25th anniversary, but I Know What You Did Last Summer It is one of those films that, no matter how much time passes, remains very present in the memories of an entire generation. Released at the end of the 90s and starring fashionable actors and actresses, the film served to consecrate the golden age of teenage slasher cinema just after the film of the genre par excellence, Scream. Watch who callsand, as happened with Wes Craven’s film, it was so successful that it started a franchise.
Directed by Jim Gillespie, I Know What You Did Last Summer It was loosely based on the novel of the same name by Lois Duncan published in the 1970s and featured a group of students in their first year of college being harassed and pursued by a murderer willing to do anything to kill them. The plot of the film began on the graduation night of the group of friends, when, returning by car after having enjoyed a party, they ran over a stranger on the road. Frightened and worried about how this could affect their future, the group of friends disposes of the victim’s body and makes a promise: they will never, ever talk about what happened that night. However, the following year, they all begin to receive a strange message, “I know what you did last summer,” and begin to die under strange circumstances.
The film was a real box office success, with 125 million grossed compared to its 17 million budget, which is why it ended up being the subject of two sequels: I still know what you did last summer (1998) and I know what you did last summer 3 (2006). Likewise, Prime Video premiered a ‘reboot’ series of the film in 2021 with a new cast at the helm.
Starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr., I Know What You Did Last Summer It is an undeniable part of popular culture, especially some of its scenes. Especially one of them: when Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character, Julie, screams desperately at her stalker: ‘What are you waiting for?!’
What many do not know is that The sequence, which has been used a thousand times as a meme and gif, was devised and directed by a child.
In reality, the detail was unknown for a long time, but in 2018 it was the actress herself who told US Weekly at the Television Critics Association press tour where the memorable scene had come from: a contest.
That scene was actually directed by a kid who won a contest to create a moment for the movie, and it became the most important part of the movie.
“He was like, ‘I want him to stand on the street and walk around and just yell, ‘What are you waiting for?’ And I was literally like, ‘Are you kidding me? Is that what I’m going to do?’ do?”. As we all know, Jennifer did it and the result was the most memorable scene in the famous movie.
“It was a great idea,” she would finally admit.
