Early on in Scream star Melissa Barrera‘s career, the actress landed her first role in a “big studio movie,” Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s blockbuster musical, In The Heights. But the film went on to face extensive backlash for its perceived lack of Black and Afro-Latino characters, considering the musical is set in the Washington Heights area of New York City.
In conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Barrera noted that the movie was expected to be a major milestone for her career.
“My problem was with the press that came out that just felt mean-spirited toward the film. That was my first big studio movie, and everybody was telling us, ‘Your life is going to change.’ Then it doesn’t happen, so it was very heartbreaking and soul-crushing,” she said. THR noted in its report that Barrera declined to comment on the accusations of colorism that the film faced.
But the spirited musical still served as a valuable lesson in acting for the actress.
“I’m grateful for how it happened,” she said. “It taught me a lot about the industry, about myself, about expectations, about not letting the noise outside put a stain on my experience.”
Barrera played Vanessa, an aspiring fashion designer who dreams of striking out on her own. She starred opposite Hamilton alum Anthony Ramos, a bodega owner who finally gets his chance at romancing Vanessa.
The film, directed by Jon M. Chu, is an adaptation of Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical. Though it underperformed in the box office when it premiered in June 2021, it earned positive reviews.
Chu addressed the criticism in an interview with The Root, saying they “tried to get the people who were best for those roles.”
Miranda also released a statement addressing people’s criticisms of the cast. “I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latino representation,” he wrote in a statement shared on social media at the time. “The work feels extractive of the community we wanted so much to represent with pride and joy.”
Miranda did not address the debate either in his statement to THR, though he praised Barrera’s work ethic, writing, “Her fearlessness and her commitment to finding the truth in a given scene is second to none. And her commitment to increasing Latina representation in Hollywood is helping to propel this industry forward.”
Barrera made headlines in 2023 when she was ousted from the Scream franchise over the social media posts she shared following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in Israel.
