Freddie Prinze Jr. Says ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Director Gave Him “Psychotic Notes”: “You Look Stupid”

I Know What You Did Last Summer is one of the defining blockbusters of the ‘90s. It spun off a successful sequel in 1998 (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer), a less successful direct-to-DVD sequel in 2006 (I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer), a TV reboot on Amazon Prime in 2021 (also titled I Know What You Did Last Summer), and a proposed fourth film. But not everyone has such fond memories about the movie.

Freddie Prinze Jr. recently opened up about his experiences working on the set of the original 1997 movie with director Jim Gillespie. Prinze Jr. has been outspoken about how the director treated him while shooting his first movie. 

According to the actor, Gillespie was “very direct” about not wanting him for the role. He claimed Gillespie wanted to cast Jeremy Sisto  for the role of Ray Bronson instead, but the studio and screenwriter Kevin Williamson pushed for him. “He was very direct in the fact that, ‘I don’t want you in this movie.’ So when that’s your first job and you hear those words, it just wrecks you, man. It just wrecks you,” Prinze Jr. said.

He described feeling singled out when the director would give the other actors notes except for him. “I’m like, well was he just trying to do some Method crap? I just don’t understand,” Prinze Jr. said. 

When the actor did receive notes from Gillespie, he said they were “psychotic,” like telling him, “don’t leave your mouth open [because] you look stupid when you do that.”

This isn’t the first time Prinze Jr. has spoken publicly about his time working with Gillespie. In a separate interview he gave in January, the actor recalled a “really bad experience” while filming a stunt on set. “There was a stunt where they, to save money, sent the stunt crew home,” he said. He explained that he was expected to drive a dinghy with an outboard motor. When he asked if Freddie Hice, the stunt coordinator, approved of him doing the stunt, Gillespie said he did. 

“We do the rehearsal and this boat is not safe to do this jump. I fly out of the boat and it goes right over my head, the outboard engine,” he recalls. “I don’t know how close it was but it felt like it was a millimeter away.”

He continued, “And I get out of the water and I’m pissed. And the director comes up to me and he goes, ‘You told me you know how to drive a speedboat!’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, I do. That’s not a speedboat, it’s a dinghy with an outboard motor. You’re mad at me?!’” He claims Gillespie said they would have to film it again, which he refused. Hice turned out to not even be on set while they were filming. 

“I can laugh about it now. At the time I was, and rightfully so, pissed off,” he said.

Prinze Jr. went on to say he had the “exact opposite experience” working on the sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer with director Danny Cannon. 

The franchise will be coming back with another installment, which is still in early development. Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt are reportedly in talks to return for the reboot, though he says he hasn’t received an offer for the film yet. The movie will be directed by Do Revenge director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.