Matthew Lillard feared he would never work again after Scooby-Doo 2 flopped

1 November 2024, 20:18

Matthew Lillard thought Scooby Doo 2 would make him a Hollywood star until it flopped. Picture: Kevin Winter/WireImage, WARNER BROS via Alamy

By Katie Louise Smith

"I said [to my agent], ‘I just want to be an actor. I just want to be in movies."

Loading audio...

Matthew Lillard is one of the internet's most beloved actors, and the extremely talented star has been in some of the most popular films of the '90s and '00s, including Scream, Scooby-Doo: The Movie and She's All That. He also's been the voice of Shaggy for 20 years.

Following the massive success of the first Scooby-Doo film, Matthew signed on to reprise the role of Shaggy in 2004's sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, picking up the biggest payday of career.

He thought the film would see his career explode, cementing his spot as a highly sought-after leading man but when it sadly flopped at the box office, he thought he was about to fade into irrelevancy.

Speaking to Business Insider, Matthew admitted: "I thought I’d be No. 1 on the call sheet for the next 10 years of movies. And the reality was the exact opposite happened.”

Matthew Lillard thought his career was over after Scooby-Doo 2 flopped. Picture: Getty

Opening up about his career at the time, Matthew explained that Scooby-Doo 2 forced him to reprioritise his goals as an actor.

"I was caught up in the success of what I was doing, I was caught up in the parts I was getting, I was caught up in this drive to be quote-unquote famous," he shared, adding that he has now stopped caring about fame.

“I was going to do ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ And I was like, if I do ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I’ll never win an Academy Award. If I do ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I’ll be famous and not a great actor, and I really just wanted to be a great actor," he told the publication.

"I said [to my agent], ‘I just want to be an actor. I just want to be in movies. I want to reset my expectations.'”

Matthew Lillard found recent success with Five Nights At Freddy's. Picture: Alamy

“I’ve gone through good patches and bad patches," Matthew continued. "I’ve been irrelevant and thought I was never going to work again."

Matthew's comments echo what he said earlier this year about how his role in Five Night's At Freddy's helped revive his career and popularity with younger audiences. He said that he felt like his career was "dead" before he took on the role and the film became a huge success.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter who asked if he had expected such an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the film, he said: "My middle kid called me crying because they were so happy for me when the movie came out. They went to the movie with all their friends, and I think they were very proud of me being a part of it."

He then added: "For me, personally, it has been a very humbling moment in my career. I’m 53, and I’ve had a couple franchises in my career that have been successful. I [had thought] maybe that part of my career is dead and over, and that’s fine."

"To get this opportunity out of the blue to have another franchise that could make a real impact on my career is humbling and exciting, and my kids are thrilled."