Freddie Prinze Jr. Asked To Take Pay Cut To Give Co-Stars Raise In SCOOBY-DOO Sequel

Freddie Prince Jr. was a huge teen movie star in the 1990s and 2000s. As he grew up to play more adult roles, such as his recently released holiday film, Christmas with youin which he plays a single father, he will always be remembered for previous roles such as She is all that And Scooby-Doo.

In a recent interview with Esquire, Prinze opened up about some of those early parts and the growing pains that came with being a young actor in Hollywood. When Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed released in 2004, two years after the first film, Prinze had a successful career and was promised a certain salary for the film. But executives decided that when the actor’s co-stars asked for a raise, it should be at his expense.

Prince explained:

“I remember thinking, ‘Wait, who’s giving him the raise? Me or all of you?’ Like we made you three-quarters of a billion dollars, can’t you afford to pay them what I’m making on it? Fuck yourself.”

To get him to comply, the studio reportedly released Prinze Jr.’s salary in a magazine. “My ego was so angry,” he recalls. He decided that he was done with the franchise.

Over the years, his perspective on the project has changed thanks to social media. He can finally think of the film as something meaningful to people, not a cash grab.

He added:

“All these people who grew up loving them [Scooby-Doo] movies started to catch up… and then I got what I felt was a more accurate perspective on what that movie meant to people because I wasn’t seeing it through the studio lens anymore.

Looks like the studio was really shady! Only pay your actors what they deserve, especially when you know you’re making a sequel that fans will show up for. I’m glad it didn’t hurt anyone’s career and fans had a movie to enjoy.