The drama surrounding the production of ‘Scream 7’ is never-ending. The horror-mystery saga’s sequel has once again graced the covers after an interview with Matthew Lillard, who reprises his role as Stuart Matcher years after his death in the first installment. And, as expected, one of the topics tackled has been his presence in the film. His answer was clear: he feels “ashamed” of having worked on it.
Those are strong words, but they come directly from Lillard in the interview. “I feel bad about it. It makes me embarrassed,” the actor says straight to his interviewers. “At that moment I was so excited to come back that I didn’t really think about Melissa Barrera during that process. I didn’t say no. I feel ashamed; that’s the truth, I blew it. That’s why I’m on the wrong side of history.”
The Wrong Sides
Lillard acknowledges that he enjoyed playing the role and the chance to work on Scream again, although he admits it wasn’t his best move. It’s a tricky position to be in, since he says Barrera was right to protest in support of Palestine. “She was fired for what she said about Palestine, for what began to happen with Israel. It’s a real dump and very hard, and she is on the right side of history.”
In fact, the actor delves a bit deeper in the interview into the stance his former colleague found herself in, and describes how unjust the situation was for her. “When they start coming after your work, sometimes the things at stake are worth fighting for. When that happened to Melissa, the whole world didn’t raise its voice. She was ahead of what was happening by a year. The whole world should have stood up and said: ‘She’s right’. And nobody did. And that’s brutal.”
A Historical Review
The fact that Lillard acknowledges the issues with his participation in the film marks a significant step forward, though it’s not accurate to say that no one spoke up. The Palestine protests were a prominent controversy at the film’s premiere. In fact, one could argue that the debate continues today in Hollywood, with actors like Susan Sarandon arguing that there is still a blacklist on which people like Melissa Barrera remain barred from working in the industry.
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