Freddie Prinze Jr. Almost Quit Acting After Director Was So Terrible To Him In I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER

Freddie Prince Jr. he is known these days as a late 90’s-2000s heartthrob who has gone on to have a stable career in both TV and film especially in the realm of voice acting these days. But in the mid-90s, he was still trying to break into the teen movie scene. When he landed one of the lead roles in the teen slasher film I know what you did last summer (1997), was lifted, and this was the vehicle that launched him to stardom, but it wasn’t without major on-set conflicts that nearly made him abandon acting altogether.

In the first episode of the upcoming Princeze Jr It was pretty scary (via TooFab), kicks off the series by talking about her experience on I know what you did last summerdetailing the horrific environment created by the film’s director, Jim Gillespie.

“It’s not like we weren’t on the same page, I knew what the right choices were for Ray’s character. He wanted a different actor, a really good actor named Jeremy Sistowhom I know and who I appreciate and respect very much.”

Prinze Jr. said it was the studio and the writer Kevin Williamson which pushed for him to get the role eventually. But Gillespie wasn’t shy about letting Prinze know that he wasn’t his first choice.

“I’ll give the man this, I think his name is Jim, he made no secret. There was no passive aggression — which I hate — he was very direct in the fact that, ‘I don’t want you in this movie. So when this is your first work and you hear those words, it destroys you, man, it just destroys you.

While he and his co-star and future wife Sarah Michelle Gellar they weren’t dating yet and wouldn’t start for a few years, Prinze Jr. credited and co-starred her Ryan Philip with him talk from a ledge. Even though he and Phillippe aren’t close now, they built a bond pretty quickly as they worked together to get in shape for the film. That bond continued once filming began, and Phillippe was the reason he was able to stay on the production.

“So when I had those moments where the director would give me psychotic notes, like ‘Don’t leave your mouth open. You look stupid when you do that’ — that was the exact note, word for word, I’ll never forget that — and I’m like, either I’m going to collapse or I’m going to have to kick this guy’s ass. Like those were the only two options in my head. I remember Ryan coming up to me and saying, ‘Fuck that guy, man. How many times have you auditioned for this movie?” and I say, “Five times,” he says, “Yeah, you earned it. You weren’t offered the role, you earned it. There were fewer people each time you went and then it was just you. Remember what this role has booked for you. Fuck his notes. Any notes he gives you just say “Okay, and do what you want to do.” He was the first person to tell me.”

He appreciated the guidance from both Phillippe and Gellar, who had more experience under their belts thanks to years of soap operas before booking the horror film, but Prinze Jr. says his interactions with the director took a toll on him .

“It was very difficult to wake up in the morning – or in the afternoon, because we shot a lot of nights – and go to work with the right attitude. Because I knew that by the time we were on set for rehearsals, either Mr. Pay was going to be No Mind, which would be where he would give everyone notes before shooting anything or before rehearsing, except me. He made it a point to cast me every time, he would gather the other actors without me, and give them all the notes. And I’m like, well, was he just trying to do some method crap?

The actor claimed that the director even confirmed his suspicions and openly told him, “I don’t want you in the film.” In his podcast, Freddie also said that he “almost quit the movie” following an incident that allegedly happened while filming a speedboat scene for the film’s finale. He refers to it not just as a “near-death experience” but as a breaking point.

“I almost caught a flight and went home. I was done. I’d had enough. They had broken a lot of union stuff that they shouldn’t have, like union rules. All kinds of stuff. And I felt like you, if I’m not wanted here, fuck it. There are other things I can do. I abandoned Le Cordon Bleu to make this film. I’m going to be a chef, that’s what my mother wanted me to be anyway. I packed my bags that night. I was about to leave l ‘activity.

This time a producer stepped in and calmed him down, as Freddie decided to hang on so as not to leave his costars and some of the other crew members in a creek without a film.

“I wanted to fight that guy two or three different times. One time I felt it was a legitimate reason, and the other two I was just pissed off, which isn’t fair. I’m glad everyone spoke to me. In retrospect, I don’t I’m angry, because that movie launched my entire career. 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, we wouldn’t do this interview, I’m here for that struggle and that pain and been those things.

“It was a struggle to finish the job every day, I suffered every single day on that film. However, in a way he prepared me for this matter – it seems strange to say – I will always be grateful to Jim for being such an asshole because I have never met one since then. I was prepared for every minor hole in the industry. And I’m sure he’s a hero in someone else’s story. I’m sure he helped someone else and they loved him. But for me, he took a lot of frustration out on me. He was a first time director, he didn’t have a lot of time, he didn’t have the budget he wanted, he didn’t have the actor he wanted and he didn’t know how to deal with that frustration. “

Despite the horrific experience, the actor returned for the sequel, directed by Danny Cannon the following year, and said it was “the exact opposite experience”. Prinze Jr. said Cannon might be “difficult to work for,” but also “he never asked anyone for anything that he wouldn’t ask for himself.”

It’s awful that he had to go through all of this, but at least he had friends to lean on in the process, met his future wife on set, and launched a successful career from there. I know what you did last summer it was the last blockbuster film directed by Jim Gillespie.