Melissa Barrera On ‘Your Monster’ Role & “Not Making Yourself Small”
SPOILER ALERT! This post contains information from Your Monster.
Melissa Barrera plays a beautiful woman who embraces the beast within her.
The actress said that she was inspired by the writer/director Caroline Lindy to play the role because her character learns “not to make
smaller in the eyes other people” after falling in love with the titular monster.
She is well aware of this struggle, as she was fired last year from her role as Sam Carpenter after she expressed support for Palestine during the Israel-Hamas war.
[herself]
Barrera is “honored and grateful” that fans still consider her a scream-queen, and she’s also thankful for her roles in Bed Rest 2022 and Radio Silence’s horror comedy Abigail this year. She said, “I believe the horror fandom is the most generous of all fandoms. They are so supportive and loyal.” “I hope I can continue to provide them with more films that they enjoy.”
Your Monster will certainly fit the bill. Barrera plays Laura Franco, an actor who is soft-spoken and is dumped by Jacob (Edmund Donovan), while recuperating from surgery. She retreats to her childhood house to recover. Laura’s future is bleak and she is further insulted when she discovers that her ex-boyfriend is staging a show that he helped develop. Out of these heart-wrenching changes, a Monster (Tommy Dewey), with whom Laura finds a connection, encourages her to follow her dreams and open her mind, and fall in love her inner rage. (Vertical Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Lindy’s own experience with cancer, which she describes as “comfy and cozy” and “campy” fairytale, inspired her to create the film. She was also inspired by Nora Ephron, Rob Reiner, and the romantic comedies of the era.
She explained, “I kept thinking about that time when I was so struggling.” “It was a time in my life when I developed a relationship with my anger and fell in love with a side of me that had lain dormant most of my adult life. It was like I fell for my monster. I thought, “That would make a great rom-com.” ‘”
Lindy and Dewey worked together on Criminal Minds episodes and his Hulu show Casual when she was an actress. He has a special quality which reminds me of a classic male lead rom-com actor like Tom Hanks. He has a Billy Crystal edge. He’s just so comfy, cozy, and he’s such a brilliant person and actor and just kind, like good to his core,” she raved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRbpP1i99YE
Dewey was thrilled to be asked, saying “nobody has ever asked me before to play a creature.” He then worked with Lindy on adapting the short film into a full-length feature.
Lindy got lucky when she cast Barrera, a NYU Tisch grad who had outstanding performances in In the Heights (2020) and Carmen (2022). She explained that it’s difficult to find actresses with her level of fame, who can sing and dance as well as be as lovable and want to make small independent films.
During her first day on the Toronto set of her new untitled James Wan-Simu Liu thriller series at Peacock, which she described as “very exciting,” Deadline caught up with Barrera about embracing her inner monster for Your Monster.
DEADLINE: It
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DEADLINE : How was it working on an indie film compared to the other big budget films you’ve done recently?
BARRERA:
It was very refreshing. When you do an independent film, it feels like a team effort. It’s like hustling in guerrilla fashion. You have to be flexible and go with the flow. There isn’t much time to shoot the scenes. It feels more organic and raw in some ways. In this particular case, because I have done independent films before, but in this instance, I felt like I was working on a film with my friends. This reminded me of my time at NYU, when I worked with students in the film department to create short films for their classes. It was like returning to those days. Everyone is very invested in the project and has told themselves they won’t sleep for the month ahead because it will be intense. But we’re all doing it together because we are passionate about the story and we have to make it work. When you make a film like that, something magical happens.
Melissa Barera and Tommy Dewey, Your Monster (2024). (Vertical Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection)DEADLINE: Tell me a little bit about working with Tommy, you two had such a great dynamic on screen. What was it like to build that dynamic, and maintain it through all the layers of prosthetics? BARRERA:
I mean, obviously we had an Oscar winner doing the prosthetics, right? Tommy’s expressions, micro-expressions, and facial features were still visible, even when the mask was on. It was incredible. Tommy is a great actor, he’s funny and the best at improvising. It was so easy working with him. We felt as if we had known each other for years. We fell into the dynamic on the first day, because we had worked through some scenes previously. It’s a different experience when Tommy is the monster and Tommy has his face on. We shot our first scene together on the set, and that was the first thing we did. It was about finding the right tone and the level of each character. Once we found it, we said, “OK, I am in this adventure, and we are going to have fun,” and that is what we did.
It was fun to watch you both. And I really enjoyed the musical element, the singing and dancing. You said that you are a musical theatre nerd. What was your process for preparing for that part of the film?
BARRERA:
I mean, I’ve always tried to keep my vocals in good condition, even when I’m not working on something that’s specifically musical. I do vocal warm-ups to keep my voice in good shape. It was a great opportunity for me to perform original music. It was my first time singing original music. For the composers, like the Lazour Brothers who are so talented, what they accomplished with this musical and the song at the end of the film was an incredible feat. He’s talented and it’s the 11-o’clock number but also needs to fit Laura’s journey. It was fascinating to watch the team work on the lyrics, but I was horrified by the sheer range of the song. “You guys, what’re you doing to my face?” I asked. What do you guys think? They said, “We know you can do this.” So I worked on learning to sing the song. It’s a marathon. It was fun to be able to incorporate my love for musical theatre into Laura’s geekiness and talent and show that at the end. It was a lot of fun. The entire movie takes place in the world Broadway. Do you have any Broadway dreams after attending NYU? What show would you love to be in?
BARRERA:
Oh, yes. Oh, my God! That’s my dream. It’s my dream. I’ve tried to get on Broadway for years. They won’t take me. I was obsessed with Rent and Spring Awakening and Wicked and Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin and Les Mis. I’d be happy to do anything. For my Broadway debut I would love to play a leading role. I’d love to be a part of the original Broadway cast for a particular show. It would be a dream come true.
Melissa Barerra in Your Monster. (Vertical Entertainment)
Sundance
[David LeRoy Anderson]DEADLINE I’d love to watch you in the film adaptation of Spring Awakening, whenever it happens.
BARRERA:
Oh my God, I’m too old. I’m getting old. That was literally my dream. You have no idea. In middle and high school I waited for the announcement. It’s been rumored for a long time. My dream was to appear in the Spring Awakening musical film. Duncan Sheik, who came to see the Mexican production of Spring Awakening and said our version of “Purple Summer” was the most beautiful he had ever heard, visited us. It was incredible. Now that I am 34, I can say that I have done it. I’m way too old to be a naive, naive girl who doesn’t understand what sex means. DEADLINE I loved Meghann’s character in the movie and honestly thought that the monster would kill her. It was great to see the two of you working together, and not women fighting each other. [Daniel and Patrick]BARRERA :
That is exactly why Caroline did it this way. It’s easy to make a woman out as the bad guy in such a situation. She didn’t like that. I think that it’s beautiful and important when women stand up for one another. We had many conversations about the scene that would take place between our characters. Everyone knows women like Jackie and Meghann, who seem to have it all together. But they are also dealing with bull—- from men. So, it was important for Caroline to humanize her in the end and to have that very earnest conversation between them and have them like team up, because like we wanted people in the theater to be like, “F– you!” at the end.
DEADLINE: I also loved the movie’s message of embracing your inner monster and finding someone who validates that and doesn’t judge that. Was that something you felt when you took on the role? BARRERA:
Definitely. It’s difficult to learn, especially today, in an age of social media and messy pictures, to love yourself even when you are “ugly”. It’s almost like we want to show how perfect or great our lives and how flawlessly we are. That’s just not true and it’s certainly not the essence of being human. The story in this movie, I believe, is that the monster is the guide. It’s the person who’s going to teach you how to love yourself fully and use your voice. There are other monsters as well. The Monster in the movie is not really the Monster. Taylor, Megan Masako Haley and Edmund Donovan attend the Your Monster premier in New York City on October 24, 2024. (Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)
DEADLINE: And I have to say, I love all of your horror roles. What does it feel like to be a scream Queen for this generation of fans?
BARRERA: It’s crazy to even be told that because I think there’s so many amazing actresses that have come before that I still think, “Those are scream queens.” I’m just getting started. I am a little old girl, but I love the genre. I enjoy being a Final Girl and making people laugh with bloody movies. I believe that the horror fandom is the most generous of all fandoms. They are so supportive and loyal. Because they are so supportive, I know the fans I made during my horror film years in Scream, Abigail and Bed Rest, and other movies I’ve done will show up and watch Your Monster. So I’m very grateful that people think of me in that way, and I hope to continue making movies they enjoy.
