Key Points
Matthew Lillard joked that he is only getting work in Hollywood again because of the need for nostalgia.
“I think that’s one of the reasons I’m having this moment to be honest, is because I was identified in that moment, so people are hiring me again,” he said.
The actor told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year that he is a hot commodity following Quentin Tarantino’s harsh words about him.
Matthew Lillard thinks he knows why he’s getting work these days — and it’s all about the past.
The Scream actor opened up about about his sudden influx of popularity in Hollywood during an April 22 appearance on the Phase Hero podcast, chalking it up to nostalgia and joking that no one really likes him. “Scooby-Doo one and two are more popular now than they ever were when they came out. So I do think there’s a weird nostalgia thing happening in our industry and in the zeitgeist because I think that people are longing for ye olde times.”
“I think that’s one of the reasons I’m having this moment to be honest, is because I was identified in that moment, so people are hiring me again,” added Lillard.
Matthew Lillard in ‘Scooby-Doo’
Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Thanks to reboots, sequels, and reviving decades-old franchises, Lillard believes he was able to book recent gigs thanks to audiences’ desire for nostalgic content. Some of his recent credits include The Life of Chuck, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, Scream 7, and Daredevil: Born Again.
“I think that’s why I’m working,” he joked. “I don’t think anyone really likes me. They just miss the old times.”
Lillard then pretended to pitch himself. “Who should we get? Who’s old and relatively warm and fuzzy feeling?” he wondered aloud. “Let’s get Matthew Lillard. Talented? No. But do we like him? Yes.”
Lillard previously spoke to Entertainment Weekly about his recent surge of popularity, which came after Quentin Tarantino declared “I don’t care for Matthew Lillard” during an episode of The Brett Easton Ellis Podcast in late 2025. Many fans and people in the entertainment industry rallied around the actor, Tarantino’s opinion be damned.
“It was crazy. I keep showing it to my wife to convince her that I am worthy, that people still like me,” he joked in early 2026. “I am a piece of ass!”
Matthew Lillard and Rose McGowan in ‘Scream’
Credit: David M. Moir/Dimension Films
“It was like living through your own wake,” Lillard said of the love coming his way.
“All those R.I.P. emails or tweets and Instagram posts and TikToks, all of the things we see after somebody passes are so sweet. And the reality is I just got to live through all of it firsthand — alive and kicking! I can’t imagine a more lovely reaction to what happened.”
Matthew Lillard in Los Angeles in February 2026
Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/FilmMagic
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Lillard added, “Nobody has to like any actor out there, obviously. It’s personal preference. I am not everyone’s first choice, that is obvious, but to then have that kind of reaction was beautiful.”
Perhaps we are living in the, as he called it, the “Lillard-sance.”
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
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