Matthew Lillard might best be known for his appearances throughout the uber-popular “Scream” franchise, but when he filmed the original installment, he didn’t think it would become the cult classic its regarded as today.
“I was in the back of a car, driving home from work one night, at like six in the morning, covered in blood,” Lillard said during a panel at New York Comic Con (via EW). He explained that he and his co-stars were discussing their next career moves: Courtney Cox was returning to “Friends,” while Neve Campbell was going back to “Party of Five.” “And I’d literally just been on a pilot, and I’m like, ‘This movie’s lame. Nobody’s gonna see it. I’m going to go become a television star,’” said Lillard.
He continued to say “that pilot never went, and here we are 30 years later,” adding “nobody could have possibly ever imagined” what “Scream” would become. The first film, released in 1996, began a seven-film franchise, with the latest installment having been released earlier this year.
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Lillard played one of the original Ghostface killers,
Lillard played one of the original Ghostface killers, Stuart “Stu” Macher, in the film. In addition to Cox and Campbell, he starred alongside Skeet Ulrich, David Arquette, Drew Barrymore and others.
Recently, Lillard got honest about his feelings toward another franchise he starred in: the early 2000s live-action “Scooby-Doo” and “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.” While participating in Variety‘s“Know Their Lines”video series, the “She’s All That” actor admitted he began to resent the films after the latter disappointed at the box office.
“It was the first big movie that I was in and it was a big opportunity for me,” he said. “And then I felt that ‘Scooby Doo’ is this big movie, I’m now going to go off and be a big movie star. And it was right about this time, after the second movie, that my career took a real nosedive for a long time. Like, I may be one of those guys from the ’90s that never comes back. This movie is a love-hate relationship for me because I was like, ‘It’s “Scooby Doo’s” fault. That’s why I’m not working.’”
