by Hannah Barbera Prods/Atlas/Kobal/Shutterstock; Charley Gallay/Getty for Netflix
Freddie Prinze Jr. will not be reuniting with Mystery Inc. so early.
After originating the live-action role of Fred Jones, the actor, 47, said a sequel to his previous two Scooby Doo movies “wouldn’t be something I would do” after bad experiences on set. “I don’t have interest, it was complicated,” he told TooFab.
“It wasn’t going to be for me, man. There was a lot of bait and switch on the first one. The studio wasn’t honest with me at all. They weren’t straight forward,” Prinze said, adding, “I’ve been on two jobs where I’ve regretted doing it It is Scooby was one of them.”
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He explained that he “didn’t fully like” the film until he saw the impact it had on young fans when Scooby Doo premiered in 2002, followed by the 2004 sequel loose monsters.
“So all of a sudden I was like, ‘Hey man, we did good. There are millions of legit people who love this movie. It’s not the movie I wanted to make, but I appreciate it,'” Prinze continued. “And that made me change my view about it.
Jasin Boland/Hannah Barbera Prods/Atlas/Kobal/Shutterstock
James Gunn, who directed the first two live-action adaptations, responded to a fan on Twitter last year who suggested he end the trilogy with the gang getting together for Scooby’s funeral. “As the great cold with Scooby-Doo? OK. I’m in,” he wrote in May 2022.
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Prinze recalled another “difficult job” in the same interview, noting that I know what you did last summer director Jim Gillespie “wanted a different actor” to play his role of Ray Bronson.
“He was very blunt about the fact that ‘I don’t want you in this movie.’ So when this is your first job and you hear those words, it blows you away, man. It kills you,” said Prinze, adding, “I wanted to fight that guy two or three different times.”
RELATED VIDEO: Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. On sharing tasks, raising children and their love story
O Fighting with Freddie the podcast host said he’s “not upset” about making the film, which “launched my whole career” and introduced him to his co-star and future wife Sarah Michelle Gellar – who also starred alongside him as Daphne Blake in Scooby Doo franchise.
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“I wouldn’t have any of the things I have without that movie, I wouldn’t have my wife, I wouldn’t have all the other movies I’ve done, I wouldn’t have this podcast,” Prinze said. “I’m here because of this fight and because of this pain and it was those things.”
