Melissa Barrerahas been incredibly busy over the last few years. Moving from herbreakthrough television role inVidato the big screen, the actress helped bringLin-Manuel Miranda’s debut musical,In the Heightsto cinematic lifeand also played a major role in resurrecting theScreamfranchise. Keeping up with her along the way, Collider’sPerri Nemiroffhad the pleasure of interviewing the actress a whopping three times forLadies Night. Over the years, Barrera has evolvedher title of a scream queenand has found more of a purpose for the jobs and art that she pursues. Don’t you wish we had a video that showed her progression side by side? Well, lucky for you, that’s exactly what you’ll find here, as segments from each of Barrera’s appearances onLadies Nightpaint a detailed portrait of how not only has she grown as a performer but also as a human.
‘Scream’ Helped Melissa Barrera Learn To Get Out of Her Head
In 2022,Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillettpicked up the incredibly daunting task of resurrecting theScreamfranchise. Reinventing the story with a hybrid group of familiar faces and newcomers alike,Barrera fell in the latter categoryand played the role of Sam Carpenter, the daughter ofScream’s (1996) co-killer, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich).During that very firstLadies Night, Barrera admitted that prior to her performance inScream, she felt pressure when doing darker roles to “be in that headspace to deliver,” adding that it took a toll on her mental health.
“I would just shut down because I thought that I had to save energy to be able to deliver that. And it made me not have fun sometimes.”
But, Barrera said that her experience onScreamwas completely different,
“I learned how fun it is to make a scary movie… I learned inScreamto trust myself, that I can get to the places that I need to get to without having to be serious and sad and in that headspace between the scenes.”
Indie Films Are Calling Melissa Barrera’s Name
After having plenty of experience in several big-budget, studio-backed projects, Barrera returned toLadies Nightto talk about bothScream VIand her new love - indie filmmaking.During her second chat with Nemiroff, Barrera admitted that she was in a funny place right before filming the sixth installment in the fan-favorite horror franchise because she wasn’t working on anything. Sure, she was doing plenty of press spots, but she wasn’t on set doing what she loved the most. It was around this time in the interview that Barrera gave Nemiroff and Collider the official word that she would be appearing in a new indie flick titledYour Monster.
She said working on this project,which saw her in a horror movie with trauma at the core, really felt like a “team effort,” explaining, “Everyone is kind of sacrificing a lot to do this very low budget thing and make it look good and make it the best that it can be.” Through working on the Vertical Entertainment production, Barrera said she felt like she could contribute more, whichgave her a major shift in perspectiveand pushed her to make sure that she wouldn’t be “put in a box” in the future.
“I just wanna do projects thatspeak to my soul and stretch me,and it doesn’t matter what size they are, because I’m meeting incredibly talented creatives that are up and coming and that I know are going to be huge, and I get to be with them when they start out.”
Melissa Barrera Discovers Her Purpose
At the end of last year, fans were heartbroken to hear that Spyglass Media, the production company behindScream, hadparted ways with Barrera. The firing happened after the actress shared a pro-Palestinian stance on her social media.Unwavering in her stance, Barrera refused to back down and has since said thatshe feels content with where her character’s storyline left off inScream VI.
Duringher most recent conversation with Nemiroff, Barrera spoke about just how much had changed since the pair last saw each other. “I think my perspective on what I’m here to do, and what I’m here to do on Earth, has changed. Likespiritually, I’ve had an awakening in the last year.” Barrera said that she wants to push forward with her career but wants to be “more intentional” about the work that she does and who she’s surrounded by.
“I want to help make the world better in any way that I can, and so I found that that goes withtrying to make the industry better and safer and gentler and nicerfor people… I think I’m just a lot more aware of the kind of people I want to work with, the kind of people that I don’t. The kinds of stories that I want to tell that willmean something to peoplethat are maybe trying to showcase the world that wecanhave as a society -more aspirational stuff… I just want to work with like-minded and like-hearted people that share values and that want to make movies and tell stories that are actually contributing something meaningful.”
You can catch Barrera in her latest horror role,Abigail, which sees her reteam withScreamandScream VIdirectors, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett. Check out our montage of Barrera onLadies Nightin the player above, and her most recent Ladies Night interview below:
After a group of criminals kidnaps the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, they retreat to an isolated mansion, unaware that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.
