Why You Don't Hear Much From Matthew Lillard Anymore

Matthew Lillard has often been relegated to secondary character status in his films, especially ones featuring Freddie Prinze, Jr. in the lead. Lillard starred as Prinze's right-hand man in a whopping five films, including She's All That, Wing Commander, Summer Catch and the two Scooby-Doo movies.

He didn't gain the reputation of being the Goose to Prize's Maverick by design, of course. "I don't think anybody in their right mind gets into an industry like this and goes, 'You know what I want to do? Be a second fiddle,'" he explained to Movieline. "I just don't want to be that guy who gets lost in the lexicon of Freddie Prinze, Jr. movies. I'm glad to have them, and I'm glad I did them. I learned a lot in that process of my life."

The consequence of his constant accomplice placement is that those few films which have given him a chance at the lead have been rather regrettable. "The more lines I have, in general, the worse a movie is. It's very rare that I get say great things in fantastic movies. So if you see me as like, number one on a call sheet? In general, that movie is pretty bad," he told the A.V. Club. "I will say that I am usually the best thing in that horrible movie."