I give you tidbits on the Touch of Prinze – Actors who starred alongside Freddie Prinze Jr. He seemed to be the king of teen romance/comedy movies and many raved that he was on the brink of hitting it big. Guess they were wrong. Where is Freddie now? The “because no one asked for it sequel of the century” Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (sounds like a video game title) Freddie’s career took a nose dive, but what about his co-stars? Did they benefit since starring with the Prinze of Teen movies? Or did they rue the day? Or did they care?
Read on…
1) Matthew Lillard – Aside from being the ONLY enjoyable part of the Scooby Doo movies (he was BORN to be Shaggy) would this guy even have a job if it were not for Freddie? From 1999 to 2001 he was in 4 movies with Freddie. After an early start in Hackers and a decent role in Scream, he didnt appear in much until She’s All That, with Freddie. Obviously tagging along his next 5 notable (but forgettable) appearances were in Prinze flicks. (Especially Wing Commander)
2) Rachael Leigh Cook – Hovering around the “acceptable” mark Ms Cook got her start as “that girl in the drug commercials” You know the one, “This is your brain (holding egg) This is your brain on drugs (breaks egg in frying pan) This is your brain on Heroin (trashes the kitchen with the frying pan with no regards to the egg) She became most noted for her “geek to chic” transformation some time later in She’s All That but where did she go since then? A few supporting roles in a few good movies (nothing to pee yourself over) and becoming an updated ficticious rock icon from Archie comics in the suprisingly enjoyable Josey and the Pussycats After that she sort of faded away and can be found most recently on TV in her own series called Fearless Stepping down to TV typically spells doom for big screen actors. Time will tell.
3) Sarah Michelle Gellar – Another girl from a commercial anyone over 30 will remember because of its painful annoyance. Little dark haired girl sitting on a counter in a Burger King whining painfully “Remember me? I chose Burger King! Remember why?” … no one remembers the rest. No one will ever think of this actress without thinking of her as Buffy Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer on TV. She had a few decent movie appearances (Cruel Intentions) and the only actress to be in both Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer movie franchises. Since the end of Buffy it seems that Sarah is tagging along with now husband Freddie (both Scooby movies and an animated feature they both provide voices for) or maybe Freddie is tagging along with her. Freddie and here did meet on the set of She’s All That which used the same Highschool as Buffy and was filming at the same time (SMG makes a cameo in the cafeteria scene in She’s all That)
4) Jessica Beil – After a contraversial removial as her role on 7th Heaven, Jessica hasn’t been making any big splashes in Hollywood. She was Freddie’s love interest in Summer Catch and a feeble performance in Rules of Attraction it was only a matter of time before she reprised her Role on 7th Heaven to pay some bills. She is however to appear in Blade:Trinity which has been getting mixed anticipation buzz. Guess this is another we will have to wait on.
5) Monica Potter – Appeared across from Freddie in Head Over Heels Monica was already recognized in films such as Patch Adams and Con Air and perhaps her appearance with Freddie was to give more maturity in what appears to be slightly more adult than his previous teen romance movies. Her most recent appearance was in Along Came a Spider with Morgan Freeman in 2001 and a flop called Im with Lucy in 2002 with nothing on the horizon.
So was Freddie the result of these career directions? Or just one of the “not so greats” that these actors encountered? Maybe the buzz boy of teen romance was just a flash in the pan and these folks got to be there.
