Fan love for Matthew Lillard is only ever as far away as the actor’s next project. With the big screen adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s reminding the public just how much the 53-year-old actor rules, we’re taking a look at some of his best work across the years.
Scream
On the off chance that you haven’t seen Scream, we’re not going to talk too much about it here except to request [re: order] you to watch it ASAP. It’s a must-watch if you like scary movies, if you like Lillard (of course you do!), and if you want to revisit his character in FNAF but without rewatching the film.
SLC Punk!
If you — like everyone — have been to Salt Lake City and immediately wanted to punch somebody, check out SLC Punk!, a crash course in youthful rebellion, anger, and the importance of knowing what vitamins do and don’t look like.
The Descendants
In 2011, one of the best things that a movie could be, from a business perspective, was a giant bummer. We’re talking Midnight in Paris, The Help, Green Lantern. All flew to dizzying heights of success, thanks to their brave willingness to be kind of a drag.
And that went double for the year’s Academy Award winner for Best Adapted Screenplay, The Descendants, starring George Clooney as a man forced to come to terms with his wife’s imperfect humanity after she lapses into a coma. The film features an absolute gut punch of a performance by Lillard in a role that we won’t spoil here. Suffice it to say, it’s a downer.
Hackers
Is it the best movie ever made? That’s debatable. Some of us would say yes, but it’s not something we need to fight about. The thing is, I put The Descendants on this list despite it being a huge bummer with Beau Bridges in it. That’s there for you guys. In return, I get Hackers.
Hackers is the story of some teenagers with construction-grade hair gel using computer magic to befuddle Penn Jillette. It stars Angelina Jolie back before she finished pupating. In the world of Hackers, everybody has rollerblades, the operating systems strive to match the opening titles from The Matrix, Windows 95 reigns supreme, and Matthew Lillard has pigtails. It’s like someone made a Redbox knockoff of Cyberpunk 2077 25 years before it came out. Hack the planet, baby.
Critical Role
In a career marked by more beloved, iconic roles than most actors could hope to bump up against, none of Matthew Lillard’s projects have had the same fan appreciation as Critical Role. One of a few thousand tabletop roleplaying series from the last few years, it is perhaps the most beloved entry in a desperately crowded genre.
Lillard, a longtime self-professed nerd with his own brand of luxury, RPG-themed whiskey, only popped up on Critical Role twice. Both times, he unofficially reprised his character from 1995’s Hackers. That’s right, this is still about Hackers. Hack the planet, baby.
A panopticon of Scooby-Doo! projects
Most of the time, attaching your face to an iconic horror villain will do a number on your viability as a family-friendly draw. Robert Englund never made the transition from Freddy Krueger to Sesame Street. Anthony Perkins died without ever having convinced anyone that the Bates Motel was a great family destination.
Then, out of nowhere, Matthew Lillard pulled off the seemingly impossible transition, seamlessly jumping from a role as a generation’s most notorious slasher to the most huggable stoner in Scooby-Doo! The 2002 live-action deconstruction of the Hanna-Barbera classic saw Lillard donning the chin beard and bellbottoms of Shaggy Rogers, children’s television’s beloved legalization advocate. What’s more, he never quite seemed to let go.
While Lillard’s co-stars would all join him for the film’s sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, none of them would hold onto their characters with quite the same fervor as Lillard. Since his first appearance as Shaggy over 20 years ago, he’s gone on to reprise the role in over 50 separate projects, ranging from Lego animated movies to Batman cartoon cameos. You can even relax to the ASMR-adjacent sound of Shaggy getting punched repeatedly in the stomach, thanks to Lillard’s voice work in the multiplayer fighting game MultiVersus.
Five Nights at Freddy’s
The critics didn’t love Five Nights at Freddy’s, the film adaptation of the video game phenomenon that boldly asks “What if The Rock-afire Explosion tried to eat your soul?” Critics don’t like lots of great stuff. Denny’s never get glowing reviews from food critics. People are snobs.
The fact of the matter is, if you love the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, you’ll probably have a good time watching Matthew Lillard chewing pizza grease-stained scenery as — giant air quotes — “career guidance counselor Steve Raglan.”
From The Head
This is a weird one. The directorial debut and, to date, the only film made by George Griffith, From The Head is a tough sell on paper. The whole movie takes place in the bathroom of a strip club, with characters entering the orbit of the bathroom attendant. It’s a unique indie project that didn’t get a ton of attention when it came out in 2011. It got great reviews, and it’s generally accepted as the best movie set in a bathroom currently available for purchase on Amazon.
Without a Paddle
Without a Paddle may not be a great movie, or even — to hear critics describe it — a very good one. The comedy was puerile when it came out 20 years ago, and it hasn’t aged gracefully. It’s a Harold and Kumar, Dude, Where’s My Car?, Mallrats-style stoner comedy with more than its share of dumbness and, judging by the way the combination of music and happy couples at its climax, an apparently fundamental misunderstanding of the lyrics of “Ooh La La” by Faces.
But by God, if you were about 15 years old when you first saw it, that movie was revolutionary, with its body hair jokes and its execution of the old “I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you” bit. It even taught a generation of kids about D.B. Cooper. It’s basically educational.
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Say what you will about the Brenaissance. But Brendan Fraser won’t be getting the credit he deserves until Looney Tunes: Back in Action gets some long-overdue reconsideration. Matthew Lillard plays himself, in a tense meeting with Shaggy and Scooby where they express their unhappiness with his performance in Scooby-Doo! Yes, it only lasts a few seconds. So what? Some of cinema’s most iconic performances are brief. Alec Baldwin was only in Glengarry Glen Ross for one scene. Are we comparing Looney Tunes: Back in Action to Glengarry Glen Ross? Yes.
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