Matthew Lillard Thought “Scooby-Doo 2” Would Make Him a Star, But 'the Exact Opposite Happened'

The actor, who played Shaggy, said the movie's box office failure made him re-evaluate his career plans

• Matthew Lillard opened up in a new interview about how his career fell apart after the 2004 release of Scooby-Doo 2

• Lillard, who also starred in Scream and She’s All That, expected the movie would make him a superstar

• Lillard has continued to voice Scooby-Doo’s Shaggy in animated films and recently starred in Five Nights at Freddy’s

Sometimes Hollywood careers take unexpected turns.

Matthew Lillard shared in a recent interview that when Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed was released in 2004, he thought it would definitely be his star-making moment. "I thought I'd be No. 1 on the call sheet for the next 10 years of movies," he told Business Insider in an interview published Oct. 31. “And the reality was the exact opposite happened.”

Lillard, 54, played Shaggy in the franchise, alongside Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, Linda Cardellini as Velma and Neil Fanning as the voice of Scooby. The first film, Scooby-Doo, released in 2002, had been a box office success, and a third movie was planned.

But Scooby-Doo 2 was not successful critically or commercially (though in the next 20 years, it attracted a cult following) and the third film was canceled. It was a reality check for Lillard, whose early successes included Scream and She’s All That. He would always read his own reviews and would even go to the movie theater hoping to be recognized.

"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 explained to Business Insider. 

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Lillard’s offers dried up after Scooby-Doo 2, and the actor took years to reflect on the direction of his life and career. "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," he said. "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 got rid of his whole team and returned to his original agent, he told Business Insider. "I said, 'I just want to be an actor. I just want to be in movies. I want to reset my expectations.' "

Beginning in 2010, Lillard became the go-to voice for all things Shaggy, voicing the iconic character in movies like Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon, Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy, Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island and many more.

Lillard received acclaim last year with a starring role in the horror film Five Nights At Freddy's, which became a box office success. Next year, he’ll appear in horror director Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck. He also launched his own spirits company this year, Find Familiar Spirits.

Related: Matthew Lillard Recalls Meeting FNAF's Costar Josh Hutcherson When He Was a Kid: 'He's a Little Baby' (Exclusive)

"One of the great moments in my life is understanding that I have power outside of just being an actor," Lillard told Business Insider. "That, to me, has been way more satisfying than getting a part in a movie ... I've been at all aspects of the career, and I love where I'm at right this second."

Even though Scooby-Doo 2’s release didn’t live up to expectations, Lillard still had good memories from that time in his life. He told Vice in 2017, “I was in London, for the premiere of Scooby-Doo 2, and we took a tour of the Children’s Hospital in London, and there was a little girl there who was about to go in for her third open heart surgery.” Her family was trying to get her to take her medicine. “And in that moment, they said, ‘If Shaggy does his voice, will you take your medicine?’ ” Lillard remembered, tearing up. He did the voice, and she took her medicine and went into surgery.

“In a life of uncertainty as an actor — you’re trying to raise your kids and you have good moments and bad moments — there’s something really profound about playing a character that is bigger than you,” he explained of his role as Shaggy.

“The reality is that I’m a caretaker for a part that will be somebody else’s someday, but there’s no doubt that — not to sound too hokey — as long as I have it, I’ll respect it and think it’s really awesome. And the little moments like that where you can help kids and you can effect change, it’s really pretty amazing.”