Since starring as the deeply psychotic Stu Macher in Wes Craven’s 1996 Scream film, Matthew Lillard has quite established a reputation for himself as one of the prominent names in the horror genre.
Fresh off his recent horror project Five Nights at Freddy’s, Lillard shared his thoughts about the character he portrayed nearly three decades ago — and it’s not what longtime fans of the franchise expected.
Serving as Billy Loomis’ (played by Skeet Ulrich) dimwitted accomplice, Stu Macher has been one of the most popular characters from the series. However, although the character helped Lillard’s career reach new heights, the actor admitted that he doesn’t really care about Stu. And, by all means, he made some valid points.
In an interview with Collider, Lillard explained: “I don’t really care about Stu Macher. It’s a part I played. It’s like if you’re a plumber, do you care about the house you did down the street and around the corner? No, it’s your job. And I love that job, it’s been nice to have that in my resume, but the reality is that it’s a part I did 20-plus years ago.”
He continued, “So, what is important to me is that what it means to other people is deeply relevant when you see them all the time, and powerful. It’s not something I understood before that.”
The 1996 Scream changed the slasher-horror genre forever
The success of Scream birthed a number of films with almost the same concept. While cinema has had its fair share of slasher films over the past decades, Scream reinvented the genre by making fun (albeit in a horrifying way) of the genre itself. The movie has also spawned sequels since its 1996 debut, with the 2023 Scream VI — starring Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera — as the latest installment.
“As a masked killer with a penchant for horror trivia terrorizes a teen and her friends, a dogged reporter tries to find out who’s behind the murders,” the synopsis for Scream reads.
Besides Lillard and Ulrich as the two masked killers, the 1996 film also starred David Arquette as Dewey Riley, Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, Rose McGowan as Tatum Riley, Jamie Kennedy as Randy Meeks, and Neve Campbell as the film’s final girl, Sidney Prescott.
