Freddie Prinze Jr. Says He Had ‘Near-Death Experience’ Thanks To ‘A**hole’ Director
Freddie Prinze Jr. is describing his expertise on the set of 1997’s “I Know What You Did Last Summer” prefer it was a horror film.
Prinze went into element about how a lot of an “asshole” director Jim Gillespie was to him on the set of 1997 slasher in an interview with TooFab revealed on Tuesday.
Yet regardless of all of the allegations Prinze makes towards the director, he additionally admitted that looking back he’s grateful for the horrible working situations as a result of they “prepared me for this business in a way.”
“I’m forever grateful to Jim for being such an asshole because I’ve never met one like that since,” Prinze instructed TooFab. “No other director I’ve met felt crossing those lines would be OK. I’ve been prepared for every lesser A-hole in the business.”
Prinze claims in his interview that Gillespie gave him “psychotic notes,” like “Don’t leave your mouth open. You look stupid when you do that.”
He mentioned the director was so impolite to him on set as a result of author Kevin Williamson and the studio wished him within the function of Ray, however Gillespie most well-liked actor Jeremy Sisto. Prinze mentioned that Gillespie “made no bones about” his disdain for the truth that he was solid as an alternative of Sisto.
“There was no passive-aggressiveness — which I hate — he was very direct in the fact that, ‘I don’t want you in this movie,’” the actor mentioned.
Gillespie says in any other case of Prinze’s casting. He instructed Digital Spy in 2017 that he fought for him to get the function.
“Nobody wanted Freddie; they thought he was too soft, he wasn’t muscular enough, so Freddie probably screen-tested four or five times,” Gillespie mentioned on the time. “He got to the point where he was saying, ‘I’m done,’ and I really had to plead with him to stick with it because I wanted him.”
Gillespie didn’t reply Thursday to HuffPost’s request for remark for this story.
Despite opposing claims, Prinze mentioned, Gillespie tended to single him out, leaving him “in pain” and making it a “struggle to finish work” daily.
“I wanted to fight that guy two or three different times. Once I felt was a legitimate reason, and the other two I was just pissed off, which, that’s not right,” the actor acknowledged.
That one reliable purpose could have been a “near-death experience” Prinze talked about that passed off throughout filming.
On Wednesday’s episode of his podcast “That Was Pretty Scary,” which facilities on the horror film style, Prinze went into element a couple of stunt on the set of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” that went incorrect.
The actor mentioned they had been filming the film’s boat scene — wherein Prinze’s character, Ray, jumps from a speedboat to a fishing boat to rescue Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character, Julie (watch it beneath).
About 46 minutes into the podcast episode, Prinze prefaced his story by saying that in his audition, he was requested if he knew find out how to drive a speedboat, which he did. But he was shocked to find that the speedboat he was going to drive within the film was truly “a dinghy” or a “row boat, like what pirates would be on” with an “outboard motor.”
The actor remembered that on the night time of the shoot within the Atlantic Ocean, the water was “choppy” and made “even choppier” by precise pace boats zipping round off digicam. Prinze, who described himself as a “21-year-old kid with no stunt experience” on the time, recalled that he was “concerned” and that “everything felt wrong” concerning the situations. He mentioned he requested if the movie’s stunt coordinator had signed off on it and was instructed sure.
But Prinze nonetheless had his reservations. He mentioned he requested to rehearse the scene earlier than truly taking pictures it — particularly since his character was speculated to chase the wake of the fishing boat.
The actor mentioned Gillespie agreed to a rehearsal however then switched to truly taking pictures the scene as soon as the rehearsal started.
When he hit the fishing boat’s wake, Prinze recounted, the “dinghy flies in the air, goes almost upside down, dumps me out, lands back on its belly — and the motor’s still running — goes right over my head.”
“I don’t feel the propellers, per se,” he mentioned, “but I feel the movement of the water from the propellers — it is a distinctive feeling.”
The shot failed miserably, Prinze mentioned, and he was “pissed” after nearly getting hacked up by the boat’s motor.
“I’m embarrassed, I’m scared, I’m angry, like a lot of things are going through me at that moment,” he recalled.
After the incident, Prinze demanded to talk to the stunt coordinator and was shocked to study that the coordinator had been despatched dwelling as a result of “they didn’t want to pay him overtime.”
Prinze mentioned he was anticipating an apology from Gillespie after the incident however was as an alternative scolded and instructed that he had “wrecked the shot.” Gillespie then demanded that he shoot the stunt once more, in line with Prinze, who mentioned he left for his trailer as an alternative and was ready to give up the film, and performing altogether, due to what had occurred.
Prinze mentioned the film’s producer talked him down and {that a} stunt particular person ultimately executed the stunt as an alternative.
The actor instructed TooFab that he’s glad he didn’t give up the film — and performing altogether — after his near-death expertise.
“I’m not upset because that movie launched my whole career,” Prinze mentioned. “I wouldn’t have any of the things I have without that movie. I wouldn’t have my wife [his “I Know What You Did Last Summer” co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar], I wouldn’t have all the opposite motion pictures I’ve performed.”