Melissa Barrera’s departure from the Scream franchise was a famously unhappy one, as the Scream and Scream 6 star was fired from Scream 7 shortly before production was supposed to begin on the movie, with producers Spyglass Media Group accusing Barrera of antisemitism over statements she made in support of Palestine in the wake of the October 7 attacks in 2023. Barrera’s firing essentially destroyed that version of the movie—co-star Jenna Ortega dropped out shortly afterward, followed by planned director Christopher Landon—leaving Paramount to fall back on nostalgia to keep the film afloat, bringing back original series screenwriter Kevin Williamson to direct, and acceding to pay demands that had kept franchise star Neve Campbell from appearing in Scream 6. The move was reportedly a fiscal success, if nothing else, with this February’s Scream 7 bringing in more than $200 million at the box office—although Barrera herself isn’t sure she believes it.
This is per an interview that the In The Heights star gave to Variety this week, largely centered on her current Broadway role in recent multiple-Tony nominee Titanique. Barrera inevitably gets into the Ghostface in the room, though, talking about the despair she felt after abruptly going from rising star to persona non grata after her criticisms of Israel’s reactions to the attacks were conflated with “hate speech.” (She notes that director Boots Riley was the first major filmmaker to reach out to her after her sojourn in the wilderness, offering her a part in his upcoming film I Love Boosters; although she ultimately couldn’t appear in the movie due to scheduling issues, Barrera expresses her love for Riley and gratitude for his support.) As to Scream 7 itself, Barrera didn’t mince words: When interviewer Marlow Stern asserts “the seventh one sucked,” Barrera happily agreed, while also going so far as to suggest Paramount might have been cooking the books a bit: “I know. And I think they lied about the numbers. I don’t think it made that much money.”
She wasn’t any more sparing toward those performers who signed on for the movie in the wake of her firing. Asked “Did that seem scabby to you? Did it feel like those were people basically crossing the picket line?” Barrera didn’t mince words: “Oh, one hundred percent. I think they all are. And they have to live with that. The only way they were able to make that movie after what happened was to nostalgia-bait as much as possible.” So, yeah: Probably no big, heartwarming reunion in the works there.
