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\n When writer-director Christopher Landon departed \u201cScream VII\u201d in 2023, there was what he says really happened and then there was a perceived story of what went down.\n <\/p>\n
\n Landon \u2013 helmer of popular horror tiles including \u201cHappy Death Day\u201d in 2017 and 2020\u2019s \u201cFreaky,\u201d and the son of \u201cLittle House on the Prairie\u201d star Michael Landon \u2013 left the \u201cScream\u201d franchise shortly after then-star Melissa Barerra was fired from the project<\/a>, following social media posts she shared around that time about the war in Gaza.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere was no movie anymore. The whole script was about her,\u201d Landon said in the newly published book, \u201cYour Favorite Scary Movie: How the Scream Films Rewrote the Rules of Horror\u201d by Ashley Cullins, via Entertainment Weekly<\/a>. \u201cI didn\u2019t sign on to make \u2018a \u2018Scream\u2019 movie. I signed on to make that movie. When that movie no longer existed, I moved on.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n And while he said he left the project \u201cabout a week after\u201d Barrera\u2019s exit, the narrative that played out on social media painted him as \u201csome sort of villain\u201d who had a hand in the actress\u2019 firing.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThey were all screaming at someone who wasn\u2019t 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,\u201d Landon said.\n <\/p>\n \n Days after Barerra\u2019s exit from the film \u2013 the seventh installment in the popular horror franchise that launched in 1996 and was rebooted in 2022 \u2013 her costar from the previous two slasher sequels Jenna Ortega also dropped out<\/a>, adding to the hysteria around the next installment\u2019s production status and ultimate fate. Landon added in the new book that his decision to speak out about his departure publicly became necessary \u201cafter the threats got too intense.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI 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,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a \u00ad public\u2011facing person, often people don\u2019t like that. People want an immediate reaction, and they want you to agree with them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n![\"Melissa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/mcdscre-pa116.jpg\")
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