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Director Christopher Landon introduced on Saturday that he has “formally” left Scream VII. The announcement comes following the excessive profile exits of stars Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega from the beleaguered movie.
“I suppose now could be pretty much as good a time as any to announce I formally exited Scream 7 weeks in the past,” the director wrote on X (previously Twitter) on Saturday. “This can disappoint some and delight others. It was a dream job that became a nightmare. And my coronary heart did break for everybody concerned. Everybody. But it surely’s time to maneuver on.
“I’ve nothing extra so as to add to the dialog aside from I hope Wes’ legacy thrives and lifts above the din of a divided world,” he continued in his publish thread. “What he and Kevin created is one thing wonderful and I used to be honored to have even the briefest second basking of their glow.”
Lead actress Barrera was fired from the mission, following her pro-Palestine posts on social media. Barrera had shared an Instagram story condemning antisemitism, and asserted that she would proceed to talk on the problem: “Silence is just not an choice for me,” she stated in November following her ousting. Whereas the information of her departure got here in November, Barrera had been fired in October shortly after the Israel-Hamas struggle erupted on Oct. 7, per The Hollywood Reporter. Within the days following the battle, the actress grew to become extra vocal on her stance, sharing pro-Palestine messaging, which included a “Compassion Should Prevail” picture with a caption pleading that President Joe Biden “name for an instantaneous de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza.”
“Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have now zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any type, together with false references to genocide, ethnic cleaning, Holocaust distortion or something that flagrantly crosses the road into hate speech,” a Spyglass spokesperson stated in an announcement to Variety on the time.
In the meantime, Ortega’s departure grew to become public across the similar time of Barrera’s exit changing into publicly identified in November, though the choice by Ortega and her reps got here earlier than the summer time’s SAG-AFTRA strike and had not been made public till the autumn.
Landon, who had been employed previous to the strike, voiced his disapproval of Barrera’s ousting after it was introduced. “That is my assertion: 💔 Every thing sucks. Cease yelling,” Landon wrote, earlier than deleting the publish. “This was not my choice to make.”
Author-producer James Vanderbilt — who cowrote the reboots and is writing the present script — at the moment stays because the franchise appears to be like to rebuild following the departure of their leads and director.
