On paper, the job is simple, although excessive: kidnap the daughter of a rich businessman and hold her until dad pays the ransom. A team of experts is assembled to fulfill all the roles necessary for a heist. But after the girl is kidnapped, it slowly becomes clear that the job description wasn't entirely transparent about the real threat. Turns out daddy's daughter is a vampire.
“Abigail,“ the latest cheesy and bloody game from Radio Silence Productions (“Ready or Not”), sees Melissa Barrera take center stage as Joey, a former military doctor with a knack for reading people and someone who has serious qualms about the mission; she didn't know the target was a boy. Seeing Barrera in such a prominent role and solidifying her status as a scream queen was emotional. Just a few months ago she was unceremoniously dumped as the lead in “Scream.” franchise and accused of being anti-Semitic for her public support of the Palestinians.
I had the opportunity to speak with Barrera by phone about “Abigail.” about being Latina in the film industry and about her experience with Spyglass Media, the company behind “Scream” franchise that fired the Mexican-born actress for Instagram stories expressing support for Gaza, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 240 were taken as hostages. She had written about Barrera's firing shortly after it happened., and I was eager to get his perspective. Luckily for me, Barrera wears his heart on his sleeve.
“They took opportunities away from me,” he said. “But I always trusted in God, I trusted that everything was going to turn out well for me. “I have angels watching over me and I knew I was going to be okay.”
—Melissa Barrera
In “Abigail,” Joey is the strong, silent type with a maternal soft spot for her young captive. He is capable, sensible and constantly finds solutions. She gets things done. I was surprised to hear, then, that Barrera sees Joey as “probably one of the least like me characters I've ever played.”
“I have to find what we have in common, that's my departure,” he said of diving into his roles. “But Joey is very private, a fly on the wall. She is an observer. She doesn't want to be the center of attention. She is there to do a job and say “goodbye.” She has no interest in befriending anyone or being the leader. She's just not that person.
“But I am.”
Put that way, it's easy to see where Barrera is coming from. She is not shy about being the center of attention or being the leader. To many, including me, Barrera was best known as the person who, along with her co-star Jenna Ortega, breathed new life into “Scream.” franchise in the sixth installment of the series. But for others, he rose to national prominence after his dismissal from that same position last November after making pro-Palestinian comments on social media.
“Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” reads one of his Instagram stories after the events of October 7. “Cornering everyone together, with nowhere to go, without electricity or water… People have learned [sic] none of our stories. And just like our stories, people continue to silently watch it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE AND ETHNIC CLEANSING.”
Spyglass Media was unequivocal about why Barrera had been fired.
“Spyglass's stance is unequivocally clear: we have zero tolerance for anti-Semitism or hate speech in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion, or anything that flagrantly crosses the line of hate speech. hate,” a spokesperson told Variety. last fall.
Spyglass Media declined to comment for this story. In March, following Barrera's firing and her co-star Ortega's departure from the project, Neve Campbell announced that she would return to the franchise in “Scream 7.”
“It wasn't easy to be labeled as something so horrible when I knew that wasn't the case,” Barrera said of being accused of anti-Semitism. “But I was always at peace, because I knew I had done nothing wrong. I aligned myself with global human rights organizations and with many experts, academics and historians and, most importantly, with indigenous peoples around the world. I find that indigenous communities around the world are always on the right side of history, point-blank, period.”
As bombs continued to fall on Gaza in the months following the October 7 attack and the death toll continues to rise, some public opinion has shifted in the United States and more people have become more sympathetic to the Palestinian plight. . However, in the immediate aftermath, public statements from celebrities were rare, especially those as passionate as Barrera's.
“They took opportunities away from me,” he said. “But I always trusted in God, I trusted that everything was going to turn out well for me. “I have angels watching over me and I knew I was going to be okay.”
Barrera was not without followers. She cattle More than 400,000 followers on Instagram after her firing, and her creative partners have continued to work with her, partners such as Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of Radio Silence Productions.
“I got a lot of support from people in the industry, my family, friends, a lot of people reached out to me,” he said. “Part of me was terrified, but I don't regret anything. I do not regret anything. And you know, we're six months in and people are still dying. It's very obvious what's going on, and people are coming up and talking and I'm happy about that. It gives me hope for the world.”
However, it was a big risk to speak. Barrera's dismissal occurred in the context of a Hollywood where roles for Latinas are already increasingly rare. Latino representation in Hollywood has reportedly has not shown any growth in the last 16 years, even though the Latino population has grown in the United States, where we represent around 19% of the country's population. When Latinos are targeted, it is often as violent criminals.
“I lean toward roles that aren't written for us,” Barrera said, “because that's how we create more space for ourselves in the industry, when we strive for more, when we look for roles that aren't obviously Latino or Latino. , and that needs no explanation.”
“My characters are going to be Latinas because I am.”
(Ringo Chiu / Para De Los)
“Abigail” Joey is one of those roles, and it was a breath of fresh air to see a Latina starring in a film with such an impressive cast. In a landscape where Latinas are often pigeonholed into the “spicy” or “fiery” love interest, seeing Barrera's portrayal of a cold, calculated professional was like a respite.
“We have shows and movies about speaking Spanglish and you see grandma and you see the traditional food that she made and you hear Vicks VapoRub jokes and all that,” Barrera said of the typical roles offered to Latinas, “and that guy Representation can certainly be important. But it seems that Latinos always have to do something stereotypical to explain who we are, so that the majority feels comfortable with our presence, and I have never liked that. I simply enjoy being a human being, who is allowed to exist without having to explain myself.
“My characters are going to be Latinas because I am,” she added.
I asked Barrera if, while under intense scrutiny, she thought about the precarious position that Latinas occupy in Hollywood, an industry where their presence is conditional and where they are often considered disposable.
“I have never considered myself expendable,” he said. “I know what I can contribute to a project. I know that I have worked very hard and that I have worked with people that I value and who value me. So I'm not afraid. I don't believe that human beings are disposable. I believe that every human being has value. I think that is why I am so passionate about Palestine, its human rights and its self-determination.”
The entertainment industry is fraught with dangers for marginalized people. But for Barrera, being afraid is not an option and he dismisses the idea of having to protect himself from his beliefs or play along with the system. When he signed up, he knew that speaking and using his platform is simply part of the job description.
“That's what art should be,” he said. “We are supposed to, yes, bring joy to people through art, but also talk about the world. We are supposed to make art that is a reflection of the world and what we want that world to be, what we know about the world. can be.”
Despite their differences, it seems that Barrera has this in common with Joey: he has a job to do and he intends to do it, no matter what dangers he may encounter along the way.
JP Brammer is a Brooklyn-based columnist, author, illustrator, and content creator. He is the author of “Hi Daddy: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons,” based on his best-selling advice column. He has written for outlets such as The Guardian, NBC News and the Washington Post. He writes regularly for De Los.
