What was it like working with Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Gellar as a couple?
It was fairly great actually. They'd work on the scenes they had together the night before and come up with ideas and have everything worked out. We'd rehearse it and it'd be perfect. We'd shoot it and it'd be perfect. It was really pro and, of course, they had that natural chemistry that you'd expect from a couple.
Was the CGI Scooby more difficult to work with?
The production aspect was actually fairly easy. But I must say it was really nice to get into post-production. It was a little scary because no one had ever really seen the dog. We'd seen drawings but an animated moving dog hadn't come through the pipeline. So here we were with this big movie and no movie star. But eventually it became a great bonus because, since he was computer generated, we were actually able to expand his comedic moments later on. The downside is that he's not actually there, but the upside is you can think of ideas later on.
Matthew Lillard had the most scenes with the invisible dog. Was it a huge task for him?
Huge, huge. He did a great job. I believe he had some mime training. There's scenes when Scooby's on top of him and he had to push him off... all the stuff which he makes look so natural is really, really hard.
What do you think the appeal of the cartoon is?
It's a little bit scary, but you know it's going to be all right. It's a mystery and younger people get to solve the mystery so there's that whole wish fulfilment of being the hero. And there's a talking dog, which is always great!
Did you have to tone down references to Shaggy being a hippy stoner?
Ultimately our responsibility is to make a movie that parents can bring their six-year-olds to and teenagers can enjoy. So you try to strike a balance between honouring the original tradition and conventions and being irreverent up to a point where it would be safe without alienating a vast portion of the audience.
