David Arquette used to "stalk" Courteney Cox-Arquette.

The actor met his now-wife on the set of horror movie 'Scream' in 1996 and admits the actress initially got tired of his constant attention.

He said: "I stalked her. She would go away and fly back. I was stuck at the hotel and then I would wait for her car to come and as soon as she got in the door, I would pick up the phone, 'What are you doing?' and she's like, 'Are you stalking me?' and I was like, 'Exactly!' "

The 38-year-old star also revealed he was initially lined up for a different role in the film - but asked to play Deputy Dewey because it meant he got to be closer to Courteney's news reporter character Gale Weathers.

Speaking on US TV talk show 'Lopez Tonight', he said: "When I first went out, they wanted me for the part of 'Billy'... Skeet Ulrich ended up doing that. I was like, 'I wanna play Dewey!' He was like, 'That's a nothing role, what are you talking about?' And I said, 'I get to kiss Courtney Cox... I wanna play that role!' "

David and Courteney - who married in 1999 - have a five-year-old daughter Coco, who the actor says is named after his 45-year-old spouse.

He explained: "It's sort of an abbreviation of 'Courtney Cox' - 'CoCo.' "