David Arquette says he got emotional acting alongside ex-wife Courteney Cox in new Scream film

‘I could tell some people aren’t comfortable with that level of emotion,’ actor said

David Arquette has explained how it felt acting alongside his ex-wife Courteney Cox in new film Scream.

The film is the fifth instalment in the popular horror franchise, and sees the pair return as characters Dewey Riley and Gail Weathers.

It was during the filming of the first Scream in 1996 that Arquette met Friends star Cox, whom he married in 1999.

The couple, who have an 17-year-old daughter, separated in 2010. Arquette filed for divorce in 2012, which was finalised a year later.

Around the same time, the pair starred together in Scream 4.

They have since maintained a close friendship, with Arquette describing the experience of acting with Cox over 10 years later as “cathartic”.

“It’s a cathartic experience to just be able to act opposite Courteney,” Arquette told The New York Times. “It’s been 25 years of our lives. We’ve grown up together. We have a child together.”

Cox, who was also present in the interview, pointed out that she saw Arquette get emotional on the first day of filming.

Courteney Cox and David Arquette have remained close friends since divorcing in 2013 (Getty Images)

“He said the next day the crew didn’t look at him,” Cox said.

Arquette confirmed this, stating: “I could tell some people aren’t comfortable with that level of emotion.”

The actor previously praised the Scream trilogy’s original director Wes Craven, telling chat show host Seth Meyers: “Thank God for Wes Craven because I got a baby out of it.”

Craven died in 2015. Scream 5 is released on 14 January and sees Arquette and Cox return alongside Neve Campbell.