Movies
Jenna Ortega Not Expected to Return for ‘Scream 7’
One day after Melissa Barrera was let go from the upcoming Scream 7, Deadline is now reporting that Jenna Ortega will also not be returning for the slasher sequel.
Deadline clarifies, “This has nothing to do with the fallout from Melissa Barrera‘s firing yesterday by Spyglass Media over that actress’ social media repostings on the Hamas-Israel conflict; nor does it have to do with the actress asking for an end to her Scream contract.”
The website also notes, “We understand that Ortega’s exit from the next Scream was discussed before the actors strike. A script for Scream VII is not ready yet, and the Primetime Emmy nominee has to head to Ireland in April to shoot the second season of Netflix’s Wednesday which will go into the summer.”
Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega have been up to this point the two main leads of the new Scream trilogy, playing sisters Sam Carpenter and Tara Carpenter. Needless to say, it’ll require a huge change of plans to take the story in a different direction. No word yet on whether or not Jasmin Savoy Brown or Mason Gooding will be returning for the seventh installment.
Stay tuned for more on this developing story as we learn it.
What we know about Scream 7 so far is that Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Freaky) will be directing the upcoming slasher sequel for Spyglass and Paramount.
Scream and Scream VI directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Radio Silence) will remain on board as executive producers, as will Chad Villella.
Landon also wrote the second, third, fourth and seventh installments of the Paranormal Activity franchise, along with writing and directing Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. Needless to say, he’s got a highly respectable horror pedigree as he heads into Woodsboro, and his previous work proves he has the right sensibilities for the Scream saga.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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