In the first trailer for the new entry in the Scary Movie franchise, simply titled Scary Movie, Ghostface stabs a young person on the subway, leading to an onlooker shouting, "He stabbed her!"
"Not her!" the person being stabbed replies. "My pronouns are 'they/them.'"
While some trans and queer moviegoers might be nervous that the movie's joke will punch down at them, Benny Zielke (he/they), a trans actor who stars in the movie, says you don't have to worry.
"Honestly, I had the same kind of fear when I got the full script, and I was reading it," he says. "I was like, 'Is it going to be OK?' But truthfully, truthfully, I do not think that they are punching down. I don't think that they're going for marginalized communities and trying to make fun of them."
"I think they really are pushing boundaries, they're making crazy, raunchy jokes, but I don't think there is a mean spirit behind it at all. So, if you're a trans person and you're like, 'I want to see this, but I don't want another triggering piece of media,' I really think this is a safe space for that, even though it's not a safe space," he laughs.
He says that jokes in the film — the sixth in a franchise parodying horror movies — that involve misgendering are meant to make fun of people who have a hard time accepting trans people exist, and "making light of how big a deal everyone makes it seem. Just like, 'You're being ridiculous. Just call me by my name, use the pronouns I tell you. It's not so serious, everybody.'"
Olivia Rose Keegan plays Sara, Cameron Scott Roberts plays Jack, Benny Zielke plays Jess, Ruby Snowber plays Elle, Gregg Wayans plays Brad, Sydney Park plays DEI and Marlon Wayans plays Shorty in Scary Movie from Paramount Pictures© 2026 Paramount Pictures
Zielke is part of a group of second-generation characters who are the children of the leads from the first movie. He portrays Jess, the transgender son of the local sheriff, played by Scary Movie mainstay Lochlyn Munro.
Marlon Wayans, who co-wrote the film, produced it, and stars in it, says he specifically included the character of Jess because of his own real-life trans child, Kai.
"That's me and Kai," he told USA Today of the character and his plotline around his father accepting him because he wanted to be "inclusive."
"Also, from a father's point of view, dealing with their child in a transitional state, but accepting and going through that awkward phase of acceptance, I think you send it up and humanize it," he continued. "Instead of just making fun of things, you come from a different perspective."
Zielke says that from the get-go, Wayans treated him like family and made him feel safe.
"Once I got to set, we were shooting a scene all at a picnic table — this is so vividly burned into my brain — and he sat down on the picnic table next to me and was like, 'You know this is about my kid, right?'"
"He just laid out for me how important it was for him to provide trans representation that's not a tragedy, it's a comedy, and to help people have these conversations with their kids, with their parents, and just not take it so seriously," Zielke adds. "And I really, really related to that because, I mean, if I had had this example when I was trying to figure out how to come out, I think it would have been really helpful."
"Every time I have gotten to play a trans character before now, it has been in a really heavy, tragic piece or a really stressful, anxious piece," he says. "So, to get to be a part of this project where trans people are never the butt of the joke — like we're getting to make the joke, and the people misgendering us and being confused, blundering around, they're the butt of the joke — has been really nice."
Scary Movie is Zielke's first comedy. But he says he'd love to do more comedic projects, "like The Studio," he says.
Portrait of Benny ZielkeCourtesy
Currently, he's working on a trans-focused "found footage romance" film that he wrote and directed about two artists — one cis and one trans — who unexpectedly fall in and out of love while sharing an art studio.
In the end, Zielke has one message for queer or trans viewers who are still reluctant to see the movie.
"Honestly, I would say that the team behind this movie is so supportive of the queer community, was so supportive of me on set," they say. "They really have your back. They want you to feel seen, they want you to be able to leave your stress at the door and just come in and laugh and be a part of it like anybody else. And I think that's great."
Scary Movie is playing in theaters now.
