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In November 2023, actress Melissa Barrera saw herself fired from the seventh “Scream” film following some comments she made on social media about the war in Gaza.
Barrera’s costar, Jenna Ortega, exited shortly after due to scheduling conflicts with the second season of “Wednesday”. Ortega’s decision was reportedly in the works before Barrera’s firing.
Either way, the result was that the entire film got retooled and resulted in more of a legacy sequel in “Scream 7”. While critics tore the film a new one, the film became the highest-grossing of the franchise with $214 million from a $45 million budget.
Barrera went on the record about her exit in early 2024. At the time, she said that though it was shocking, she was ‘at peace’ with what happened.
Talking to Variety recently, she was asked if she felt her career was over after being fired to which she said:
“The pessimistic side of me was having those thoughts, but the optimistic side of me was like, ‘F— no. I’m sure the tide will turn.’ And it has. But because I was one of the first to speak up, to this day there are still a lot of people in the industry who have a personal grudge against me.”
She admits with some people that “we’re never going to see eye to eye on that”. She also says: “I got some messages of support from people in the industry, but what I found is that private messages with no action mean nothing.”
Asked if the cast members that did return for “Scream 7” seemed “scabby to you” and felt like “those were people basically crossing the picket line”, she responded:
“Oh, 100%. 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.”
She goes on to talk about the film’s box-office, saying: “I think they lied about the numbers. I don’t think it made that much money. But at the stage door, I sign ‘Scream’ things every night. People who love me from those movies are coming to see the show, and they can’t ever take that away from me.”
The post Barrera Slams “Scream 7” As Nostalgia Bait appeared first on Dark Horizons.
