Matthew Lillard lost his house after career 'nosedived'

The Scream star, 56, has revealed he thought starring in the Scooby-Doo movies would make him a huge Hollywood star and he wasn't prepared to be left struggling to find work following the release of Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed in 2004. Matthew has now explained he was forced to sell his house and "downsize" his life while his wife Heather had to go back to work and she became the main breadwinner.

Speaking in Variety's Know Their Lines video series, Matthew explained: "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'.

"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.

"My wife and I would have had to sell everything. We eventually [did sell a lot]. We sold our cars, we sold our house. We basically downsized our lives so that we could live in a very affordable way.

"And my wife went back to work, and that was a real pivotal moment for me as well."

He went on to add: "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 happens right after this movie that now I’m so grateful for."

It comes after Matthew admitted he still has to "fight" for jobs because Hollywood doesn't "understand" him.

The actor has returned to the Scream franchise and found a new fanbase since playing William Afton in Five Nights At Freddy's in 2023, but he still doesn't feel "valued" in the industry because he doesn't look like a conventional film star.

Asked if he felt "valued by Hollywood" by Tommy DiDario on the I've Never Said This Before podcast, Matthew replied: “No. Not really.

"I think the people who know me, people I’ve worked with are like: 'Oh, I get it. I get the value'. I get sort of the intangibles.

"But I think what Hollywood looks for is - they look for a movie star. They look for dashing.

"They sort of want to be able to put you in a bubble, right? Or pigeonhole you. I’ve never fit in that little, perfect bubble.