Why Freddie Prinze Jr. says he nearly left acting after 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'

Freddie Prinze Jr. came close to quitting acting after a bad experience on the set of slasher flick "I Know What You Did Last Summer," which he starred in alongside his now-wife Sarah Michelle Gellar.

While the movie provided his breakout role, filming the Jim Gillespie-directed 1997 teen horror flick was not exactly a breeze.

Gillespie made it difficult, Prinze Jr. said in a video interview with TooFab published Tuesday while promoting his recently launched horror movie-focused podcast, "That Was Pretty Scary."

"I almost just quit the movie. I almost caught a flight and went home. I was just done. I had had enough," he said.

The "She's All That" star said Gillespie made it clear that he didn't want Prinze Jr. in the movie.

"I did have those moments where the director would just give me psychotic notes like, 'don't leave your mouth open. You look stupid when you do that,'" Prinze Jr. said.

Gillespie, Prinze Jr. said, wanted Jeremy Sisto, who starred in 1995's "Clueless," but had been convinced to hire Prinze Jr. instead in the role of Ray Bronson.

"(Gillespie) made no bones about it. Like there was no passive aggressiveness, which I hate," Prinze Jr., 47, said. "He was very direct about the fact that 'I don't want you in this movie.' So when that's your first job? Yeah, you hear those words. It just wrecks you, man."

USA TODAY has reached out to Gillespie's rep for comment.

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He could've returned to culinary school, which he had left to pursue acting, he said, but decided to stick it out.

Prinze Jr. said he's grateful for his experience with Gillespie, even though it "sounds weird," he said.

"I'm here because of that struggle. And because of that, that that pain and it was those things it was a struggle to finish work every day. I was in pain every single day on that on that movie. However, it prepared me for this business in a way," Prinze Jr. said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Freddie Prinze Jr. nearly quit acting due to bad director experience