Melissa Barrera Is Not Going Anywhere

Melissa Barrera seems remarkably composed for someone navigating one of the most trying periods of their personal and professional lives. You’ve probably seen the headlines: The rising star of Vida, In the Heights, and the Scream films was fired from the horror franchise and falsely branded antisemitic for a series of Instagram posts calling attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza that’s claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.

She subsequently released a statement saying, in part, “I condemn anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people. As a Latina, a proud Mexicana, I feel the responsibility of having a platform that allows me the privilege of being heard, and therefore I have tried to use it to raise awareness about issues I care about, and to lend my voice to those in need.”

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We’re huddled together in the lounge of a hotel in Park City, Utah, where Barrera is debuting her latest film, Your Monster, at the Sundance Film Festival. Written and directed by Caroline Lindy, it follows Laura Franco (Barrera), an aspiring Broadway actress who’s been dumped by her playwright-boyfriend (Edmund Donovan) in the midst of her cancer fight. One day, she finds a surprisingly charismatic and kind Monster (Tommy Dewey) living in her closet, and the two form a bond that helps get her back on her feet. It’s a role, and a film, that showcases a side of Barrera — who’s been dubbed a “scream queen” by the press —that American audiences haven’t seen before: ace comedic timing and a facility with playful, screwball-comedy banter. It also allowed the former Tisch musical theater student a chance to live out her Broadway dream.

Barrera spoke with Rolling Stone about her exciting new role in Your Monster, her career journey, and the recent fracas.

“I feel like whatever I say is just going to make it worse,” she says.

How did this fun spin on Beauty and the Beast come about?
It’s so funny: So many people have been asking about the Beauty and the Beast reference, and it didn’t begin as that at all. Originally, in the script, it was more of a banter-y comedy with this monster as a guide. But once we got on set, the chemistry was so good with a lot of the improv that it became a lot more romantic and Beauty and the Beast as we were shooting. That’s one of my favorite Disney princesses, so I love that that’s what it’s reminding people of.

I was pleasantly surprised by the screwball comedy tone of this. This is a side of you we haven’t seen as much onscreen — the lighthearted, comedic side.
I missed doing comedy! I hadn’t had the opportunity to do it since I’d left Mexico. And then Caroline [Lindy] came along with this film. What I would get a lot in the industry is, “We haven’t seen her be funny.” So, people don’t even give you the chance. But Caroline was like, “I know you’re funny. I just do.” And I was like, “Well, thank you for that. Let’s do this!” And honestly, it was the most fun I’d ever had on set. There was so much laughter. The gag reel is going to be amazing.

And you have a musical theater background, right?
I do. I went to Tisch and was the last class into CAP21, which is the musical theater studio that was associated with NYU, and they’re not anymore. Lady Gaga went to CAP21.

Back when she was Stefani Germanotta, and her NYU classmates had a Facebook page up saying she would never be famous.
Yeah, apparently. Well, they’re eating their words now! I went to school there for musical theater — that was my first love — and I just wanted to do Broadway, and life took me in a different direction. But I always gravitate toward projects that have a musical component.

Your character in Your Monster is also navigating a toxic male Broadway director. And there’s a great scene where you get to tell him off. What was that like to act out?
It felt great, I’m not gonna lie. Edmund [Donovan] is such an incredible actor that he plays the douchebag so well. He’s not a mustache-twirling villain but a very real guy you run into everywhere who’s very narcissistic and misogynistic but thinks he’s a feminist — the fake feminist. He believes he’s doing this wonderful act on behalf of women and is a white savior. But on behalf of Melissa in all my years of life, and all the women that I’ve ever met who have dealt with anyone like this, to be able to tell him off in that major way — on a stage, with an audience — was very cathartic.

What were those early years like for you as a young actor in Mexico City?  
I’m from Monterrey, but I feel like Mexico City made me. I learned so much. I started working in soaps, then working on TV shows while doing theater simultaneously. I was a workhorse — shooting all day and doing a show at night, and on the weekends. It helped me a lot when I moved to L.A. in 2017. I had the smoothest transition because it was Vida, the crew mostly spoke Spanish, the creator was Mexican, the director of the pilot was Mexican, so it was the exact same thing, I was just speaking English. I live in Austin, Texas, now. It was a pandemic move — I fled. I’m so happy there, but also great Mexican food.

I think about those Veracruz breakfast tacos all the time.
Actually, I dare to say there’s better Mexican food in Texas than in California. I know it’s a very bold statement.

That is bold. Did you decide to move to Austin to escape the paparazzi madness of L.A.?
That never worried me. The whole celebrity aspect of it never was a thing because I don’t think I’m that famous to where that would affect me.

You’re pretty famous!
No, I’m really not! I swear. I’m not! But the thing about it was, I never felt at home in L.A. It made sense to be there when I was shooting Vida because it shot there, but once it ended, I was like, “Why am I here?” I felt very lonely a lot of the time. And I’m a loner; I’m very much a homebody. I don’t go out much. But it made me lonely, and I didn’t like that. I wanted to be closer to my family — and closer to my mom, who still lives in Monterrey — so Texas made sense. And then I was like, “Where in Texas?” And I chose Austin because it’s the blue dot in the red sea, and it still has music festivals, SXSW, Robert Rodriguez and his studio there, so you still feel connected.

I wrote a piece that was critical of the way Hollywood has treated you and others for speaking up about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. And when Spyglass fired you from Scream VII, they accused you of a number of things, including “Holocaust distortion.” I couldn’t find any evidence of this and actually found the opposite. That’s a crazy thing to accuse someone of without evidence. They tried to kill your career.
Yeah. I appreciate you. I’m not the first person that’s happened to, but it was shocking. I don’t even know what to say. I think everything that happened was very transparent, on both sides, and I know who I am, and I know that what I said always came from a place of love and a place of humanity and a place of human rights and a place of freedom for people, which shouldn’t be controversial. It shouldn’t be up for debate. So, I’m very at peace. The people who know me in my family know the truth about me and where I stand, and I think most people in the world also do.

Recent polls say that the majority of U.S. voters want a ceasefire and end to the violence. So, supporting a ceasefire and end to the violence is not some fringe opinion and yet you were fired over it.
It’s for the well-being of both sides of that wall, you know? An end to the violence. That’s it. An end to the violence for everyone’s peace and security. Just… humanity.

I’m excited for Abigail. After watching the trailer, I was a bit confused as to how all the kidnappers ended up trapped in this house with a ballerina-vampire.
It’s a spin on the Dracula world of vampires, and that’s revealed in the trailer. It starts off as a heist movie where you have a group of kidnappers, each with their little area of expertise, and they’ve been told that they’re going to get a huge chunk of money, but they have to wait in this house for 24 hours for the ransom. That’s the job. And they don’t know each other; they’re all in this for this one job. And it turns out the job is… something else.

I saw that you had a Scream reunion recently with the cast and took a photo together. How did that come about?
It just so happened that we all found each other at the annual evening-before-the-Emmys thing. Jenna [Ortega] and I were talking, so I knew she was gonna be there, and Liana [Liberato] and Jack Quaid had been together the night before at Universal’s Oppenheimer celebration. But then Jasmin [Savoy Brown] was there, and Skeet [Ulrich] was there, and Tony [Revolori] was there, and Mason [Gooding] was there! So, we all took a picture. We hadn’t seen each other in a while, which was nice.

It seemed like Jenna Ortega had your back throughout all this. After you were let go from Scream, she exited the franchise. And I know reports at the time claimed that she was already exiting, but that didn’t seem like the whole story. It seemed like there was some sisterhood-solidarity going on.
Listen, Jenna is a good egg. She’s a good person and we love each other. She would show up for me and I would show up for her no matter what.

Other than Susan Sarandon, the only major folks in the industry I’ve seen that have had their careers impacted from speaking out about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza are people of color, and mostly women of color. It’s like, what are we doing here?
I wish I knew. I wish I had an answer.

Situations like this also let you know who your real friends are.
One hundred percent. It’s great. It’s like a filter. It’s very important, in this industry, to know who you can count on and who you can’t, and who you wanna work with and who you don’t.

After watching you in Your Monster and In the Heights, it feels like it’s time for some Broadway producer to cast you in a show.
You’re not the first person to say that and I’m keeping my fingers crossed because that’s literally one of my biggest dreams, to be on Broadway. I’m a theater nerd. There are lots of roles that I would love to do — Waitress is one, and Into the Woods is another show that I really love — but I also feel like my dream musical has probably not been written yet. I want to originate a role. I want to be the first to sing the words or the songs of a character and be on the original Broadway cast recording. That’s one of my dreams.

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