I'll just say after the whole debacle with not being able to offer Neve the pay she asked for—and as a result not having her in Scream VI, this is an incredibly DUMB decision just based on that angle alone.
I'm bottling it up, but I'm just one step away from being livid though.
Edited by futuremoviewriter on Nov 21st 2023 at 3:34:10 AM
Well I'll say it.
I don't know why actors who are in such fragile career spaces who I am supposed to pity and empathize with seem to be launching political salvos over social media and expect to come out of it with a job. Free speech is a thing and so is silence. I have thoughts on immigration, Gaza, LGBT issues, women, racism, Ukraine, the whole shi-bang. I don't immediately go to Twitter to explode. Why is this common in modern society? Why do we accomodate this behavior? Did anyone go to school and refuse to say the pledge of allegiance then shout about how they don't believe in it, how America was built on slavery and colonialism and Christopher Columbus was a fraud? No you just fucking didn't say it and moved onto first period unless your teacher was being an ahole about it.
At the same time, why are actors immediately fired for expressing themselves? I thought we were all about social freedom and standing up for what's right. It seems though the moment someone makes a statement you don't like, or if there's any controversy around you the studio drops you like a bad habit. See how well that worked out for Johnny Depp. That's a case where he's a pretty awful guy but he wasn't on the hook for being a wife beater. We're talking celebrities making statements on X. I don't like people who use cancel culture as a buzzword, but I do feel like we readily reject/tear people down for their opinions too easily.
Anyway, I had to read the article to remind myself who Berrara played. I feel nothing positive about the character she played, or at least any overwhelming sadness about her being gone.
I can see the franchise going on without Sam. Getting rid off Sydney was already a pretty risky move. I can't see them going further with the Serial Killer Killer thing Sam had going. Not like Billy will come back to life.
Heck honestly just recast Sam unless there's some contractual reason not to.
Edited by FOFD on Nov 21st 2023 at 7:11:46 AM
Akira Toriyama (April 5 1955 - March 1, 2024).
"why speak up if you might face consequences" is exactly why you should speak up.
Owl House / Infinity Train / Inside Job Fan
Okay, but what do you think the studio is gonna do with the film’s story now that she’s out?
The Owl House and Coyote Vs Acme are my Roman Empire.
It wouldn't be so bad if Sam wasn't the main character, and the fact Jenna Ortega has said similar comments might mean she might stick by her and walk out.
At that point, I think they might straight up reboot the whole franchise like almost every other horror movie series was doing in the 2000s.
I'm hoping the backlash is so strong that they're begging for her to come back. They just unleashed a s***storm. They have no one to blame but themselves now.
Owl House / Infinity Train / Inside Job Fan
Might be tricky. Variety claims that Barrera dug into an antisemitic trope in her tweet.
Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Nov 21st 2023 at 7:16:49 AM
The Owl House and Coyote Vs Acme are my Roman Empire.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
(6) Then I hope it was worth it for her because its unlikely they're going to rehire her at this point. Its rare when an actor is publicly fired then rehired.
And if that's true hoooo girl.
Twitter did what Ghostface couldn't.
Edited by FOFD on Nov 21st 2023 at 7:26:54 AM
Akira Toriyama (April 5 1955 - March 1, 2024).
She didn't, really. That's just a smokescreen.
It's a common Zionist defense to imply that any criticism of the nation of Israel is anti-semitic and against the entire Jewish people. It gets used everywhere from Hollywood to Congress.
Rookie Writer
Plus, while certainly not guaranteed, there is precedent for prominent creators getting fired and rehired due to public backlash. James Gunn, for example, being fired ostensibly due to backlash concerning extremely poor taste jokes he made almost a decade ago only to be rehired when it became clear said initial backlash was largely a disingenuous smear campaign.
Now sure, one could argue that Barrera isn't quite as influential to Scream as Gunn was to Guardians, which no doubt fueled the latter getting rehired.
But as others have mentioned, her character was one of the leads, with an established arc that was clearly going somewhere. Plus, the public has gradually moved Pro-Palestine (Which, I mean, yeah, pretty much everyone's gonna side with the city whose hospitals are getting bombed) over the past weeks; I'm not sure they'd take kindly to this firing.
This is also different from the situation with Neve in that that discussion was just one that reached an impasse. This is the outright AXING of someone from a project for a political opinion. That's gonna get a response for sure.
Owl House / Infinity Train / Inside Job Fan
Okay, probably should have gathered given the history the trades have had this year in hit pieces. Honestly, I was hoping to keep the politics out of this… it can be a real minefield.
Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Nov 21st 2023 at 8:22:06 AM
The Owl House and Coyote Vs Acme are my Roman Empire.
Spirit of Battle
That depends on how many people care enough about Melissa Barrera getting fired to raise a stink about it. Gunn is a bigger name and was more tied to the success of the Guardians movies. Barrera has neither of those things.
Edited by Hawkeye86 on Nov 21st 2023 at 7:54:04 AM
You and I remember Budapest very differently
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
My twitter at least is full of people being angry about her firing.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
People—particularly Scream fans—were definitely upset about Neve turning things down due to not getting paid enough. My hope is the same happens for Melissa—as well as non-fans who hate the idea of her being removed from a film for a political opinion of all things too.
Edited by futuremoviewriter on Nov 21st 2023 at 5:01:25 AM
Gunn had a bunch of A-list actors also refusing to return without him. So I imagine it depends on whether they can get Neve and Courtney to come back or not.
"Let’s see who’s stronger: someone that has something to protect, or someone that has nothing to lose."
Barb / Temporary Kylo
No matter who they do for the next MC it is gonna be one awkward trilogy. 2 films about Sam and then it just swaps to someone else.
Edited by Snoketrope on Nov 21st 2023 at 5:04:55 AM
The First man
Owl House / Infinity Train / Inside Job Fan
My father strongly believes that celebrities shouldn’t be on social media because of stuff like this.
The Owl House and Coyote Vs Acme are my Roman Empire.
Barb / Temporary Kylo
In this case what the celebrity did was good. It was being wrongly punished for it that was the problem.
The First man
Well, this is total garbage, I guess this series is dead/in limbo unless the backlash forces the powers-that-be to backpedal. Anyway...From the River to the Sea Palestine Will Be Free.
Owl House / Infinity Train / Inside Job Fan
At any rate, the director is not happy about this. He tweeted about it and then deleted the tweet:
Immense respect to him for saying that. Already was a fan and that to me really helped.
Well Scream 4 got only one in that planned trilogy, so…this would even it out I guess?
Still mad. Not on the verge of being livid like I was before though.
I'm here for our date, Rose!
Spyglass releases a statement claiming Barrera's post crossed the line into hate speech.
Which it, uh, did not, but I guess they needed an excuse to punish her for not wanting mass bloodshed.
Chris Landon deleted his tweet according to the story too. On the Internet forever now though. No changing that.
Still hoping the backlash makes Spyglass feel the heat of the decision. This won't be good for them.
I'm mad again now. Not as much as before though. Didn't go on a huge rant on either platform for instance.
Edited by futuremoviewriter on Nov 21st 2023 at 6:18:38 AM
I have thoughts on this firing but I will keep to myself and just say that I have no idea what they are going to do now. Like seriously, why fire your lead character in the middle of your ongoing arc.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread