‘Scream 7’ trailer brings Neve Campbell’s horrors back
‘Scream 7’ trailer brings Neve Campbell back as Sidney Prescott and “Landman” star Michelle Randolph looks doomed.
Melissa Barrera has strong words for the cast of “Scream 7.”
In an interview with Variety, the actress, 35, criticized the actors who starred in the recent horror sequel after she was fired from the project over her social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war.
When the Variety reporter asked Barrera if she thought it was “scabby” for actors to star in “Scream 7” after she was removed, she said, “Oh, one hundred percent. I think they all are. And they have to live with that.” Scabbing generally refers to crossing a picket line to work during a labor dispute.
“The only way they were able to make that movie after what happened was to nostalgia-bait as much as possible,” Barrera added, and when the interviewer commented that “Scream 7” “sucked,” she agreed. “I know,” she responded.
USA TODAY has reached out to Spyglass Media Group, the production company behind “Scream 7,” and Paramount for comment.
Barrera played Sam Carpenter, the lead character of the 2022 slasher revival “Scream” and its sequel, “Scream VI.” She was expected to return for “Scream 7,” but in 2023, she was fired from the movie for social media posts she made in support of Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Among other statements, Barrera had posted that Gaza was “being treated like a concentration camp” and added that “THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.” Spyglass said at the time that it has “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.”
“Scream 7” went through numerous behind-the-scenes changes after Barrera’s firing, and the script was reworked to focus on Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott, the franchise’s original lead character. Sidney had been absent from the previous movie, “Scream VI,” after Campbell declined to return due to a salary dispute.
Jenna Ortega, who played the sister of Barrera’s character in “Scream” and “Scream VI,” did not return for “Scream 7,” later telling The Cut she left because “the Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart.”
Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding, though, did reprise their roles as Mindy Meeks-Martin and Chad Meeks-Martin in “Scream 7.” Their characters were close friends of Barrera’s Sam in the previous two “Scream” movies. No explanation was given for Sam’s absence in “Scream 7.”
Outside of Campbell, “Scream 7” brought back numerous other fan-favorite characters from the original “Scream” movies, including Matthew Lillard as previous Ghostface killer Stu Macher. Courteney Cox, Isabel May, Joel McHale and Anna Camp also starred.
Even after all the controversy, and despite receiving the worst reviews of the series, “Scream 7” was a box office smash. It grossed more than $200 million globally, making it the highest-grossing “Scream” movie to date. Since her firing, Barrera has starred in the Peacock series “The Copenhagen Test,” and she’s currently on Broadway in the musical comedy “Titanique.”