The late Shannen Doherty began acting professionally in 1981, when she was only nine years old, appearing in an episode of the TV series “Father Murphy” alongside Michael Landon. Landon must have been impressed with her, as a few years later, she secured a recurring role alongside Landon on the hit Western “Little House on the Prairie.” In 1985, Doherty made a splash on the big screen in the teen romantic comedy “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” Doherty was at ease in front of cameras, worked hard, and landed gig after gig.
1988’s “Heathers” was another notable break for her, but she still was only playing supporting roles in movies. In 1990, Doherty skyrocketed to fame playing the lead character of Brenda Walsh on the primetime teen soap opera “Beverly Hills 90210.” She appeared in 111 episodes of that series over four seasons, finally leaving in 1994 (long before the show ended) to pursue a film career. Doherty was 23 by then, and quite ready to headline a major feature film.
In 1995, she seemingly found her dream project. It was a leading role in a major feature comedy, written and directed by a very hot, up-and-coming indie director. It had a very modest budget of $6.1 million, but a fine, hipster imprimatur. The script was frank about sex and popular culture, and the story revolved around the stalled relationship Doherty’s character was experiencing with her immature boyfriend. The film was Kevin Smith’s “Mallrats.”
As many now know, though, “Mallrats” wasn’t a dream project after all. It only made $2.1 million at the box office, and critics weren’t too fond of it, either. Doherty spoke on the “Let’s Be Clear” podcast in 2024 (as covered by Variety) to say that “Mallrats” was a surprise disappointment. Its failure pretty much derailed her hopes of ever leading a feature film again. This was an irony, as Kevin Smith once said that “Mallrats” wouldn’t have even been made without Doherty’s fame behind it.
Read more: 12 ’90s Movies You Won’t Believe Are Real
Mallrats derailed Shannen Doherty’s film career
Rene with Brodie, Quint, and Brandi at the mall in Mallrats – Gramercy Pictures
“Mallrats,” incidentally, is perfectly fine. It’s very, very funny, buoyed largely by a spirited performance from Jason Lee. Its dialogue is marvelously crass and genuinely shocking, at least for 1995. It also interrogated the struggles that Gen X men in their 20s were having with maturity, and the very, very patient women who had to wait for them to grow up. It boasted a cameo from Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, and featured Ben Affleck in an early role. Add to that Shannen Doherty, one of the hottest TV actresses currently working, and “Mallrats” seemed like a surefire success. It had everything going for it.
But Doherty was frank about the movie’s failure, speaking with Kevin Smith on “Let’s Be Clear.” She said she didn’t even want to try making movies again after that:
“That’s kind of the interesting thing about ‘Mallrats,’ right, is that it wasn’t a box office success. […] It died. So did my film career. That was it. […] No, that was it. People literally thought that I was carrying the movie, so therefore it was a box office failure, it was completely on me. So there was no film career after that, which was a little brutal.”
Doherty wasn’t hurting for work. She appeared in several TV movies in the late 1990s, and landed a cameo appearance in Gregg Araki’s bisexual SoCal wastoid epic “Nowhere,” but her film career wasn’t as large as she wanted. In 1998, she landed a second career-defining role in the supernatural series “Charmed,” playing the role of Prue. She appeared in 67 episodes of that series, and directed three of them, before the show ended in 2001. For the next 23 years, Doherty appeared in dozens of TV movies, had a recurring role on “North Shore,” produced several reality shows, and returned to Brenda Walsh on “BH90210.” She was never a major leading lady, but she did quite well.
Kevin Smith pointed out that Mallrats was only made because of Shannen Doherty
Rene sitting next to Shannon in the audience of a game show in Mallrats – Gramercy Pictures
When Doherty passed in July of 2024, many of her old co-workers stepped forth to eulogize her, including Smith. On his Instagram account, Smith wrote that Doherty was a cultural force to behold in the early ’90s, and that he used to watch her on “Beverly Hills 90210” while he was shooting his debut feature “Clerks” in 1993. He also said that Doherty was pointed in his direction by friend Malcolm Ingram, and Smith was only too happy to have one of the most famous women on the planet working for him. Smith was kind, writing:
“Shannen was a true talent, and she became a good friend, but lest anyone forget, she was the only reason ‘Mallrats’ got green-lit in 1995. That’s because Shannen was one of the most famous people on the planet – and the fact that she picked ‘Mallrats’ as her first follow-up to ‘90210’ *made* that movie happen.”
Smith recalled Doherty walking her dog and chatting with the cast and crew, always affable and kind. He loved the cute little ritual they had of insulting each other openly during the “Mallrats” press tour (worry not, it was all in good fun). Smith continued by saying, “I told her back in December when I was on her podcast that I felt like the girl I used to watch on TV at Quick Stop was there to welcome me when I got into show business.”
“Mallrats” may have tanked, but it went on to attract a cult audience, and it’s still highly considered by Kevin Smith fans. Rest in peace, Shannen Doherty.
If you’re looking for the easiest way to keep up with all the major movie and TV news, why not sign up to our free newsletter?
Read the original article on SlashFilm.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
