Gale Weathers, Forever

Part of why I love Wes Craven’s Scream movies so much is they star not one, but two, female survivors: Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers. Gale is so crucial. She starts the first film an opportunist, leveraging tragedy for careerist goals. Then, when shit gets real, so does she. Her humanity blooms and we root like hell for her late in the film, then over the next three sequels, too. She’s one of my favorite characters, period, no qualifiers, thanks to how well Courteney Cox plays her. It’s Cox’s birthday, so, appreciation is due. As good as she was as Monica on Friends (and in so many other roles), I think this is the role of her lifetime.

Go ahead, make jokes about Gale’s hair in Scream 3. She can handle it. She’s too busy kicking Ghostface’s ass to care. Because she’s unfuckwithable.