Matthew Lillard Doesn’t Care About His Fan-Favorite Character

By Douglas Helm | Published

When it comes to slasher films, it’s hard to beat Wes Craven’s 1996 film Scream. One big reason the film worked so well is the fantastic cast, which includes Matthew Lillard’s amazing performance as Stu Macher. Funnily enough, though, it’s not a role Lillard thinks about too much, as he recently stated, “I don’t really care about Stu Macher,” adding, “It’s like if you’re a plumber, do you care about the house you did down the street and around the corner?”

Doesn’t Care For His Scream Character, But Still Appreciates The Fans

Matthew Lillard explained further saying, “I love that job, it’s been nice to have that in my resume, but the reality is that it’s a part I did 20-plus years ago.” However, just because Lillard doesn’t really care too much about the character, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about the fans who love the movie and his role.

“What is important to me is that what it means to other people is deeply relevant when you see them all the time, and powerful.” It totally makes sense that Stu Macher isn’t a part that Lillard thinks about on a regular basis, and he obviously understands that the movie has resonated with people over the years and appreciates that.

Stu Macher Is A Surprisingly Iconic Character

It’s unlikely that Matthew Lillard even realized at the time how big Stu Macher and the rest of the Scream characters would become in the hearts of fans. After all, Macher is killed off by the end of the movie. It was certainly a great role for Lillard that would end up going down as one of his most iconic performances, but at the time, he likely just viewed it as a cool horror movie part that was, as he puts it, “nice to have” on his resume.

Matthew Lillard In Thirteen Ghosts

Matthew Lillard would then star in the horror movie Thirteen Ghosts in 2001 before taking a break from the genre. Of course, he would famously take on the live-action role of Shaggy in the live-action Scooby-Doo movies, but it would be really pushing it to call those films horror, even if they have spooky elements. However, we finally got to see Lillard properly return to the horror genre this past year when he appeared in the Five Nights at Freddy’s adaptation.

Returns To The Genre In Five Nights At Freddy’s

Matthew Lillard has a great role in Five Nights at Freddy’s that we won’t spoil here, but fans of the video games will definitely be excited to see who he plays. Five Nights at Freddy’s follows a security guard (Josh Hutcherson) who works the late shift at the Chuck E Cheese-esque Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria.

However, the job ends up being more than he expected when the animatronics start coming to life. Five Nights at Freddy’s was quite a hit, and reports say that a sequel is already in the works. Hopefully, we’ll get to see Matthew Lillard in the sequel as well. Until then, Lillard is set to appear in Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation, The Life of Chuck.

Up Next: Stephen King’s The Life of Chuck

Stephen King Netflix

The Life of Chuck is written and directed by Mike Flanagan and adapts the short story from Stephen King’s If It Bleeds novella. Along with Matthew Lillard, the film stars Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, Karen Gillan, Jacob Tremblay, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Production has started on the film, though an official release date has not been announced.

Source: Collider