For most of us, the Scooby-Doo movies provide a sense of nostalgia. They're iconic for what they were: goofy, fun, and not too serious. Unfortunately, for Matthew Lillard, who played Shaggy in both live-action movies, they were a turning point in his career, and not in the way he hoped.
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In fairness, the original Scooby-Doo movie, which was released in 2002, was a massive success. Based on his performance, it was expected that he'd be going on to bigger and better things. However, the follow-up movie, titled Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, was a huge flop, and that's where things took a turn.
"It was the first big movie that I was in and it was a big opportunity for me," Lillard told Variety. "And then I felt that 'Scooby Doo' is 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. Like, I may be one of those guys from the '90s that never comes back. This movie is a love-hate relationship for me because I was like, 'It's "Scooby-Doo's" fault. That's why I'm not working.'"
After struggling to find work following the second movie, Lillard admits that he began to resent Scooby-Doo.
"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."
Matthew Lillard Had To Restructure His Life After 'Scooby-Doo'
With work being sporadic, Lillard eventually came to the conclusion that he needed to restructure his life. The aim was that no matter what happened, he and his family would be financially secure.
"My wife and I would have had to sell everything. We eventually [did sell a lot]," Lillard explained. "We sold our cars, we sold our house. We basically downsized our lives so that we could live in a very affordable way."
Another change Lillard and his wife made was that she went back to work as they sought more stability.
"And my wife went back to work, and that was a real pivotal moment for me as well," he recalled. "Like I felt like before this movie, 'I'm doing all these movies and I'm a big guy.' The reality was I'm not. I was always a character actor, and I thought I was more than that. There was, like, a real humbling of Matthew Lillard that happened right after this movie, and now I'm so grateful for it."
Lillard has since found other avenues in which to be successful, including voice acting, cameo appearances, conventions, and the occasional movie. Still, for the majority of us, he'll always be Shaggy.
