The IKWYDLS director hated Freddie Prinze Jr.’s Guts

Freddie Prinze Jr. has opened up about his experience with the 1997 slasher film. I know what you did last summer, whom he fully credits with launching his career and introducing him to his now-wife Sarah Michelle Gellar. Prinze is forever grateful for the film, but he also vividly recalls almost leaving Hollywood thanks to his experience with director Jim Gillespie.

According to Prinze, Gillespie was determined to cast Jeremy Sisto but was ultimately overruled by studio and writer Kevin Williamson. That didn’t bode well for Prinze.

“I’ll give this to the man, I think his name is Jim, he made no bones about it. There was no passive aggressiveness — which I hate — he was very direct about the fact that ‘I don’t want you in this movie,'” Prinze told TooFab. “Well, if this is your first job and you hear those words, it breaks you, man. It just breaks you.”

The situation continued to deteriorate during filming, as Gillespie made it a point to either single out Prinze or shut him out entirely while taking scene notes. Without co-stars Ryan Phillippe and Gellar to offer him support, Prinze said he almost walked out of the picture. About TooFab:

“So when I had those moments where the director would give me psychotic notes like, ‘Don’t keep your mouth open. You look stupid doing that’ – that was the exact comment, word for word, I’ll never forget it – and I thought either I’m going to break down or I’m going to have to beat this guy’s ass. Like those were the only two options on my mind,” he continued. “I remember Ryan coming up to me and saying, ‘Fuck that guy, man. How many times did you audition for this film?’ and I say, ‘Five times,’ he says, ‘Yeah, you deserve it. You weren’t offered the role, you earned it.”

At the end of the day, Prinze isn’t mad at the film at all, and again he credits it with helping him land other roles and for his marriage. He’s also grateful to Gillespie because every other director after him was a piece of cake.

“I’m forever grateful to Jim for being such an asshole because I’ve never met one like that since,” Prinze said. “I was prepared for every minor A-hole in the business.”

(via TooFab)