Just a few months ago, actor Melissa Barrera was fired from Scream 7 over her pro-Palestinian stance in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The shockwave of that firing has basically upended that franchise in various ways, while Barrera herself has been focused on doing promo for her next film, the upcoming horror musical Your Monster.
At Sundance earlier in the week to premiere her new flick, she told the Associated Press she was glad for the experience, in a way. The firing over her comments—which production company Spyglass claimed were antisemitic—helped open her eyes. “I think I finally am becoming who I’m supposed to be in life,” she said, “and the last few months have been a big awakening of that. I’m just so grateful for everything that’s happened.”
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In a separate interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Barrera revealed Your Monster gave her a chance to go back to her comedy roots. By her own admission, she hadn’t done comedy in years: along with theater comedy in Mexico, her last comedy turn would’ve been in the 2017 Mexican dramedy series Club de Cuervos. Your Monster, which is about her character falling in love with a monster who’s been living in her closet for years, was a bit of a nexus point for her career thus far, which made taking the project a “no-brainer”: “[It’s got] comedy, romantic comedy, horror, and musical theater,” she explained. “All the things I love in one.”
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Barrera can be seen next in Abigail, which reunited her with Scream 5 and 6’s Radio Silence. Though her next project is a biographical drama (The Collaboration), she doesn’t plan on leaving the horror space any time soon. Not that she even wants to, since she told THR how much she loves the genre. “[Horror] is so much fun to make, [and] it’s a genre people show up to the theaters for no matter what. No stars have to be in the movie for people to show up. […] There’s just something about it.”
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Abigail comes to theaters on April 19, while Your Monster is currently seeking a distributor.
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