Jan. 23, 2024
Actress Melissa Barrera talks about her controversial firing from the Scream franchise, as she makes an appearance at the Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of her latest horror film titled Your Monster. By: Dylan Low
“Honestly,
I think I finally am becoming who I’m supposed to be in life, and the last few
months have been a big awakening of that,” Barrera explained in an interview
when quizzed about her Scream exit. “I’m just so grateful for everything
that’s happened.”
Barrera
featured in the role of Sam Carpenter, the daughter of Billy Loomis (Skeet
Ulrich in the original film), in 2022’s Scream and 2023’s Scream 6,
the latter of which created a franchise box office record by earning $108
million at the domestic box office. She was supposed to reprise her role in the
new upcoming title Scream 7, but she was removed from the cast last
November after issuing support for Palestine on social media.
Spyglass,
the production company backing the blockbuster horror franchise, issued in a
statement, “We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate
in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing,
Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate
speech.”
Berrera
leaving the franchise was joined by her co-star Jenna Ortega and Scream 7
director Christopher Landon also exiting the next film sequel.
Despite
no longer being part of the Scream franchise, Berrera will be continuing
expanding on her horror resume at Sundance with the worldwide debut of Your
Monster. The film compiles both elements of horror and romantic-comedy
through the tale of a young actress with cancer (Berrera) who finds out the
presence of a terrifying and charming monster living in her closet. The film is
directed by filmmaker Caroline Lindy.
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