Five Nights At Freddy's Reignited A Dying Part Of Matthew Lillard's Career
"Five Nights at Freddy's" may not have been universally praised when it came out last month, but at least nobody had many bad things to say about Matthew Lillard's performance. "The casting of Matthew Lillard as Mike's career counselor becomes a perfect ode to a beloved scream king of an entire generation," writes /Film's own Jeremy Mathai in his review of the movie. It may have been nearly 27 years since "Scream" came out, but people still remember and love Lillard's role as deranged killer Stu Macher, and any reminiscent role is always a delight to watch. "Scream" fans might never get their questionable desire for Stu's return fulfilled, but "Five Nights At Freddy's" gave them the next big thing.
For Lillard, one of the best parts of this movie was simply that it brought him back into theaters. Despite his major roles in both the "Scream" and "Scooby Doo" franchises, Lillard has spent the past decade relegated to the small screen. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lillard remarked that his kids aren't old enough to have seen his bigger movies like "Scream," "Scooby Doo," or "Hackers" when they were first coming out.
"I haven't been in a movie that's appeared in a movie theater since they can remember ... I [had thought] maybe that part of my career is dead and over, and that's fine. I'm still doing all kinds of fun stuff, and I'm really excited about the things I'm doing. To get this opportunity out of the blue to have another franchise that could make a real impact on my career is humbling and exciting, and my kids are thrilled."
Not to say Lillard's recent career has been bad
Although it's true that Lillard hasn't been in any big movies lately prior to "Five Nights at Freddy's," he has given quite a few memorable performances on TV over the years. He appeared in a guest role as businessman Ken Diebold in "Halt and Catch Fire" season 3, a scheming husband Dean Boland on the 2018 dramedy "Good Girls," and had two major appearances on legal drama "The Good Wife."
The highlight, however, is Lillard's haunting character work on "Twin Peaks: The Return," where he plays a high school principal who was falsely imprisoned for the brutal murder of his secret lover (and school librarian) Ruth Davenport. The poor guy finds himself embroiled in a dark, supernatural conspiracy, and Lillard truly sells the character's terror and confusion as this all plays out. He's basically the anti-Stu, as this time Lillard is playing a mostly-normal guy who's been falsely accused of being a violent, unhinged maniac.
Although "The Return" was hardly a ratings juggernaut, only receiving a tiny fraction of the views it got when the original show first aired in 1990, it was a massive critical success, and its cultural relevance will likely last much longer than its ratings would typically suggest. "Five Nights At Freddy's" might be Lillard's big return back into the mainstream, but when it comes to giving wonderful dramatic performances, he hasn't gone anywhere.