Freddie Prinze Jr. almost quit acting during ‘miserable’ I Know What You Did Last Summer shoot
Freddie Prinze Jr. packed his bags and was about to quit the shoot after a “near-death experience” while making the motorboat scene.
Freddie Prinze Jr. almost quit acting while making I Know What You Did Last Summer because the director allegedly made the experience “miserable” for him.
The actor revealed in an interview with TooFab that the 1997 teen slasher was the “hardest job that (he’d) ever done” as he was “miserable” for most of the shoot because the director, Jim Gillespie, didn’t want him to play Ray.
“He made no bones about it… he was very direct in the fact that, ‘I don’t want you in this movie,'” Freddie alleged. “So when that’s your first job and you hear those words, it just wrecks you, man.”
Freddie claimed the director gave him “psychotic” feedback on his performance and “singled (him) out” by giving his castmates notes before that day’s shoot and not him.
His co-stars Ryan Phillippe and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who is now his wife, helped him carry on, however, he almost quit the project after having a “near-death experience” while filming a motorboat scene.
“I almost caught a flight and went home. I was done. I had enough. They had broken a ton of union stuff that they shouldn’t have, like union rules. All kinds of things. And I just felt like yo, if I’m not wanted here, screw it,” Freddie recalled. “I packed my bags that night. I was just gonna quit the business.”
However, he’s glad he was convinced to stay and complete the project as it launched his career, and without the experience, he wouldn’t have met his wife.
The 47-year-old added, “It was a struggle to finish work every day, I was in pain every single day on that movie. However, it prepared me for this business in a way – it sounds weird to say this – I’m forever grateful for Jim for being such an a*shole because I’ve never met one like that since. I’ve been prepared for every lesser A-hole in the business.”
Freddie returned for the sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, the following year and noted he had the opposite experience with director Danny Cannon.
He has yet to sign on to the recently announced revival movie being developed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.
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