As a die-hard Sarah Michelle Gellar fan, I definitely watched both Scooby-Doo movies, but this is the first I’m hearing that they were originally supposed to be R-rated. Um, what the what? Anyway, Freddie Prinze Jr. said he regrets the version of Scooby Doo that they ended up doing. He says the studio pulled a “bait and switch” with the project and the script he agreed to was not the one they ended up filming.
Freddie Prinze Jr. probably won’t be going blonde to play Fred Jones ever again.
The actor, wife Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini all starred in two live-action “Scooby-Doo” movies back in the early 2000s. The films were both directed by Raja Gosnell and written by James Gunn, who, of course, went on to become a massive name in pop culture thanks to “Guardians of the Galaxy” and his new gig as co-CEO of DC Studios.
The two films raked in a lot of cash at the box office for Warner Bros., though they weren’t exactly critically-appreciated hits. While kids back in the day were fans, the projects left something to be desired for older audiences who grew up on the cartoons. In the years since the movies, both Prinze Jr. and Gunn have confirmed that the script for the first movie was actually a much more adult film — with Gunn saying it actually received an R-rating from the MPAA before drastic cuts were made to get it down to PG. The R-rated cut is a thing of legend, but, according to Gunn, “doesn’t exist anymore.”
With fans still holding out hope for a more mature Scooby-Doo, TooFab asked Lillard if he’d be down to do one with the original cast at Comic-Con last year. He said he would, before Prinze chimed in on Twitter saying, “Rightly or wrongly they don’t have the guts to make that movie.” Gunn eventually added to the thread, saying, “I think they’d do it if we asked. I just don’t think I have the time right now!”
“It wouldn’t be something I would do. I have zero interest … It wouldn’t be for me, man,” he recently told TooFab, before calling out Warner Bros. “There was too much bait and switch on the first one, the studio was not honest with me in any way, shape or form. They were not straight forward in any way, shape or form.”
“It wasn’t the best. I’ve been on two jobs where I had regret doing it and Scooby was one of them,” he added. Prinze has previously said the script he was handed when he landed in Australia to film was totally different from the one he signed on to make … and even considered quitting the project on the spot.
“I’m a really honest guy, man … when I get lied to, you’re dead to me, I don’t trust you ever again. I’m telling you, ever again,” he continued. “So some of those people would have to still be involved if it got remade. And that’s not any business I want to be involved with.”
“I’m only gonna work with people I love and respect and who love and respect me,” said Prinze Jr. “I only want to work with people that I love and respect or are looking for an opportunity to earn my respect and vice versa.”
While the finished product was not what he wanted to make, the actor said he has come around to appreciating his time as Fred thanks to the reaction from fans in the years since.
“I didn’t fully appreciate Scooby until it was seen and children came up to me, like, ‘Oh my gosh,'” he explained.
“And when I was able to appreciate the experience through their souls — because that’s what they’re doing, they’re bearing their souls, ‘When I was a kid, I watched this and I made my dad watch it 30 times’ and they’re sharing their life, that’s your soul, right? — then all of a sudden I was like, ‘Hey, man, we did good,'” he continued. “We did good, there’s legit millions of people that love this movie. It wasn’t the movie I wanted to make, but I appreciate that and it made me change my outlook on it.”
I do think it’s for the best that they did not film an R-rated version of a children’s cartoon. Even the HBO version of Gossip Girl was uncomfortable, imagine an R-rated Scooby-Doo. Apparently, that R-rated Scooby script was written by James Gunn, which suddenly makes that rating make sense. Anyway, I get what Freddie is saying here. It’s not so much that he’s disappointed the movie wasn’t R-rated, but he’s upset that he was lied to and that the script was changed so much from the version he first saw. That makes sense, but I imagine it happens all the time with the finished product being quite different from what was originally pitched. Freddie seems to take a hard line about stuff and maybe that’s why he doesn’t work as much anymore. It does seem like he appreciates Scooby for what it was now. I wonder if SMG feels similarly. And I was surprised to learn that the thing he regrets most isn’t that horrible blonde wig.
Photo note by CB: Some of these photos are from the 2002 Netflix movie Christmas With You starring Aimee Garcia and Freddie Prinze Jr. Credit: Netflix. He is also shown at the premiere of Wolf Pack with Sarah Michelle Gellar. Credit: MediaPunch/Backgrid, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon
It seems it was his first and last movie he ever made…..
it was neither his first nor his last movie
Is this sarcasm? He’s been in lots of movies.
Ha! This is a funny statement because it’s first and so loudly wrong.
But it is interesting that he gets to draw this hard line about not working with people who aren’t honest when his wife spent YEARS working with a gaslighting POS who treated folks terribly on set. FPH’s stance is a lovely stance to be able to have about work, but I strongly suspect he’s able to have it because she put up with so much on Buffy (and had a steady income for those years).
FPJ had his own negative experience on his first movie when the director did not want him cast and treated him poorly.
I’m one of the parents whose kids made me watch those movies multiple times. They were fun and silly. I have no idea how they could have been made gritty or serious!
My brother was obsessed with that first movie when he was little. He was Scooby multiple Halloweens. I’m sorry that FPJ wasn’t altogether happy with the experience making it, but I’m glad he can appreciate how much happiness that relatively silly and light film* has brought to fans over the years.
And it isn’t a perfect film* but one thing that absolutely nailed was casting the Scooby gang. Everyone was just spot on for those roles. He was perfect for Fred.
*I don’t really remember the second movie they did well enough to comment on it
I thought those movies were great!! I watched them with my kids many times. I think the R rated version would not have done well.
He was so upset he only did one sequel!
He might have been contractually obligated to do a sequel.
My 3 year old niece loved the movie. It has a soft spot in my heart just by remembering her delight watching it.
I watched Scooby Doo as a kid in the 1970s-80s, and frankly after grocery shopping on Saturday mornings, i occasionally still watch it (thank you @Boomerang streaming)
And i LOVED those movies as an adult. They were silly, i may not have been sober. But they, i thought, walked a nice line between total silliness and a little winking at the camera.
Between this and what he said about the horror movie he did- what a let down to having your dreams come true by being successful at acting (which almost no one gets to do).
The movies are silly but lots of Kids really like them mine included. I would never have suspected that the actors involved had any idea the movies would be a thing other than almost campy. Those wigs.
Matthew Lillard is an amazing, underrated and underappreciated actor.
That is all.
Pretty much the only thing I remember about the movie is how great Matthew Lillard was as Shaggy (well, that, and that I enjoyed Linda Cardellini as Velma too). He nailed the cartoon character’s voice, his walk, everything.
I watched that movie once and didn’t care for it, so I get what he’s saying that the kids liked it but not the adults. I thought it had a weird tone to it, though, which could be explained by this story. I never heard that it was originally R rated. What an odd choice.