Game Con Canada took place this past weekend, and CGMagazine had a blast on the show floor. With guests like Matthew Lillard, Steven Ogg, Mark Meer and Aleks Paunovic, how could we not be excited? With Q&As, meet and greets and MEGA Stage gaming, we were lucky enough that Matthew Lillard was able to fit us into his schedule to chat about the event and his career.
It is no secret to anyone who knows me that I have been a huge fan of Matthew Lillard’s since I was in my early teens. Scream, SLC Punk, Thirteen Ghosts and even Scooby-Doo (the first movie I ever stuck into, sorry, Matthew!) were some of the films that shaped me, so being able to sit down with Matthew Lillard at a con and chat about his career and life as an actor was an incredible honour. Lillard gave us some insight into his Game Con Canada experience, returning to old roles, and what he is passionate about on Saturday, his last day at the event.
We’re at Game Con Canada. This is your last day here, right?
Matthew Lillard: I’m eating a delicious cookie. They’re free! Are you sure you don’t want one?
Not yet! I need a to-go cookie, that’s the rule! What has been your experience at Game Con Canada so far, since it’s your last day?
Matthew Lillard: My experience so far is that the Oilers fans are everywhere.
They are.
Matthew Lillard: For the record, I’m rooting for the Canadian team to beat the Florida team. I’m very excited about that.
I can support that, absolutely.
Matthew Lillard: We think McDavid’s pretty incredible. McDavid is McDreamy. I’m not a huge hockey fan, but when the Oilers beat the Kings and I saw McDavid, I was like, “This guy’s pretty dope.” A friend of mine who’s a Canadian who loves hockey, he’s like, “He’s my favourite player!” And so, now I’ve been watching this playoff series, and it’s been the most incredible sporting experience ever.
That’s awesome. Well, what has been your favourite experience at Game Con Canada so far? You’ve played some games on stage. You’ve done some meet-and-greets.
Matthew Lillard: We’re doing a live show tonight at 8:00. I think that would probably be my favourite part. We did an in conversation, like we sort of did a Q&A yesterday for an hour, which I like doing. I don’t necessarily love talking about my life for an hour, but I do like going to the audience and sort of taking audience questions.
I could tell you got right in there, literally in the audience.
Matthew Lillard: Oh yeah, you were there?
We were there, yeah.
Matthew Lillard: Yeah. I like people, I like the ability to…it’s one thing for somebody to curate questions, “What’s it like to work on such and such a movie” is one thing, but being able to answer a fan’s question, I think is a little more meaningful and a little more engaging. So it’s about that it becomes about them instead of being just about me. So, I like that. I like that experience. But tonight, I’m excited to play Faster, Purple Worm!
Yes. I want to talk to you about that. That’s the first time you’re bringing Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! to Canada? Yes.
Matthew Lillard: Yes. First time ever.
Okay, so tell us about it. It’s your project.
Matthew Lillard: Yeah. So, I have two companies. I’m part-owner of two companies. I have a company called Beadle & Grimm’s, We make high-end boxed editions for Dungeons & Dragons and RPG games. Magic: The Gathering, all kinds of stuff. So, we did 20 episodes of television last year with Wizards of the Coast, who runs Dungeons & Dragons. The show is called Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!
You can find it on Tubi. You can find it on the Amazon streaming service [Prime Video]. There are tons of streaming services that carry it, but basically, it’s Whose Line Is It Anyway? meets Dungeons & Dragons. Super fun. Super fast. It’s a raucous good time. It’s not really rules-heavy. And the conceit of the game is it’s the story of all the first-level characters that don’t go on to become legends, but end up dying very early.
So all of my characters.
Matthew Lillard: Yes, every single character in the history of Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! dies in one game.
Oh. That’s amazing.
Matthew Lillard: It’s pretty fun. It’s a great way to play the game. We did a Kickstarter for the book. We launched the book last year. So that’s been a blast. So, I’m excited to bring that to the big stage. That [Game Con Canada] stage is so epic.
Yeah, it is. I was up there yesterday. It’s a lot.
Matthew Lillard: It’s a lot.
That’s a lot. That’s for you. Not for me. [laughs] So, how do you get started in starting a company about tabletop RPGs? Where did your love of that come from?
Matthew Lillard: Well, I grew up playing it as a kid. You know, the game was released when I was young, and so I grew up playing it. At some point, I realized if I ever wanted to kiss a girl, I was going to have to stop playing.
But then it comes full circle when you’re older.
Matthew Lillard: Yes. It came full circle for us. We all went to acting school, the five of us went to acting school together. And at one point during our time at Circle in the Square in New York City, my roommate Jon Cellini had all the core rulebooks for Dungeons & Dragons. And I was like, “Why do you have these, nerd?” He’s like, “I love playing D&D. I still play,” and I’m like, “Oh my God, I would love to play.” And so, we got a collection of us together and we played.
We started one night at midnight at Circle in the Square, which is at 50th and Broadway. It’s a Broadway house. So, we played on the floor of this Broadway theatre, and we played till the sun came up.
That’s really cool.
Matthew Lillard: Full disclosure, we played here Friday night. I had just landed, and since a few of us are spread out, we rarely get the chance to all be together. We ended up playing until about two in the morning. Really, it all started as a midlife crisis. The truth is, we all had our jobs, our careers, our families, but we were looking for something more out of life. That’s when we came up with the idea of starting a company: creating a high-end luxury brand around Dungeons & Dragons and gaming. We launched it about five or six years ago.
Now those guys have left their full-time jobs and now work full-time for Beadle & Grimm’s, and I have gone on to sort of take the same idea and create a premium whiskey experience around fandoms. That’s called Find Familiar Spirits. We have Quest End, which is a game-centric high-end whiskey. Each bottle of Quest End comes with the next chapter of an ongoing saga. And then we have something called Macabre Spirits, which is a horror brand.
Good name!
Matthew Lillard: Yeah, it’s pretty good. We just launched Rare, Fine, & Limited. We just launched a project with Mike Flanagan, who did Fall of the House of Usher, Life of Chuck, that comes out this weekend, but he wrote a novella. The idea of Find Familiar Spirits is always like, what do we give to the community, not just how we transact with them? Like, what’s our value add to them? So, all of our bottles feature either a game, a story, a novella, or something similar.
You’re just right at home at a con, then.
Matthew Lillard: Yes! These are my people. Look, I do cons, eight to ten cons a year. It’s become my number one source of income. Cons are…it helps keep actors alive or helps feed our families. And for me, it’s been a huge relief. It’s been a life changer.
That’s great. Outside of D&D and tabletop, do you have any other fandoms? Like, are you really into any video games or movie franchises?
Matthew Lillard: I’m not a big fan guy. There are a lot of people who collect, and I always envy those people. Dungeons & Dragons is my number one. I’ve played all kinds of video games, but I’ve probably bought the same game 22 years in a row.
Okay. I’m listening.
Matthew Lillard: So, every year they reissue a new game. Every year, I buy the updated version.
What is it?
Matthew Lillard: It’s FIFA. It’s EA SPORTS FIFA. [FC]
My partner will be so excited.
Matthew Lillard: Tell him I start my own team. I create my own manager. And I play until my manager retires and I bring him back.
Like “You can’t leave!”
Matthew Lillard: Yes! It’s the dumbest thing ever. As somebody in the film and television industry, I don’t consume a lot of media. I don’t love watching movies. I don’t love watching TV. I do. I do love watching TV with my wife. I do love watching movies with my whole family, like going to the theatre and having that experience.
It’s like one of my favourite things to do, but I don’t on a Friday night or Tuesday night, I don’t sit home and turn on a film. So, what do I do if my wife’s watching the Housewives? I will put on my game, and I’ll play Xbox. PlayStation, now.
Okay, fine. PlayStation. I’ll let it go. [Laughs] All right, let’s talk about your career a little bit. I will be perfectly honest. I’m a huge Matthew Lillard fan.
Matthew Lillard: You are? Before this meet? Before we met?
Scream… Here’s the thing. I’ve been here…
Matthew Lillard: If you just say, like, the top three movies, that’s not a fan.
I can’t understand how no one has said anything about Thirteen Ghosts yet.
Matthew Lillard: They say it. All the time.
But here I’ve not seen anyone. And I’m like, “What is wrong with you all?” Unacceptable.
Matthew Lillard: I will cut you! [Laughs]
I will absolutely cut you! But Thirteen Ghosts…
Matthew Lillard: That’s shot in Vancouver.
Oh, I didn’t even know. I was not quite in the industry when that came out.
Matthew Lillard: You weren’t born.
To be fair, I think it was. What year was that? I was a whole person. Okay? Like, I had an attitude already. But it is my favourite horror movie to date.
Matthew Lillard: Really?
It is. Yeah. It’s always stuck with me. And anytime someone hasn’t seen it, I’m like, big mad about it. I’m a Scream fan too, but yeah, Thirteen Ghosts has always stuck with me. I’m curious if you have any thoughts on the constant rumours that it’s either going to get a revival or a TV series?
Matthew Lillard: Oh yeah, it’s supposed to have a TV series coming.
That’s a real thing? Because it’s been a rumour.
Matthew Lillard: Yeah, it’s definitely in the zeitgeist. It is happening. But it’s Hollywood. I mean, that just means that somebody…
Somebody talked about it somewhere.
Matthew Lillard: I have no idea if that ever happens, but it’s in development. Like, somebody got the right idea about doing a TV show, but I haven’t. I don’t know anything about it.
Do you have any thoughts on the idea? Do you think it would be a good thing to bring back or remake even?
Matthew Lillard: A remake of a remake?
Yeah, I like that. It’s about time you got to do it every 20 years or something.
“…to have not only one movie that’s relevant, but a couple of movies over the course of a lifetime is really more than you can ever dream of coming up into this crazy business.”
Matthew Lillard: I will say this, I think that movie is sneaky popular. A lot of films from my past are more popular than any executive realizes. When I do cons, and I do them all the time, people are always buying the top three: Scooby-Doo, Five Nights at Freddy’s, SLC Punk, and then Thirteen Ghosts. I think that’s without a doubt the order. So I wouldn’t be surprised. I think it makes sense, I think it’s good business sense. But who knows?
That’s fair. I’ll watch it.
Matthew Lillard: There you go.
Of course, we’ve talked about Scream. I know you said you can’t say anything about Scream 7. I will give credit: my 14-year-old niece, she’s a huge Scream fan. And she’s been saying Stu’s alive since she saw the first movie. Now, of course, we don’t know what’s happening.
Matthew Lillard: I mean, I do.
I know. Well, I would assume.
Matthew Lillard: I’m intimately involved with what’s happening.
That’s a fair point. Is there anything that you can tell us, even about just being excited to go back?
Matthew Lillard: I’m excited. I was on the phone with Beadle & Grimm’s, having a conversation while taking a walk in the park. I take a lot of walks. Working with two companies, I’m not used to sitting at a desk — I’m not used to the endurance of actually having a job, right?
I was taking a walk, and I got a call from Kevin Williamson in the middle of the day, and I was like, “That’s so weird. Why is he calling me?” And I picked up, and he was sort of small talk, small talk, small talk. And he was like, “I have a question for you. Do you want to come back?” And I lost my mind. I was very excited.
What has it been like watching that franchise year after year? You got a little hurt in Scream 1…just a little bit, but watching it come back and then reach new audiences, like I said, my 14-year-old niece is probably more hardcore than I am now. So, to see these new generations and then see what they’ve done with the franchise, when you had to sit back and watch, what’s that been like?
Matthew Lillard: It’s a little like watching your ex-wife have a beautiful life. Like, you’re divorced. Her husband’s gorgeous with great abs and rich, probably a fantastic lover. I mean, you know, it is like that thing. You’re like, “Wow, it’s really going great for them. I’m so happy. I’m so happy for them. I’m really so happy.”
No, honestly, I think the movie…I think it’s oddly still relevant. I think that here we are, seven movies in, and we’re still sort of like big reveal in the last two minutes of the movie with a crazy manic monologue.
One of the best, though.
Matthew Lillard: Well, I mean, I don’t know about that. But it was the first, right? And there’s something about being the original, you have a great sense of pride. I’m proud to be a part of it. I’m proud to be part of the foundation of it. As an actor, you don’t have any idea if anyone gives a shit about what you do. So, to have not only one movie that’s relevant, but a couple over the course of a lifetime, is really more than you can ever dream of coming up in this crazy business.
I think the movie was in a great place. I actually thought Melissa Barrera was great, and I thought what they were doing was fantastic. So, you know, I’m happy to be back. I think the franchise certainly doesn’t need me, but I’m happy to be back.
Do you think there are any other projects you’ve worked on, no matter how big or small, how popular or not, that you think it would be really fun to dive back into?
Matthew Lillard: Yeah, I think that SLC Punk is a movie that still is relevant. I literally have people come up to me all the time. Yeah, I think that there’s a story in what is it like to be a punk rock kid.
I want to bring back the hair for you, though.
Matthew Lillard: Yeah, I would like the hair. I don’t know if my family would, but the idea of, I mean, today is the day of No Kings march in America. I feel like there is a nation that is spinning out of control and will explode at protests because it just feels like everything’s out of control. And that is punk rock.
You need people to sort of embrace this sort of extent, and what does that look like as a punk rocker who is now an adult? And how does that protest, and how do we help shape and change the world for the better? So, I think that there’s a world in which it’s a great time to tell that story.
I don’t want to keep you too long. So my last one will tie back into Game Con Canada a little bit. What is the strangest fan interaction you’ve had? Whether it’s like pulling out an obscure reference that you didn’t think anybody ever saw, or just genuinely shocked you.
Matthew Lillard: I don’t have that, I don’t have an answer for that. I feel like the impact you have on people, whether at Game Con Canada, walking down the street or on a plane, is in their reaction. It’s not for me to judge at all. I think “strange” has a negative connotation. But I do think people have emotional responses, not just to me, but to whoever they meet, right?
If it’s a rock star or a dancer or a painter or whatever, that whoever you’re drawn to or whoever you care about or whatever you’re passionate about, if somebody is…like the articulation of that and you get a chance to meet them and you’re running around Alberta, or you’re running around Edmonton and you’re like, “Oh my God, there’s that guy from that thing!” I am not one to ever judge what happens to somebody. My job is to hold space for them and let them have that moment. That transaction is for them. It’s not about me.
“I think that the sky’s the limit for Game Con Canada. I think it’s right on point…I don’t think anything has this sort of footprint, that stage and the sort of engagement that we’re seeing out here.”
But look, I will say that, just for the record, I think that this con has been a remarkable achievement. I mean, you look at how we are in the shadow of game five of The Stanley Cup Finals, and this place is packed. I think the people, the amount of cosplay you have here, the fact that you have Warhammer, an international competition, happening here, and it’s only its second year here in this location, is a pretty remarkable achievement. And if they could just get the Oilers to lose.
For one year.
Matthew Lillard: In the regular season, one time, I think that the sky’s the limit for Game Con Canada. I think it’s right on point. I’ve been to literally 50 cons in my life in terms of different venues, been multiple times to the same cons, but I don’t think anything has this sort of footprint, that stage and the sort of engagement that we’re seeing out here. I just think it’s a remarkable achievement. And I think that if you get a chance next year, people should come out and check it out.
Awesome. Thank you. What you were saying about how you’re kind of here for the people. This is just an anecdote I want to share with you. My sister-in-law and my niece have met you at Fan Expo, I believe, in Toronto. Yeah. And all week they’ve been, like, “Seriously! He was the nicest we’ve ever met. He made us feel so special. He was so kind.” I’ve never seen anyone not have something wonderful to say about you. So I thought you should know.
Matthew Lillard: There are people, I guarantee there are plenty of people, where you’re like, “No, thank you.” My favourite thing is, you’ll be at the end of the day, and someone asks, “Can I have a photo?” And I’ll say, “No, thank you.” They don’t know how to process it. You’re trying to be kind, but you’re still saying no. They just look at you like, “What? You’re welcome?”
I think my job, in those moments, is to give somebody enough of an experience that they want to come back the next year, whether I’m there or not. So that we can keep this going and, you know, these cons, not this con, but those autograph signing cons, or I said this before, but literally that’s how they feed their kids. I mean, if you’re a blue-collar actor, look, if you’re Tom Cruise, you’ll never do a con. You don’t need the money.
But the reality is that Hollywood doesn’t pay like it used to. And even back then, if you’re five, six or seven on a call sheet, you’re working for a very basic wage. It would be a great wage if you worked every week of the year. Yeah, but the reality is that you can work four or five weeks in a year and you’re not making above the poverty line. 97% of the SAG Union is living below the poverty line.
Well, we thank you for doing it.
