Matthew Lillard thought Scream was 'lame' and no one would see it

Matthew Lillard told a New York Comic Con panel he thought the original Scream was "lame" and that nobody would see it while he was making it, according to Variety. He was wrong.

Lillard recalled having the conversation in the back of a car driving home from work at about 6 a.m., still covered in blood. He told his co-stars he planned to leave film behind and "go become a television star" instead.

At the time, he said, Courteney Cox was heading back to "Friends" and Neve Campbell was heading back to "Party of Five." His own pilot never went. "Here we are 30 years later," he said.

Lillard played Stuart "Stu" Macher in Scream, one of the two original Ghostface killers, the masked figures behind the murders. He starred alongside Cox, Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, David Arquette and Drew Barrymore.

The first Scream was released in 1996 and started a seven-film franchise, according to Variety. Lillard and Scott Foley reprise their deceased characters in Scream 7, Deadline reported.

Lillard added that "nobody could have possibly ever imagined" what Scream would become. He realised its staying power only long after that early-morning car ride.

For fans, this means the actor best known as Stu once counted himself out completely. Thirty years on, he is still talking about the film on a convention stage — and still returning to it.