Melissa Barrera has made a name for himself as Samantha Carpenter in Radio Silence’s rebooted Scream films, and she is now set to reunite with the directing conglomerate for a new project. Deadline has reported that Barrera has been tapped to star in Radio Silence’s upcoming monster film for Universal Pictures.
According to Deadline, Barrera is set to play a key part in the still-untitled film. The project, which was announced just days ago, will reunite the 32-year-old actress with Radio Silence, the directing collective of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett. Bettinelli-Oplin and Gillett directed the 2022 Scream reboot and its 2023 follow up, Scream VI. Both films were extremely commercially succesful, with Barerra helping to reinvigorate the iconic 1990s slasher franchise.
Radio Silence will helm their upcoming Universal film with Chad Villella, who will produce the vehicle alongside William Sherak, Paul Neinstein and James Vanderbilt for Project X Entertainment. The film’s screenplay was written by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick. While plot details about the film remain close to the collar, the project, known now simply as “Untitled Monster Thriller,” will reportedly be in the vein of Universal’s recent monster flicks that adapt classic horror characters. This includes The Invisible Man, and the studio’s upcoming film Renfield about the life of Count Dracula’s titular assistant. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film was at one point given the working title Dracula’s Daughter, though it is unclear if this is still the case. That version of the film had “centered on a group of kidnappers who abduct a band of young people, one of whom ends up being the titular character. Woe then befalls the kidnappers.”
Barrera Is a Rising Hollywood Star
Barrera first became widely known after starring in the 2021 musical drama In The Heights from director Jon M. Chu, in which she appeared alongside an ensemble musical cast. However, it was her casting in Scream in 2020 that would propel her to new fame, with Barrera’s character Sam becoming a breakout star of the film. Her reprisal of the role in Scream VI helped that film become the highest-grossing installment of the franchise domestically, and it became the first Scream film since Scream 2 in 1997 to gross more than $100 million at the box office.
Barrera also flexed her musical chops in Carmen, a 2022 musical drama in which she starred alongside Paul Mescal. She will next be seen in Kwame Kwei-Armah’s feature film debut, The Collaboration, which completed filming last year and is based on the Broadway play of the same name. Barrera will star in the film along with Paul Bettany, Jeremy Pope, and Daniel Brühl.
No release timeframe for Radio Silence’s upcoming Universal monster film has been announced.
