LOS ANGELES, 10 APRIL

Director Christopher Landon says he never fired Melissa Barrera from ‘Scream 7’ and added that his exit was due to massive threats he was getting.

“People were threatening to kill me and my family, to the point where the FBI was getting involved. I got messages saying, ‘I’m going to find your kids, and I’m going to kill them because you support child murder.' The head of security at various studios and the FBI had to examine the threats," he told Vanity Fair in an interview.

Landon was the original director of the upcoming film "Scream 7", which initially had Barrera and Jenna Ortega in the lead.

However, in November 2023, Barrera was fired from the project over her comments on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Following, Ortega announced her exit. Later, Landon also backed out.

“I did not fire her (Barrera). A lot of people think I had something to do with it, and it was not my doing. I had no control of the situation at all," he added.

Ortega has recently shared her decision to exit was due to Barrera's firing and not because of pay or schedule conflicts, like some previous reports said.

"The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart. If ‘Scream VII’ wasn’t going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn’t seem like the right move for me in my career at the time," she told entertainment outlet The Cut.

‘Scream 7’ is now being directed by Kevin Williamson.