Matthew Lillard lost everything after the failure of Scooby-Doo 2

The Sammy interpreter thought the Scooby-Doo films would make him a Hollywood star. But after the failure of the sequel, his career suddenly took a nosedive. To the point of having to sell your house…

Matthew Lillard has long had a complicated relationship with Scooby-Doo.

Guest in the video series Know Their Lines of Varietythe actor returned to the unexpected consequences of the franchise on his career. In 2002, the first live-action film was a great success, with $275 million in worldwide revenue. Enough to give Sammy’s interpreter hope for a future as a blockbuster star. But the sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: The monsters are unleashedreleased in 2004, did not meet with the expected success. And his career took a turn for the worse.

“I felt a lot of pressure not to be bads”, he tells Varietyabout his role alongside Freddie Prinze Jr. (Fred), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Daphne) and Linda Cardellini (Véra).

“It was the first big film I was in, and it was a huge opportunity for me. I told myself Scooby-Doo was a big movie and I was going to be a big movie star.”

But the flop of the sequel – which still earned $180 million at the box office – changed everything. The reviews were disastrous and the actor had a hard time recovering:

“It was around that time, after the second movie, that my career really took a nosedive…and for a long time. I thought maybe I was going to become one of those actors from the ’90s that never comes back. I have a love-hate relationship with that movie, because I was like, ‘It’s Scooby-Doo’s fault. The reason I’m not working anymore is because of that.“

Looking back, Matthew Lillard admits to having long harbored resentment towards the franchise, without ever regretting having participated in it. Because the money earned on the second film allowed him to get through this difficult period.

“I resented Scooby-Doo for a long time, but I never regretted doing it, because the truth is, without the money I made on the second movie, I wouldn’t have held on… My wife and I should have sold everything. And that’s ultimately what we did, for the most part. We sold our cars, we sold our house. We have reduced our lifestyle to be able to live much more affordably. And my wife went back to work.“

The actor describes this period as a real personal turning point:

“Before this film, I said to myself: ‘I’m making all these films, I’m someone important.’ In reality, this was not the case. I’ve always been a compositional actor, but I thought I was more than that. This time has been truly humbling for Matthew Lillard, and today I am grateful for it.”

Subsequently, the now 56-year-old actor continued to lend his voice to Sammy in animated films Scooby-Doo. But he also landed supporting roles in notable films like The Descendantsawarded at the Oscars, or A new chance (Trouble with the Curve), directed by Clint Eastwood.

A different career, far from the superstar dreams he had in the early 2000s.