James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy and lord and master of DC, is also, for some reason, the screenwriter of Scooby-Doo, the 2002 live-action movie with Freddie Prinze Jr, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, and Matthew Lillard. It couldn’t be more nineties, even at the start of the 2000s. Although it hasn’t stood the test of time, it made good money back then and that was more than enough to spawn a sequel. And it all went to hell.
Where Are You?
Although this sequel didn’t do all that badly (it cost between $25 million and $80 million and grossed $181 million) more was expected, and hopes for a franchise went down the toilet. Matthew Lillard, who had come off Scream, had a golden opportunity to become a star, but he couldn’t break through. “I had a lot of pressure not to screw it up. It was the first big movie I was in and a great opportunity for me. And then I thought I was going to be a big movie star”. He was. But in his own way, years later.
“After the second movie, my career fell apart for a long time. I could be one of those 90s guys who never comes back. I have a love-hate relationship with this movie, because I used to say ‘It’s Scooby-Doo’s fault. That’s why I’m not working’”. Just imagine for a moment blaming your unemployment on a Great Dane who solves mysteries.
You can’t imagine how completely he lost it: “I never regretted doing it because the reality is that if I hadn’t had the money I made on the second one, I wouldn’t have been able to keep going. My wife and I would’ve had to sell everything, and we almost did. We sold our cars, we sold our house. We downsized so we could live decently. Before this movie I thought ‘I’m making all these movies and I’m a big deal’. The reality is that I’m not”.
Honestly, I don’t think I like anyone in Hollywood better than Matthew Lillard. It takes guts, after all, to admit you thought you were all that… and you were always, simply, Shaggy.
