Freddie Prinze Jr. is recalling a frustrating time in his acting career while he was signing up to star in the Scooby-Doo sequel. The actor revealed that the studio asked him to take a pay cut after his costars asked for a raise.
“I remember thinking, ‘Hold up, who’s giving them the raise? Me or y’all?’ Like we made you guys three-quarters of a billion dollars, you can’t afford to pay them what I’m making on this? Screw that,” he told Esquire.
The Scooby-Doo movie released in 2002 was written by James Gunn and directed by Raja Gosnell. According to data from IMDB Pro, the movie had a budget of $84 million and went on to gross $275 million worldwide.
Prinze played the role of Fred and his costars included Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, Matthew Lillard as Shaggy and Linda Cardellini as Velma. The actor said that the studio released his salary to a magazine in order to have him take the cut.
“My ego was so angry,” he added.
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed would be released in 2004 and was not able to surpass its predecessor only grossing $181 million at the box office.
Over the years, the films have been kept alive by fans and Prinze now appreciates the feelings that people have about the movies.
“All these people that had grown up loving those [Scooby-Doo] movies started reaching out…and then I got what I felt was a more accurate perspective on what that movie meant to people because I was no longer viewing it through the lenses of the studio,” he said.
