Christopher Landon recalls death threats amid Melissa Barrera’s Scream 7 exit

For a while there, it looked like the behind-the-scenes body count of Scream 7 might surpass what we see on the screen. Before cameras were even rolling, onscreen sisters Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega – who played Sam and Tara Carpenter, respectively – had left, with the former being fired over comments that were deemed antisemetic by Spyglass Media Group. Soon after Barrera was dismissed from Scream 7, director Christopher Landon started to see the repercussions.

As he recounts in the new book Your Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror (via EW), Christopher Landon was constantly receiving death threats from so-called fans of the franchise and Barrera who were upset about her leaving. “I was still sorting through my feelings about everything that had happened. When it all went down, it was something I was trying to process in a private and balanced way. When you’re a ­public-facing person, often people don’t like that. People want an immediate reaction, and they want you to agree with them.”

With the threats continuing, Christopher Landon officially decided to move on from Scream 7. “They were all screaming at someone who wasn’t even on the movie anymore. There were a lot of people who thought I was some sort of villain. That really got in my head. It was painful, and it was painful to lose a dream job in such a sudden and bizarre way.”

Christopher Landon’s reason for losing interest in Scream 7 was that, with Melissa Barrera out, that meant there would be no Sam Carpenter, who had been set up as one of the new faces of the franchise. Without her leading, he lost interest. Landon himself was replacing the duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett; now, original writer Kevin Williamson – who hasn’t directed a feature since 1999’s Teaching Mrs. Tingle – has stepped in.

While Christopher Landon saw the release of Drop earlier this year, Scream 7 is slated to slice and dice on February 27th, also helping mark the first film’s 30th anniversary.

How do you think Scream 7 will fare despite all of the changes in cast and crew?

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