Hayden Panettiere and Rory Culkin's pre-'Scream 4' friendship: Childhood pals to on-screen romance

Hayden Panettiere and Rory Culkin can be seen sharing the silver screen when "Scream 4" hits theaters this Friday, but their relationship stretches far beyond the Michigan set.

   "I've known [Rory] forever and I just love him to death," Panettiere tells Zap2it. "We've had the same manager for years and we're both from New York. He used to come and spend the night at our house in Rockland County."

The actress looks back with a laugh at those childhood sleepovers, telling us that Culkin always packed light.

"He would bring nothing but one white t-shirt and a toothbrush, and that was all," she says. "He would throw it over his shoulder and come out with a toothbrush and that was all he brought."

The duo signed on to the horror franchise last May as tough-girl, Kirby, and film club president, Charlie, respectively. Their characters even share an intimate moment on camera, which certainly could get awkward after such a long-standing friendship -- but Panettiere says it was no problem at all.

"I never find it awkward to kiss people that you love, even as friends," she explains. "It's like the people that I love, that's the best way of expressing your love -- like [multiple kissing sounds], I love you, I love you, I love you!"

Don't think that on-screen romance led to anything more for the friends, though. Panettiere is already spoken for, and she recently over shared about her sex life with Ukranian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.

During our interview, the "Heroes" star also gushed about on-set bonding with the young cast. Telling us, "My best friends are now the people I met on this movie."

How does the former bionic cheerleader fare against Ghostface? Find out on April 15th.