Sarah Michelle Gellar has changed her mind about one of her most infamous movies: 'I've had a who...

The &34;Buffy the Vampire Slayer&34; alum says the project was &34;not the movie I set out to make.&34; Sarah Michelle Gellar has changed her mind about one of her most infamous movies: 'I've had a whole trajectory' The &34;Buffy the Vampire Slayer&34; alum says the project was &34;not the movie I set out to make.&34; By Raechal Shewfelt :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/RaechalShewfeltauthorphotoc49d3a3b6aa442f588f2bbc0de804e09.jpg) Raechal Shewfelt Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at . She has been working at EW since 2024.

The "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" alum says the project was "not the movie I set out to make."

Sarah Michelle Gellar has changed her mind about one of her most infamous movies: 'I've had a whole trajectory'

The "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" alum says the project was "not the movie I set out to make."

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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January 16, 2026 6:36 p.m. ET

Sarah Michelle Gellar reflects on 'Scooby-Doo'. Credit:

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

Sarah Michelle Gellar has been upfront about the fact that she went into the 2002 live-action version of *Scooby-Doo* thinking that it would be more for adults than for kids and families, and she was unhappy that it didn't turn out that way.

But more than two decades later, she's come to accept it for what it is.

"I've had a whole trajectory with this movie," Gellar, who played Daphne, said on a recent episode of Evan Ross Katz's *Shut Up Evan Podcast*. "Because there was a time where I really was upset about it. And it was not the movie I set out to make."

But the *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* alum said she's actually now a fan of it.

"Now, in hindsight, all these years later, I totally appreciate it," Gellar said. "And I love it and it'll totally make me laugh. But there was a time where it was like a disappointment in the sense of, you know, what we were sold was not what it was."

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, Matthew Lillard, and Freddie Prinze Jr. in 'Scooby-Doo'.

Jasin Boland/Warner Bros

At the time, Gellar said, she was young — "like 22" — and "wanted to make the sexier, more esoteric version, but that's not what the audiences wanted."

In fact, *Scooby-Doo*, which costarred Gellar's husband Freddie Prinze Jr., whom she married the same year the movie came out, as Fred, as well as *Scream*'s Matthew Lillard (Shaggy) and *Freaks and Geeks* alum Linda Cardellini (Velma), was a hit, much to the chagrin of critics. It even spawned a sequel, *Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed,* which was released in 2004 and even more disliked by reviewers.

Both films were directed by Raja Gosnell, who was also at the helm of Drew Barrymore's *Never Been Kissed* in 1999 and the comedy *Big Momma's House*, with Martin Lawrence and Nia Long, in 2000. They featured the Mystery Inc. gang from the animated series created in the 1960s investigating cases.

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And Gellar wasn't the only one who had expected a more mature take that, for one thing, featured a kiss between her Daphne and Cardellini's Velma.

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James Gunn himself, who's now known for writing and directing movies such as 2021's *Suicide Squad* and *Guardians of the Galaxy*, and penned the *Scooby *scripts, wrote on his verified Facebook account in June 2017 that he also had mixed feelings about what had become of his work.

"I had loved the character of Scooby-Doo since I was a kid and was excited at the prospect of making a live action film with 2002's cutting CGI technology(!!)," he wrote. "Yes, it was not exactly what we planned going out - I had written an edgier film geared toward older kids and adults, and the studio ended pushing it into a clean cut children's film. And, yes, the rumors are true - the first cut was rated R by the MPAA, and the female stars' cleavage was CGI'd away so as not to offend. But, you know, such is life. I had a lot of fun making this movie, regardless of all that. And I was also able to eat, buy a car, and a house because of it."

Watch Gellar's full conversation about the movie above.**

- Children & Family Movies

Original Article on Source

Source: "EW Children"

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Source: Children

Published: January 17, 2026 at 06:38AM on Source: RED MAG

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