Happy Death Day director says he once wrote a movie based on "a very big" horror franchise, but a studio rejected it because it had a gay lead

Christopher Landon says he once wrote a movie for "a very big and popular" horror franchise, but a studio rejected because it had a gay lead.

It's safe to say the writer-director is a well-known name within the genre, having worked on hits such as Heart Eyes, Happy Death Day, Freaky, and the Paranormal Activity franchise. But even he's had serious struggles when it comes to putting LGBTQ+ characters front and center in blockbuster titles...

"Oh, fuck no!" he laughs when SFX magazine asks him whether we can expect to see a horror movie with a gay lead in cinemas anytime soon. "Here's a great example, and I won't name names... I wrote a movie based on a very big and popular IP that had a gay lead, and that was the thing that stopped it from getting made," Landon reveals in the new issue, which features Black Mirror season 7 on the cover and is available on newsstands now.

"[The studio] just couldn't deal with it; they were worried that it would alienate half the audience or half our country [the US] in particular. So it didn't move forward," he goes on. "It was a shame as it was actually one of the best scripts I've ever written.

"I was insanely proud of it, and it would [have been] a great movie. But until people stop worrying about what everybody thinks, and they stop catering to the lowest common denominator for money, those things won't change. The glass ceiling is still there and it's not going anywhere."

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Over the years, Landon has managed to pepper his projects with queer supporting characters, from Misha Osherovich's Josh in Freaky to Tim (Caleb Spillyards) in Happy Death Day, who protagonist Tree (Jessica Rothe) helps accept his sexuality.

"I'm always trying to push that," Landon continues. "It's not my agenda, but it shouldn't matter – and that was the bummer of that particular experience."

For now, Landon is gearing up to release Drop, a new thriller that sees Violet (The White Lotus's Meghann Fahy) forced to navigate a disastrous dinner, when a mysterious texter tells her to murder her date – or else they'll kill her son back home. The gimmick? Said threats are being delivered to her via AirDrop, which means the sender must be in the restaurant with them...

Drop releases on April 11. Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Black Mirror season 7 on the cover. Check out what you need to be looking out for on newsstands below...