Does Matthew Lillard Know His Lines?

I have no idea how deep we're going. I hear you, I still quit. I resent this could be for a long time. These are lines from my career. Oh yeah, are we going? We're about to begin. I'm Matthew Lillard and this is the lines from my life. Hack the Planet, that's so easy. Hack the Planet's from Hackers. Look, Hackers is one of those movies that when the movie came out, I don't think it did great. I think this could be most of my career. In the moment, it doesn't really resonate and sort of comes out flat and then over time that movie becomes this pop icon of a generation. So they put me on Rollerblades at 6'4", that's a lot. And I just remember feeling really cool but then seeing the movie and realizing I looked really dopey. And I don't really realize how tall I am but then when you put me in Rollerblades and I'm taller than the Empire State Building I realized, oh, this is, I do not look nearly as cool as I felt. It was a big movie for its time, and it was the launch of Angelina Jolie. And I think now more than ever, this film needs a sequel. It's like so relevant right now to what's happening in the world in terms of our information and how it's being sold and how we are exposed online. That may be my favorite part of the interview. Houston, we have a problem here. Where's the gun, man? I think that that's an improv line. That's from the movie Scream. Houston, we have a problem here. You know, where do you start? One of the great things for me in that movie-making experience is that Wes and Kevin were super generous. They wanted as written, right? But then they wanted you to explore. They wanted you to hurl things, and they liked those idiosyncratic beats. The filmmaking's changed so much over the last 30 years. it's really hard to remember like how slow it was how labored it was how long you had to shoot a movie I mean you'd be on the road three four five months now for me it's like a month and a half two months maybe I mean that's the most I think it's really important to know that nobody expected anything out of it right it was a Wes Craven film after he had had a bunch of runs of success and then not some successes right and I remember being in the back of the van on the way home one day everyone's talking about what they're doing and nev's going back to party five and courtney's going back to friends in the back of my mind i'm like well i'm gonna go back and this pilot's gonna get picked up and i'm gonna go off and do tv for the next three years and who cares about this stupid movie and i do think i was like oh it's like another horror movie people have this expectation that scream was this huge thing in the moment and it was but when you're shooting it Nobody has any idea of where it's gonna go or how it's, you know, Scream 7 just came out. Horror's been slagged off for so long as just a money grab in a lot of ways, like do a genre film, we'll make money, do it cheap, and you know, we'll turn a profit. And I just think that what's happening now, a great example is Mike Flanagan's Carrie, which I'm in. I think that Mike Flanagan is an incredible storyteller and filmmaker. It has nothing to do with being a horror director. He's just an incredible storyteller. And I think that these, like, stigmas that have been placed on top of horror for so long are being shattered. Sometimes people call me cagey and quiet. Did you honestly think I would leave for All-Star Road Rules and still be dating you? That's hilarious. She's all that. American cult classic. Did you honestly think I'd leave for All-Star Road Rules still dating you? It's hilarious that it still comes up all the time. I don't know why it's still relevant or that people still enjoy the movie. It's Pygmalion, told for the millionth time. One of the great things about this movie is that it's got all these lovely performances. Dulé Hill, Freddie Prinze Jr.'s lovely in it. Paul Walker's first film, God Bless His Heart. Rachel Lee Cook's such a lovely actor. I just think that these actors come together. I feel like I have my shirt off a lot in the movie. and right when I was making this movie I met my future wife I remember like saying I was like I can't drink I'm on this keto diet and she's like you're the skinniest thing in the world like what are you talking about that boy 27 28 I'm 56 now you don't have to google I'll tell you you know so insecure but so insecure about what he looked like or how he felt or you know in that moment like i was going to like in hollywood like we were going out and like sort of going to the cool spots and like i thought i was fat right and i thought i was ugly and all these things i look back at that boy i'm like what a waste of energy that was to be so insecure and being really concerned that people were in front of me in terms of career success or money am i gonna hang around oh well Well, the sun never sets on the British Empire. Well, the sun never sets on my asshole. That's hilarious. That's SLC punk. Well, the sun never sets on the British Empire. Well, the sun never sets on my asshole. You said to me, like, what is the movie that best demonstrates who you are as an actor? And I want my kids to remember. And I want, you know, to be celebrated long past the time I'm gone. It's this movie. And I think this movie is so powerful for that community of outsiders that, you know, sees themselves represented in this really human way and emotional way. And I'm like proud of it in so many ways, you know, and there's a moment in the movie where he finds his best friend dead. You know, as an actor, I think it's important to have moments in your career that resonate with you, that you're proud of, because there are times for me in my journey where I'm like, oh, I'm not good. I'm not a good actor. I'm never coming back. You know, there's self-deprecation. There's this imposter syndrome for me in my life. And I have to hold on to these moments. So I got this audition, and I did not like the movie. I did not like the script. I literally passed on it, like, twice. I think my agent was like, just talk to the producer. The producer's like, you've got nothing to lose. Just come in and talk to the director. And I did. I went in and sat and talked to James Marandino. The way he pitched it, the way he, like, sort of brought me in as a collaborator, and the way he spoke to, like, what he saw the relationship looking like, at the end of that meeting, I was like, all right, let's go do it. yeah i thought we you know we did something pretty badass frost in suit is not capable of that kind of power these are lines from my career is is it legends of adventress oh what this i have no idea how deep we're going oh that makes my heart sing frost in suit is not a legends of adventress is one of the great live play dungeon dragons 5e compatible games out there i love dungeon dragons I'm an active part of the community, but I don't watch Critical Role. I don't watch Adventress. And so I loaded into this game not knowing what I was getting into. I think I was coming from London, but I was like, I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was so tired. And then we started playing this game. And the way they tell stories and the way they are a community around that table, it drew me in. And we played for, we had a great session of like three or four hours. I have always tangents in my career like they've pulled me into different things and this like community and these people reminds you of why you became an actor in the first place right you walk into a theater and you feel seen with your people and this sort of reminds me of that I think the thing that's interesting about live play and how it's so relevant now is because people are longing for stories right and i think that when they watch someone like matt mercer tell a story and and those guys tell a story or adventurous they listen to it passively they they listen to it while they're doing the dishes or while they're cleaning the house and it becomes something that they look forward to because it's so enveloping and it's so human i think that when you walk when you sit at the table you have these voices or you play these games but you're telling the story live in that moment there's something there's an energy about it that's different than something manicured like the achievement of a christopher nolan film is undeniable but it's it's put together sitting around that table you're laughing authentically you know you're you're sharing stories authentically you're emotionally you end up i mean i end up crying in games all the time Something that is very geek culture and people consider niche, that has mass appeal. It's out! Just keep your eyes on the monitors and keep people out. Keep your eyes on the monitors and keep people out. I have no idea what this is. Oh God, is this 13 Ghosts? No, oh, oh this is Five Nights at Freddy's. Just keep your eyes on the monitors and keep people out. This never happens to me. I got a call from my manager saying, Hey, you have this offer to do a movie, go sit with the director. If it goes well, the project's yours. And I'm like, that's never normally a good sign. Like most of the time that movie's pretty bad. And I went and sat with Emma Tammy, who's the director. And I was like, why me? Like, you know, in the script, as I read through the script, I literally think I had four lines. I don't know what, what, why would I do this job? Like, why are you coming to me? I feel like anyone can do this. And she said, well, the thing about William this guy I was playing the yellow rabbit and he is this character named William Afton and she said you know William Afton is like the Voldemort character in Harry Potter and we want to make three films so you're not a big part here or the big part in the second film but the third film and I was like oh yeah okay I'm in I'm totally in you know and the fan base is so voracious and it turns out i mean that if you make movies for fans of an ip that are committed and you make it in a way that's about honoring them they'll come out and support it and so 30 million dollar movie makes 300 million dollars worldwide massive hit i'm sort of in this moment of like having another moment in my career and i think a lot of it has to do with the success of this film and it reminds people Hollywood moves on so quickly and I forget but I just had this like massive sort of like oh wait what about Matthew Lohan moment all right I'm so happy I can ---- cereal mom cereal mom was the first movie I ever did it was the third audition I ever had I was at circling square here in New York and I was working as a waiter and I got the job I had to quit school and everyone in my class i was like i got this job i have to quit but today we're going up to my restaurant we're gonna drink all night i'm gonna buy drinks all night and my manager at the restaurant i was like i quit because i'm going to do a movie he's like you work tonight i'm like i don't i just quit he's like you know a lot of actors they go do a movie they come back and they need a job you're not gonna get a job back i'm like i hear you i still quit and we sat around and we drank that night and my dad was there. At the end of the night, we were so drunk, my dad and everyone from class was carrying me around the bar. John Waters was hilarious. He changed my life. I mean, along comes this audition. You know, I had this long hair. I was very Californian. I had my skateboard because I had skateboarded in. And he asked me all these questions about my skateboard. I was like, do you ride that skateboard? I'm like, I do. I ride it all the time. And then he called me back like two days later and it was raining And I took a cab, but I brought my skateboard anyways because I wanted to make sure he remembered me. All of a sudden, you go from being an actor who knows nothing about being on television or film to working on a John Waters film. And the learning curve of that was crazy. And the idea of doing a John Waters movie, I was like, oh, I'm doing this movie. I want to figure out who this guy is. And I printed Pink Flamingo, which is what everyone talked about when they talked about John Waters. and I was like oh my gosh and there's very famous scenes in Pink Flamingo that were pushed the boundaries of what even you see today I was like what is this guy and like what have I got myself into but he ends up being this patriarch in my life that you know he's sort of like always been this really important person in my life and I'm always grateful because it's my first film last one hong kong phooey watch the fist of fury would you buddy oh that's hilarious would you buddy it's hard not to slip into it when i think of it uh scooby-doo hey hong kong phooey watch the fist of fury would you buddy you know between this and scream it's 50 50 in terms of somebody walking up to me scooby-doo is one of those movies that i argue is around the time that dvd started to phase out and I think that people ran around with this DVD in the back of their minivan for like 20 years and would just play every time the kids got in the car it would just be on and that's why so many kids love this this movie and identify with it I felt a ton of pressure to not suck it was the first like big movie that I was you know obviously Scooby-Doo's the star but I felt like oh gosh this is a big opportunity for me and I felt like oh now that Scooby-Doo's this big movie I'm now going to go off and be a big movie star and it was right about this time after the second movie that my career took a real nosedive for a long time I may be one of those guys from the 90s that never comes back so it was like you know this movie's like a love-hate relationship for me because I was like oh it's Scooby-Doo's fault that's why I'm not working I was like, no, you're not working because you played a young man kid for, you know, 15, 17 years, 18 years, and you're not anymore. You're like a grown-ass man. I resented Scooby-Doo for a long time, but I never regretted doing it. Because the reality is that if I didn't have the money I made in the second film, I wouldn't have made it through. Like, my wife and I would have had to sell everything. We eventually did. We sold our cars. We sold our house. we basically downsized our lives so that we could live in a very affordable way and my wife went back to work and that was a real pivotal moment for me as well like I felt like before this movie this is a really this is a lot of information and I don't know if people really always share these kinds of things but I thought I was the ---- like I thought I was like oh I'm doing all these movies and I'm a big guy and you know and the reality was I'm not I was like always a character actor and I thought I was more than that there was like a a real humbling of Matthew Lillard that happens right after this movie that now I'm so grateful for. I feel like in Scream, I was trying to win an Academy Award with every line, like every line. Same with Hackers. Like I am chewing the scenery in every scene because I'm like, it's like I'm an animal getting on his last breath. Like, am I ever going to work again? I'm going to get all my greatness into one line. These directors loved it. And there is definitely a quality about me as a young actor that served hackers, that served Scream, that served Scooby-Doo, that, you know, God, if I didn't have it, I don't know if I'd be here today after all these years.