Actor Matthew Lillard, 54, thought his career in Hollywood was over when “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” flopped at the box office.
“I thought I’d be No. 1 on the call sheet for the next 10 years,” Lillard said in an interview with Business Insider. “And the reality was the exact opposite happened.”
Critics ripped the 2004 “Scooby Doo” sequel as a “terrible bore,” “mindless junk,” and “not Scooby-snack worthy.” It even won a Razzie Award for the “worst remake or sequel,” and Warner Bros. canceled plans to make the third installment.
The sequel cost around $80 million to make and grossed over $84 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo — far from the $153 million the first “Scooby Doo” film grossed just two years earlier and had launched the franchise.
Lillard, who played Shaggy Rogers in the movie, believed he was “never going to work again” in the industry and re-evaluated his career and glitzy lifestyle over the harsh feedback.
“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,” Lillard said.
When ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” wanted to cast Lillard, he feared it would conflict with his ambition to be a respected actor so he passed on the opportunity, got rid of his team and went back to his first agent to focus on acting and reset his expectations, he shared with Business Insider.
“If I do ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ I’ll never win an Academy Award,” Lillard thought at the time.
Lillard, who gained popularity with roles in horror films “Scream” and “Thirteen Ghosts,” had to pivot after the disappointment of the Scooby sequel.
He moved into a smaller home, sold his fancy cars, his wife Heather became a real estate agent and he taught acting.
Since then, Lillard has added dozens of acting credits to his resume, including a recurring role in “Good Girls” and a role in the Oscar-winning film “The Descendants” with George Clooney and Shailene Woodley.
The performer continued to voice Shaggy in over three dozen Scooby-Doo films and TV versions of the franchise, including “Scooby-Doo! And Krypto, Too” and “Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!” He is also set to be in the sequel to “Five Nights At Freddy’s,” which will premiere in 2025.
