POPSTAR!
"A super intimate chat with cinema’s sweetest
Scooby Snack…Freddie Prinze Jr."
September 2001
By Sean Daly
Freddie Prinze Jr. the #1 teen attraction at the box office, appearing in so many youth-oriented films it seems almost typecasting the he’d be assigned to play a cartoon-he’s blond beefster Fred in the big-screen, live action adaptation of Scooby Doo.
But for all his larger-than-life magnetism and his multiple-friendly charm, he is surprisingly quiet and unassuming in person. For this interview, Freddie arrived at the Century Plaza Hotel in L.A. wearing a purple shirt (unbuttoned), khaki pants, glasses, a T-shirt and his latest hair statement-a buzz cut.
Check it out, check it out- Freddie Prinze Jr. the movie star tells all about his life, his holiday turkey secrets and what it feels like for a toon.
Popstar!: You have a new hair style.
Freddie: It was all blond for Scooby Doo, so I had to cut it all off. It was like straw.
Popstar!: You were great in Summer Catch. How far back does your fascination with baseball go?
Freddie: Since I was a little kid. I started playing little league when I was seven years old. I wanted to be a pitcher. I think every kid wants to be. Just not enough of them have the talent to do it.
Freddie: I played for two years and then I saw my first boxing match and that was it. I didn’t do anything but box after that.
Popstar!: I actually read somewhere that you have one of Muhammad Ali’s gloves…?
Freddie: Actually, I have some of George Foreman’s gloves that he used in an actual fight. It’s pretty cool.
Popstar!: Is that your prized possession?
Freddie: No. I have a comic book collection that is pretty much my prized possession. It’s a fairly sizeable collection.
Popstar!: You’ve gotten beaten up by critics for making “teen movies”-is that a fair criticism?
Freddie: Here’s my whole thing- I say I don’t care about the critics, but I don’t care about the good reviews either. If somebody writes, “Oh, my god, he was a genius and wonderful,” I don’t care. It doesn’t make me feel good about my work. I already feel good about my work. If somebody writes, “It’s garbage. It’s crap,” I don’t care. I know that it’s good. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t know it was good. If it doesn’t please someone because they disagree with the content or I remind them of their mean brother or ex- boyfriend or whatever, there is nothing I can control there.
Freddie: I know that I am a very good actor and I am constantly getting better, so I am never really worried and it hasn’t affected me getting work. At the end of the day, when I step in a room and it’s me and three other guys and we go and read scenes, most of the time I get the part because my work is at a level where I’m never going to go in and not know exactly what it is I am suppose to do. So I’ve always made sure I can be proud of my stuff.
Freddie: There were a couple of times I didn’t go in 100% prepared and I ate it, and I promised I would never do that again.
Popstar!: Is there a concern on your part about becoming typecast?
Freddie: The only people who have ever tried to pigeon-hole me-and this is unfortunate- is the press. They’ve really tried to say, “Now you’re gonna fall apart because you made these movies and now you’re gonna pay for it.” But I said in the beginning, when I was making She’s All That, that I was planning on making three films for a specific audience, and that was what I wanted to do because when I was a kid I didn’t have those. I just missed the John Hughes movies, which I loved. And I wanted to do movies that treated audiences with respect. So I did those three.
Freddie: Then I went and made Head Over Heels and I was playing 27 years old in that. And I can’t help it if teens also go to that movie. There’s content in that movie that teens shouldn’t be seeing, but I’m not gonna police the theaters, nor do I have any desire to police the theaters.
Popstar!: Do you have any say in the casting of your movies?
Freddie: It depends on the size of the film. Scooby Doo I had no say in, you know because it’s Scooby Doo. Summer Catch I had a lot more say in because it’s a smaller film. And it’s a first-time director. I had more experience than the director¬¬¬-especially with actors and things like that- so they just kind of trusted my opinion.
Popstar!: What was it like working with Sarah Michelle again on Scooby Doo?
Freddie: It was awesome. I think that she is literally going to be the biggest movie star in the world. So when she has an opportunity to spread her wings, which unfortunately I don’t think she gets to do enough-people are just gonna fall out of their seats because she just shines onscreen. We have little playback monitors that are like as big as a tape and she looks like the brightest star in the universe. And that’s not just me saying that because I’m marrying her. Other people will tell you the exact same thing. Whatever that thing is that people say, “Oh, she’s got it!”-She’s got it tenfold.
Popstar!: Do you give each other feedback?
Freddie: Absolutely. We always talk to each other. That’s what’s so great about working with someone that you know. Working with Matt Lillard or working with Sarah, we do communicate a lot with each other. That’s why I work with Matt so much. There’s no nonsense. I know he’s about doing really great work. He doesn’t care about anything else. He’s always on time. He always knows his lines. He never shows up wasted. He never shows up stoned. And I don’t have to worry about that stuff. He is one of the best actors I have ever worked with.
Popstar!: So you and Sarah spent six months in Australia. Where did you find time to plan a wedding?
Freddie: I would never…Sarah and I work because we never talk about that stuff.
Popstar!: Do you have a date set at least?
Freddie: {Laughs loudly} If you were Barbara Walters on you best day I would never tell you that. Never.
Popstar!: Just asking.
Freddie: You’re allowed to ask.
Popstar!: Do you have a special song?
Freddie: We have a couple of songs…
Popstar!: You don’t want to talk about it?
Freddie: That’s the reason why it’s special, because it’s personal and private. People go, “Are you romantic?” and I say, “Yeah,” then they go, “What do you do?”[Laughs] How romantic is that? It’s not cool. I keep my mouth shut. That stuff is personal and special.
Popstar!: Do you imagine yourself as a family guy?
Freddie: I’d love to have kids one day. I think that would be awesome. I don’t know when, but when I do, Sarah will be the first to know. But as far as getting married and having kids and all that, I’m sorry, but I won’t ever talk about that.
Popstar!: Did all the guys bond while you were making Summer Catch?
Freddie: Yeah. It was sort of harder for Jessie Biel than everybody else, because it’s a lot of guys and a lot of the guys are semi-pro baseball players or soon to be baseball players, and a bunch of us are dirt-bag guys who grew up loving baseball and now we have all of these awesome coaches teaching us how… and all the guys are like vying for the girl’s attention. All, “Check me out!” “No check me out!”
Freddie: Her boyfriend hated us. Her boyfriend wanted to kill us. He was like this little guy, you know. And there was all these big baseball players… every actor in the movie was over six feet. He would get so mad. We’re like, “Jessie, how’s it going?” [Imitates a hug] “Hey, look how hot your girlfriend is. Isn’t she beautiful?” He made me laugh.
Popstar!: What about the thong? Did that take a lot of convincing?
Freddie: Actually, no. It wasn’t me. I have ”no nudity” in my contract. And so, nobody’s ever going to see my butt besides Sarah. Nobody is ever gonna see it. My mom when I was a baby and Sarah now that I’m not. That’s the way it is. Two people. My grandmother may have seen it once or twice.
Popstar!: Any injuries doing Summer Catch?
Freddie: My shoulder got torn up a bit at the end of the movie, but that was more because they shot all the baseball stuff in a two-and-a-half-week period and through a lot of them I’m pitching. And so there are days where I had to pitch like three days in a row and I was pitching like 80 pitches a day
Popstar!: Who’s your team?
Freddie: My team? I like the Yankees. But I had to like them. When I was a kid-my grandfather is from New York-the worst beating I ever got in my life was when I got caught watching a Cardinals game, so I stopped doing that.
Popstar!: Are you concerned that this movie will have problems finding an audience in countries where baseball is not played?
Freddie: Unfortunately, in Europe they play cricket and it’s a stupid sport. Or soccer which is cool…but baseball is a lot cooler. I love baseball. Soccer is cool, but I’m not good at that, so I don’t like it. So I don’t think the movie will do well in places like Great Britain and France. Hopefully people will like the fact that there are half-naked chicks and half-naked guys running around…that should get some people into the theater. But a baseball movie is not for everybody. People in Japan will understand it. People here will understand it. Canada will understand it. But cricket people won’t get it. They’re just bad baseball players.
Popstar!: What about Scooby Doo?
Freddie: Everybody loves Scooby Doo. Everyone knows the song. People in Zimbabwe know Scooby Doo. It’s a worldwide thing, so I think the movie will do huge business everywhere. And rightfully so because it is an awesome movie.
Popstar!: And I heard you were apprehensive about doing Scooby Doo.
Freddie: I just didn’t want to do it because I’m a huge fan-same reason I didn’t want to do X-Men. I learned how to read reading the X-Men comic book. I didn’t want to be in a movie with a script that wasn’t the X-Men I knew. It’s a cool movie with superheroes flying around, but it wasn’t my X-Men. It’s not the way I still read it today. And by the way, it’s destroyed the comic book, too. After the movie came out they changed the whole comic book and all the writers quit. Anyway, I didn’t want to do something I was a fan of that wasn’t being done the right way.
Popstar!: What’s next for you?
Freddie: Scooby Doo was six month long and when that was over I was literally dead. I hurt my back really bad. We did this ridiculous stunt and I wanted to be Jackie Chan and I went and I did it and the guys pulled the wire too far and I landed on my chest and I went all the way over. They have it on tape. I think they are gonna show it on Leno or something. But when people watch it, it’s like Faces of Death. So now I’ve been taking it easy. I’ve been writing. I have a couple of comic book things that are in the works.
Popstar!: You’re writing comic books?
Freddie: Yes. I’m writing one superhero one-it’s like a teen comic- and I’ve got a little special thing coming out from Marvel which I’m gonna talk about. You are going to have to be surprised. And a couple of other things that have not been sold yet.
Popstar!: How was it being in Massachusetts as a Yankee fan?
Freddie: I hate the Boston Red Sox and I hope they fall off the face of the Earth. I wish that the San Andreas fault was in Boston, because I hate everybody there, I hate the State…people in Boston gave me a lot of flack, but I don’t care. I hate everybody there. [Joking]
Popstar!: What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food?
Freddie: Well turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy, of course. I like green beans, too. I have a great recipe-I love making turkey. I would make it every day if it didn’t take three and a half hours to four hours.
Popstar!: What do you do?
Freddie: The whole trick is lifting up the skin-don’t worry about basting it.
Copyright © 2001 Popstar! Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
"A super intimate chat with cinema’s sweetest
Scooby Snack…Freddie Prinze Jr."
September 2001
By Sean Daly
Freddie Prinze Jr. the #1 teen attraction at the box office, appearing in so many youth-oriented films it seems almost typecasting the he’d be assigned to play a cartoon-he’s blond beefster Fred in the big-screen, live action adaptation of Scooby Doo.
But for all his larger-than-life magnetism and his multiple-friendly charm, he is surprisingly quiet and unassuming in person. For this interview, Freddie arrived at the Century Plaza Hotel in L.A. wearing a purple shirt (unbuttoned), khaki pants, glasses, a T-shirt and his latest hair statement-a buzz cut.
Check it out, check it out- Freddie Prinze Jr. the movie star tells all about his life, his holiday turkey secrets and what it feels like for a toon.
Popstar!: You have a new hair style.
Freddie: It was all blond for Scooby Doo, so I had to cut it all off. It was like straw.
Popstar!: You were great in Summer Catch. How far back does your fascination with baseball go?
Freddie: Since I was a little kid. I started playing little league when I was seven years old. I wanted to be a pitcher. I think every kid wants to be. Just not enough of them have the talent to do it.
Freddie: I played for two years and then I saw my first boxing match and that was it. I didn’t do anything but box after that.
Popstar!: I actually read somewhere that you have one of Muhammad Ali’s gloves…?
Freddie: Actually, I have some of George Foreman’s gloves that he used in an actual fight. It’s pretty cool.
Popstar!: Is that your prized possession?
Freddie: No. I have a comic book collection that is pretty much my prized possession. It’s a fairly sizeable collection.
Popstar!: You’ve gotten beaten up by critics for making “teen movies”-is that a fair criticism?
Freddie: Here’s my whole thing- I say I don’t care about the critics, but I don’t care about the good reviews either. If somebody writes, “Oh, my god, he was a genius and wonderful,” I don’t care. It doesn’t make me feel good about my work. I already feel good about my work. If somebody writes, “It’s garbage. It’s crap,” I don’t care. I know that it’s good. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t know it was good. If it doesn’t please someone because they disagree with the content or I remind them of their mean brother or ex- boyfriend or whatever, there is nothing I can control there.
Freddie: I know that I am a very good actor and I am constantly getting better, so I am never really worried and it hasn’t affected me getting work. At the end of the day, when I step in a room and it’s me and three other guys and we go and read scenes, most of the time I get the part because my work is at a level where I’m never going to go in and not know exactly what it is I am suppose to do. So I’ve always made sure I can be proud of my stuff.
Freddie: There were a couple of times I didn’t go in 100% prepared and I ate it, and I promised I would never do that again.
Popstar!: Is there a concern on your part about becoming typecast?
Freddie: The only people who have ever tried to pigeon-hole me-and this is unfortunate- is the press. They’ve really tried to say, “Now you’re gonna fall apart because you made these movies and now you’re gonna pay for it.” But I said in the beginning, when I was making She’s All That, that I was planning on making three films for a specific audience, and that was what I wanted to do because when I was a kid I didn’t have those. I just missed the John Hughes movies, which I loved. And I wanted to do movies that treated audiences with respect. So I did those three.
Freddie: Then I went and made Head Over Heels and I was playing 27 years old in that. And I can’t help it if teens also go to that movie. There’s content in that movie that teens shouldn’t be seeing, but I’m not gonna police the theaters, nor do I have any desire to police the theaters.
Popstar!: Do you have any say in the casting of your movies?
Freddie: It depends on the size of the film. Scooby Doo I had no say in, you know because it’s Scooby Doo. Summer Catch I had a lot more say in because it’s a smaller film. And it’s a first-time director. I had more experience than the director¬¬¬-especially with actors and things like that- so they just kind of trusted my opinion.
Popstar!: What was it like working with Sarah Michelle again on Scooby Doo?
Freddie: It was awesome. I think that she is literally going to be the biggest movie star in the world. So when she has an opportunity to spread her wings, which unfortunately I don’t think she gets to do enough-people are just gonna fall out of their seats because she just shines onscreen. We have little playback monitors that are like as big as a tape and she looks like the brightest star in the universe. And that’s not just me saying that because I’m marrying her. Other people will tell you the exact same thing. Whatever that thing is that people say, “Oh, she’s got it!”-She’s got it tenfold.
Popstar!: Do you give each other feedback?
Freddie: Absolutely. We always talk to each other. That’s what’s so great about working with someone that you know. Working with Matt Lillard or working with Sarah, we do communicate a lot with each other. That’s why I work with Matt so much. There’s no nonsense. I know he’s about doing really great work. He doesn’t care about anything else. He’s always on time. He always knows his lines. He never shows up wasted. He never shows up stoned. And I don’t have to worry about that stuff. He is one of the best actors I have ever worked with.
Popstar!: So you and Sarah spent six months in Australia. Where did you find time to plan a wedding?
Freddie: I would never…Sarah and I work because we never talk about that stuff.
Popstar!: Do you have a date set at least?
Freddie: {Laughs loudly} If you were Barbara Walters on you best day I would never tell you that. Never.
Popstar!: Just asking.
Freddie: You’re allowed to ask.
Popstar!: Do you have a special song?
Freddie: We have a couple of songs…
Popstar!: You don’t want to talk about it?
Freddie: That’s the reason why it’s special, because it’s personal and private. People go, “Are you romantic?” and I say, “Yeah,” then they go, “What do you do?”[Laughs] How romantic is that? It’s not cool. I keep my mouth shut. That stuff is personal and special.
Popstar!: Do you imagine yourself as a family guy?
Freddie: I’d love to have kids one day. I think that would be awesome. I don’t know when, but when I do, Sarah will be the first to know. But as far as getting married and having kids and all that, I’m sorry, but I won’t ever talk about that.
Popstar!: Did all the guys bond while you were making Summer Catch?
Freddie: Yeah. It was sort of harder for Jessie Biel than everybody else, because it’s a lot of guys and a lot of the guys are semi-pro baseball players or soon to be baseball players, and a bunch of us are dirt-bag guys who grew up loving baseball and now we have all of these awesome coaches teaching us how… and all the guys are like vying for the girl’s attention. All, “Check me out!” “No check me out!”
Freddie: Her boyfriend hated us. Her boyfriend wanted to kill us. He was like this little guy, you know. And there was all these big baseball players… every actor in the movie was over six feet. He would get so mad. We’re like, “Jessie, how’s it going?” [Imitates a hug] “Hey, look how hot your girlfriend is. Isn’t she beautiful?” He made me laugh.
Popstar!: What about the thong? Did that take a lot of convincing?
Freddie: Actually, no. It wasn’t me. I have ”no nudity” in my contract. And so, nobody’s ever going to see my butt besides Sarah. Nobody is ever gonna see it. My mom when I was a baby and Sarah now that I’m not. That’s the way it is. Two people. My grandmother may have seen it once or twice.
Popstar!: Any injuries doing Summer Catch?
Freddie: My shoulder got torn up a bit at the end of the movie, but that was more because they shot all the baseball stuff in a two-and-a-half-week period and through a lot of them I’m pitching. And so there are days where I had to pitch like three days in a row and I was pitching like 80 pitches a day
Popstar!: Who’s your team?
Freddie: My team? I like the Yankees. But I had to like them. When I was a kid-my grandfather is from New York-the worst beating I ever got in my life was when I got caught watching a Cardinals game, so I stopped doing that.
Popstar!: Are you concerned that this movie will have problems finding an audience in countries where baseball is not played?
Freddie: Unfortunately, in Europe they play cricket and it’s a stupid sport. Or soccer which is cool…but baseball is a lot cooler. I love baseball. Soccer is cool, but I’m not good at that, so I don’t like it. So I don’t think the movie will do well in places like Great Britain and France. Hopefully people will like the fact that there are half-naked chicks and half-naked guys running around…that should get some people into the theater. But a baseball movie is not for everybody. People in Japan will understand it. People here will understand it. Canada will understand it. But cricket people won’t get it. They’re just bad baseball players.
Popstar!: What about Scooby Doo?
Freddie: Everybody loves Scooby Doo. Everyone knows the song. People in Zimbabwe know Scooby Doo. It’s a worldwide thing, so I think the movie will do huge business everywhere. And rightfully so because it is an awesome movie.
Popstar!: And I heard you were apprehensive about doing Scooby Doo.
Freddie: I just didn’t want to do it because I’m a huge fan-same reason I didn’t want to do X-Men. I learned how to read reading the X-Men comic book. I didn’t want to be in a movie with a script that wasn’t the X-Men I knew. It’s a cool movie with superheroes flying around, but it wasn’t my X-Men. It’s not the way I still read it today. And by the way, it’s destroyed the comic book, too. After the movie came out they changed the whole comic book and all the writers quit. Anyway, I didn’t want to do something I was a fan of that wasn’t being done the right way.
Popstar!: What’s next for you?
Freddie: Scooby Doo was six month long and when that was over I was literally dead. I hurt my back really bad. We did this ridiculous stunt and I wanted to be Jackie Chan and I went and I did it and the guys pulled the wire too far and I landed on my chest and I went all the way over. They have it on tape. I think they are gonna show it on Leno or something. But when people watch it, it’s like Faces of Death. So now I’ve been taking it easy. I’ve been writing. I have a couple of comic book things that are in the works.
Popstar!: You’re writing comic books?
Freddie: Yes. I’m writing one superhero one-it’s like a teen comic- and I’ve got a little special thing coming out from Marvel which I’m gonna talk about. You are going to have to be surprised. And a couple of other things that have not been sold yet.
Popstar!: How was it being in Massachusetts as a Yankee fan?
Freddie: I hate the Boston Red Sox and I hope they fall off the face of the Earth. I wish that the San Andreas fault was in Boston, because I hate everybody there, I hate the State…people in Boston gave me a lot of flack, but I don’t care. I hate everybody there. [Joking]
Popstar!: What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food?
Freddie: Well turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy, of course. I like green beans, too. I have a great recipe-I love making turkey. I would make it every day if it didn’t take three and a half hours to four hours.
Popstar!: What do you do?
Freddie: The whole trick is lifting up the skin-don’t worry about basting it.
Copyright © 2001 Popstar! Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
