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Few filmmakers know how to mash horror with comedy like Christopher Landon.<\/strong> His genre-bending blockbusters like Happy Death Day, Happy Death Day 2U,<\/em> and Freaky,<\/em> as well as more straightforward titles like the Shia LaBeouf<\/strong>\u2013led thriller Disturbia<\/em> and five Paranormal Activity<\/em> movies, have earned close to $1 billion despite their shoestring budgets. So it\u2019s no wonder that in 2023, he was tapped to helm Scream VII<\/em>\u2014a highly anticipated sequel starring Scream<\/em> reboot vets Jenna Ortega<\/strong> and Melissa Barrera.<\/strong> Then Barrera was fired from the film<\/a> due to her social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war, and Ortega chose to leave it as well<\/a>. Shortly after, Landon followed their lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cScream<\/em> was a very dark and tumultuous experience,\u201d the filmmaker says now, sitting at a Los Angeles coffee shop. \u201cI was gobsmacked and in shock for a while, but I\u2019m at a place now where I can talk about it \u2019cause I was able to use that unpleasant experience and turn it into something positive. And that was Drop.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Landon\u2019s latest project, opening April 11, is a clever whodunit starring Meghann<\/strong> Fahy<\/strong> as a woman terrorized by a series of anonymous text messages that demand her to kill her date (Brandon Sklenar<\/strong>)\u2014or else her young son will be murdered. It\u2019s tense and cheeky and sly all at once, as his best work tends to be. He has a talent for taking classic tropes\u2014a hostage situation, a mysterious villain, high stakes\u2014and creatively molding them into something new. \u201cThe hardest thing in the genre is to balance intensity and heart\u2014and yet Chris makes it look effortless,\u201d says Jason Blum,<\/strong> founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, who has collaborated with Landon on the Paranormal Activity<\/em> franchise, Happy Death Day,<\/em> and now Drop.<\/em> \u201cSomehow, he does this while also being a generous collaborator who makes everyone better.\u201d<\/p>\n Even as Landon was prepping for Scream VII,<\/em> he worked closely with Drop<\/em>\u2019s writers to develop the story. But he had to give up the project when Scream<\/em> demanded his full attention. Getting the job had felt like fate: When Landon was an intern at a production company in 1995, his boss had asked him to take a look at a spec horror script they\u2019d just received. After reading the first few pages, Landon ran to his supervisor’s office and shouted, \u201cYou have to buy this!\u201d The script was the original Scream,<\/em> written by a then unknown Kevin Williamson.<\/strong><\/p>\n The production company bought the screenplay, and Landon sat in meetings as it was developed. He even drove Williamson around town because the up-and-coming writer didn\u2019t have a car. Nearly three decades later, Landon could hardly believe he\u2019d been brought into the franchise. \u201cIt felt like such a full circle moment,\u201d he says, so karmic that Scream VII<\/em>\u2019s code name was \u201cFull Circle.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, in a shocking plot twist, Landon\u2019s production imploded. Barrera\u2014the film\u2019s star, set to reprise her role after leading Scream<\/em>\u2019s fifth and sixth installments\u2014made a series of social media posts expressing support for the Palestinian cause and criticizing Israel\u2019s actions in the wake of the October 7 attacks. Her comments were perceived as antisemitic by executives, igniting a firestorm. Soon after, Landon got a call from Spyglass Media Group\u2014the production company behind the horror franchise\u2019s revival\u2014telling him they were firing Barrera. Without her, the movie \u201call came tumbling down in an instant,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was devastating to suddenly cancel everything.\u201d<\/p>\n In late November 2023, news broke that Barrera had been fired, and her costar Ortega voluntarily left the movie. The cast shakeup dominated headlines, sending some Scream<\/em> fans who blamed Landon on a reckless and potentially violent rampage. \u201cPeople were threatening to kill me and my family, to the point where the FBI was getting involved,\u201d he says, still noticeably disturbed. \u201cI got messages saying, \u2018I\u2019m going to find your kids, and I\u2019m going to kill them because you support child murder.\u2019\u201d Landon has two sons, ages five and eight, with husband Cody Morris,<\/strong> a digital marketing strategist. \u201cThe head of security at various studios and the FBI had to examine the threats. It was highly aggressive and really scary.\u201d<\/p>\n To be clear, Landon says, \u201cI did not fire her. 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.\u201d But because he was the film\u2019s director, he became a target anyway. \u201cI think in the absence of people understanding how Hollywood works and what the hierarchy is, the fans were like, \u2018that\u2019s the guy.\u2019 And so they came for me, knives out.\u201d<\/p>\n On December 23, 2023, Landon announced on social media that he had exited the movie as well. He reveals now that the decision to leave the project was his own. \u201cThey wanted me to continue on. They basically said, \u2018You can restart it. You can figure it out.\u2019 But the amount of abuse that I had to deal with\u2014I decided I didn\u2019t want to give any part of myself to that,\u201d he says. \u201cFor me, it was not worth it. I would rather put my efforts into something else, where I could feel appreciated and respected. The hate and abuse really spoiled it for me, and I lost my love for the idea of going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, he says, stepping away was heartbreaking. \u201cIn the midst of all the chaos, I was grieving the loss of one of my dream jobs. I went through all the stages\u2014I was shocked, I was sad, and then I got angry. To be a part of this legacy, it was really hard to let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n