Matt Lillard: From "Shaggy" to Daddy
Lanky, funny and friendly actor Matthew Lillard first grabbed our attention as the film buff killer in the scary Scream. He was creepy in Thirteen Ghosts but it's his wacky take as Shaggy in the Scooby Doo movies that cemented the actor as a comic genius. Matt has played "the friend" or "the sidekick" in various films like Wicker Park and the comedy hit Without a Paddle and he's now determined to take on some leading man roles that allow him to grow up. Matt says casting directors still think he's a 20-year-old college guy.
Lillard has two very young daughters and was happy to return to the indie film world to play Des, the young, cool dad of two boys in the slice of life dramady The Groomsmen, the new film by Edward Burns who alternates in the indie film world as actor/writer and director. Matt was cute in blue stripe shirt and slacks when we sat down at the trendy Le Meridian Hotel in L.A. His cufflinks contained adorable cameo pictures of his beloved, tiny daughters. Awwww, what a great dad. The last time we interviewed Matt (for Without a Paddle) he was one sick dude, just having returned from Mexico with a case of the Montezuma's Revenge that made him a bit green.
TeenHollywood: Last time we interviewed you, you got very sick.
Matt: I did. I had poopie panties, yeah [did we mention that Matt is the dad of two young girls?]. I'd gotten back from Mexico. True. Thank you for reminding me.
TeenHollywood: In The Groomsmen, you have a great dramatic scene when you are talking to Eddie Burns about being a dad. Was any of that scene improvised?
Matt: The only thing that was improvised in that scene is when I said 'you have one kid, your life's all right. You have two kids, it's over'. It was funny because he'd actually just had a second kid and he called me up and said 'you know that line? That was a good line'. A funny story about that scene, actually is I had just arrived in New York and I'd never met Eddie face to face. We'd talked on the phone so I showed up and went to get my wardrobe fitting and went to the set to say 'hi' and he was like 'hey, you're here'. I was like 'yeah. I was getting fitted'. He's like 'you know, we're kind of ahead by forty-five minutes, you want to try to grab that scene?'
TeenHollywood: Just like that? You just got there?
Matt: Yeah. I was like 'you know, it's the emotional lynchpin of my entire character and I just got off the plane but, yeah, if you want to. I'm great, let's go'. I work with an acting coach before every movie so I was ready but That's Eddie in a nutshell, ' Let's go. Let's go do that scene. Let's go now!' He's that kind of fast, inspirational, shoot it now kind of director.
TeenHollywood: So, you had never met Ed. What made you want to do this film?
Matt: I didn't know him but I knew of him. I knew his work. I made a very conscious choice last year to go back to doing independent films after "Scooby 2", Wicker Park and Without a Paddle. All three of those were big Hollywood movies and I just felt like I wanted to find another way into being a leading man, being a lead in a movie. To me, that came through independent films. I read Ed's script [for The Groomsmen] and I was like 'I would kill for you. This is exactly what I want; to be a man and to be funny at the same time but also be able to carry the weight of being a father'.
TeenHollywood: Do you run into casting directors or directors who just think of you as the funny guy because they know you from Scooby?
Matt: Absolutely. I can be funny but you always want something else. When is Robin Williams ever going to be funny again? It's like 'Dude, all right. You're a serious actor. We get it'. You always want what you don't have. For me, I came off of Scooby and was like 'I want to be serious'. I don't know what I'm doing.
TeenHollywood: So we won't see you in a Without a Paddle 2?
Matt: If we're going to sell out, I'd rather sell out to "Scooby 3". It's just a weird time in my career right now. It's a transition from being a kid to being a man. Hopefully, they figure it out and I don't get left in the trash heap.
TeenHollywood: You look very young. Is everybody just getting married and having kids much later in life now?
Matt: I definitely think so. When my parents were coming up, you were getting married at 21. Now if you get married before thirty, people sign your death certificate. There's no way that marriage is going to last. So everything has been pushed back because longevity of the human being has increased exponentially, so yes, there's no rush. You don't see characters in movies anymore getting married at 21 although that's kind of an interesting movie in itself isn't it?
TeenHollywood: You've had a degree of responsibility yourself at a young age being a father.
Matt: Yeah but I was ready. As ready as you can be. It's a big leap of faith. But, I was born to be a dad. I'm a really good dad.
TeenHollywood: Okay, you and your character say 'one kid, your life changes, two kids your life is over'. Would you ever go for three?
Matt: If you said to me right now, 'Matt, next time you'll have a boy', I'd do it in a second. I have no desire to have three girls. I've had the experience with two and right now the man to man coverage is perfect. I took my daughter on a date yesterday, just her and I and it was great. Now if I have three kids, or my wife takes two and I'm stuck with one all the time, it would not be a good situation.
TeenHollywood: How old are your daughters?
Matt: Four and one and a half. We went to see Cars and we rode the carousel [at the afterparty] four times. That's how good of a dad I am. Get off every time and go back around and get back on. I'm like 'why can't I just stay on the horse? I've got a token'. 'Please, sir. You have to get off and you have to stand up and hold her'. I'm like 'if she falls off the horse, that's a lesson I want her to learn'. If she can't hold on to the carousel horse, then she shouldn't be on the carousel horse. Please, sir'. 'How tall is she?' 'I don't know. She's four. What does her height have to do with whether she can hold onto the horse?' Then the ostrich was very high and kind of fat and I was 'Oh f**k, she's gonna fall off that'.
TeenHollywood: Ah, the joys of dadhood. So, are you still getting offers to play like "College Frat Slacker"?
Matt: Oh yeah. I just got offered to go and read for Jessica Alba's little brother. They'd have to re-write it but [stoner voice] the stoner brother dude. But this industry is a tough industry. You're continually trying to break the mould. Trying to maintain integrity or financial well-being or maintain a level of celebrity that allows you to open doors [is hard]. Your goal in this industry is to create your own destiny, to be able to say 'all right. That's what I want to do next'. Ultimately, not that many people can do that.
TeenHollywood: You were perfect casting for this role. In your own group of friends, are you the guy everyone comes to for advice?
Matt: I was the first to get married and the first to have kids and I'm the oldest son on both sides. I'm the oldest of like sixteen grandkids so, yeah. I'm also like, in terms of my friends, the most successful actor and I've been doing it the longest. I have no problem being that guy. No ego whatsoever. [He pauses to show us his cufflinks with cute pictures of his kids inside like a cameo]. Those are my kids. Please write down that they are handsome children. But, I'm taking an acting class again which is crazy and terrifying at the same time and you look around at all these kids coming up. We had this discussion the other day about getting a job and none of them had any idea how to get a job. You're just like 'I'm old now but I'm all right with that'.
TeenHollywood: This film is about a group of reunited high school pals. Can you talk about your own experience with good friends?
Matt: My best friends in the world are the guys I went to high school with. These are the same guys. So, that was something that was easy to pull from. I think the reason the movie resonates is that we all got along really well and I think you can feel that when you watch the movie. Like that scene where they walk out of the bar and they're drunk, Eddie is like 'just walk'. There were times when he was like 'just shoot what they're doing'. It was great. He's a great guy to make a movie with.
TeenHollywood: You say that you knew when you wanted to get married and were ready but there are a lot of 40-year-old guys who are not ready.. what...
Matt: We need to get you a good date. What you need to do is get out of those bars and find yourself a proper man [okay, now we're blushing and laughing]. Listen, if a 40-year-old guy is not ready to get married, then don't marry him. That's my suggestion. It's a bad idea. Marriage is not for everyone.
TeenHollywood: [changing the subject] Have you done much stage work?
Matt: Yeah, I did a play in London just last year called "Fuddy Mears" with Sam Mendes. He didn't direct it. It was his company. After being a dad, it's what I do best. I just think that if you could make money on stage, I'd be spending my whole time on stage.
TeenHollywood: I really enjoyed the band in this movie. Did you guys play your own instruments?
Matt: That was actually a lot of fun. I never played the bass and Jay [Mohr] never drummed so we had between us, like six lessons. At the end of the shoot we have this big party scene so we had like a hundred and fifty extras so we just lived out every rock 'n roll fantasy any of us have ever had. Everybody else played. Donal [Logue] plays really well and Eddie plays really well. So we stood up there and jammed and those poor extras had to sit and listen. The two rhythm guys totally [sucked]. Jay could go like this [indicates awkwardly hitting drums] and I could go dum, dum, dum, dum [indicates playing just a few notes on the bass guitar] dum, dum, dum.
TeenHollywood: Well, John [Leguizamo] could sing at least.
Matt: Well, he can't really sing either. It was terrible. He won't be like the J-Lo of the male Latino world.
TeenHollywood: Did you guys take over an entire block for the shoot?
Matt: We took over the entire island; Sea Island in New York. It was fun. We had a very colorful area. It's just one of those places where you hear 'hey, why don't you come over to my fish restaurant?' 'Okay, you got it sir. I'm on my way'. Just crazy stories of people. So, we shot there pretty much every day and they were great. You'd drive by and people would say 'hey Matt' and stop and watch and Eddie's so good with people. They loved to have him there.
TeenHollywood: Your kids in the film seem to like playing guitar and Des isn't pushing them to be in a band. Are you the same way with acting or do you want to push your two kids toward it?
Matt: As a father, there's a piece of you that wants them to respect and follow in your footsteps. I have two girls and one of them is a ham. I don't care what they do as long as they jump in with both feet. I think that's the great thing about this character. Eddie wrote this character to be his dad. He wanted to play it as a love letter to his dad, the kind of dad his dad was. I don't think the character cares that his kids are playing guitars. He just wants them away from the computer games and just to focus and do it, to commit. That's the big thing.
TeenHollywood: You did a TV pilot this development season. Was that to stabilize your acting life?
Matt: Yeah. I did. It's a tough job right now to be a movie star. There's not a lot of people making that many movies anymore. Every studio has gone from making twenty movies to making four and they're generally two hundred and three hundred million dollar movies. If they're that big, they're not looking to me to be the movie star. It's a really tough time, I think, in our industry. I think TV, right now, you see more and more film actors going into TV because that's where the work is.
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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.
