Happy Death Day and Freaky director Christopher Landon has left Scream 7 after losing two of it's stars Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega.
via: The Independent
However, the film became the centre of controversy in November after actor Barrera was fired from the horror franchise due to comments she made about the Israel-Hamas war and attacks on Gaza on social media.
The following day, it was reported that her co-star Ortega would not be reprising her role in the franchise, blaming scheduling conflicts with the hit Netflix show Wednesday.
On Saturday (23 December) night, Landon shared two posts to Twitter/X announcing that he had also departed from Scream VII weeks ago. On the social media platform, the director claimed that the project had gone from his dream job to a nightmare.
“I guess now is as good a time as any to announce I formally exited Scream VII weeks ago,” he wrote. “This will disappoint some and delight others. It was a dream job that turned into a nightmare. And my heart did break for everyone involved. Everyone. But it’s time to move on.
“I have nothing more to add to the conversation other than I hope [original Scream director Wes Craven’s] legacy thrives and lifts above the din of a divided world. What he and Kevin created is something amazing and I was honoured to have even the briefest moment basking in their glow.”
The Scream franchise was revived in 2022 with Scream (also known as Scream 5), a new film starring emerging actors Barrera and Ortega as sisters. The pair returned for Scream VI this year, and were due to reprise their roles in the seventh film.
But in November, Barrera was fired from the franchise over a series of posts she shared commenting on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
In one post on Instagram, Barrera wrote that Gaza was “being treated like a concentration camp”. In another, she said: “Western media only shows the [Israeli] side. Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.”
On Tuesday (21 November), a spokesperson for Spyglass films confirmed to Variety that Barrera had been fired after her social media posts were interpreted as antisemitic.
“Spyglass’s stance is unequivocally clear: 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,” a spokesperson told Variety.
Responding to the news of Barrera’s firing at the time, Landon tweeted: “This is my statement: Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”
I swear some of you Scream stans can ruin a good handjob if the hottest girl (or boy) in the room gave you one. Chris was caught between a rock and a hard place regarding how Spyglass treated Melissa Barrera.
Here is a horror filmmaker who's films have been deeply influence by Scream, and was about to work on his dream franchise, only to quit because stans wanted to flood his social media timelines with death threats towards him and his children.
No one knows what his conversations were behind the scenes with Melissa (if he actually had the opportunity to meet with her), and quite frankly he doesn't need to go on social media to make a public statement to fans who aren't investing any money into the franchise except when you head to the movies to see said film.
Your argument should be with the head of Spyglass who got butt hurt over Melissa's social media posts and not the director of a franchise who was hired by the studio.
I just feel at this point Spyglass needs to sell the rights to a new studio, because with what's been happening with this franchise, they are ruining the legacy that Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson built.
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