In the final weeks of 2025, there was a lot of sympathy to be had for Matthew Lillard. While the actor had a solid all-around year professionally thanks to the releases of both The Life Of Chuck and Five Nights At Freddy’s 2, he was emotionally blindsided when Quentin Tarantino took unprompted shots at his acting ability. In the immediate wake of the comments, Lillard was quoted bluntly expressing that it “sucks” to hear that kind of criticism, but in the weeks since then, it seems he has managed to find a lovely silver lining in the whole experience.
Tarantino’s comments were hurtful, but Lillard didn’t have to personally stand up and defend his performances or legacy. Instead, he had legions of fans do that for him, as social media timelines were flooded with posts, videos, and memes showing appreciation for his work in the aftermath of the Pulp Fiction writer/director’s comments going viral. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor has taken a big picture view of the whole controversy, and he has been wowed by the love – comparing to the kind of adulation that is saved for after a person has died. Said Lillard,
It was crazy. I keep showing it to my wife to convince her that I am worthy, that people still like me. I am a piece of ass!... It was like living through your own wake. All those R.I.P. emails or tweets and Instagram posts and TikToks, all of the things we see after somebody passes are so sweet. And the reality is I just got to live through all of it firsthand — alive and kicking! I can't imagine a more lovely reaction to what happened.
I feel like this is illustrative of a lesson that people can’t learn enough. It’s a wonderful gift to feel recognized and valued, and while major events like death and being publicly dissed on a podcast (yes, I recognize how silly those two things are together) can inspire massive outpourings of love, it’s silly to wait and hold on to those feelings until those moments.
Now that we’re in 2026, we can likely expect the love for Matthew Lillard to continue, as he has another interesting year of projects for fans to look forward to. First up is Kevin Williamson’s Scream 7, which will somehow feature the resurrection of OG Ghostface Stu Macher, and it’s arriving in theaters late next month.
As a follow-up, he also has finished work on Mike Flanagan’s upcoming limited series adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie, which will be premiering later this year on an unspecified date, and he is part of the awesome ensemble assembled for Tony Gilroy’s new drama film Behemoth!, which co-stars Pedro Pascal, Eva Victor, Olivia Wilde and Will Arnett.
