Five Nights At Freddy’s is an adaptation of the wildly popular video games. The movie follows Mike Schmidt, who is struggling to raise his younger sister, Abby. Desperate for a job, he takes on a security guard gig at the long-abandoned Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. However, he soon learns that not all is what it seems at the pizza place when the terrifying animatronics come to life and reveal a shocking connection to his greatest childhood trauma.
Five Nights At Freddy’s is directed by Emma Tammi, who also co-wrote the script with Scott Cawthon, creator of the games, and Seth Cuddeback, based on a story by Cawthon, Chris Lee Hill, and Tyler MacIntyre. Matthew Lillard plays the franchise’s infamous villain, William Afton. The rest of the powerhouse Five Nights At Freddy’s cast includes Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, and Mary Stuart Masterson. The movie also features animatronics created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
Five Nights At Freddy’s Theory Reveals Mike Is Related To A Key FNAF Character (& It Changes The Games)
The Five Nights at Freddy’s movie suggests William Afton isn’t the protagonist’s father — but a theory does link movie Mike to another FNAF character.
Screen Rant interviewed Matthew Lillard about playing the villain in Five Nights At Freddy’s. He discussed returning to the horror genre and his excitement about being a part of Blumhouse. Lillard also shared how Cawthon explained which Five Nights At Freddy’s games were important and who had the idea for the Scream homage with the knife.
Matthew Lillard Talks Five Nights At Freddy’s
Screen Rant: I haven’t been able to tell you so far, but I thought you were amazing in Five Nights At Freddy’s. You were my favorite part.
Matthew Lillard: Thank you, Caitlin.
Without question. So I’m curious, what did you want to tap into with William Afton from the games versus what did you want to bring to make the character your own?
Matthew Lillard: Well, I mean, the most important thing for me from the game was just to represent him in the way that the fans wanted. I mean, it’s not very often that when you’re associated with a property that you have a responsibility to something higher than your own performance. I mean, for us, we are guided by a need to deliver on behalf of a fan base that is as passionate as any fan base out there. So for me, it was important to represent the game and the lore and the universe that everyone cares so deeply about as best I could. And that’s really the only thing that mattered to be frank.
I love that. And I know that the creator of the game worked on the film. Were you able to work with him to figure out what from the lore was maybe most impactful for this version of him?
Matthew Lillard: Yeah. So early on I said to Scott, there’s 20 some odd games. There’s books galore. What do you want me to focus on? What’s essential? And he said to me clearly, look, the first three games are where we’re taking the movie from. That’s the canon that we’re really dealing with. And then set me a bunch of playthroughs. And so I started watching a bunch of playthroughs, which was exciting. And then I started playing the game. I mean, my kids were fans of the game, so they walked me through and I started to play the game before we went to work. And I think the creative team did an incredible job translating what was great about the game into this movie. And so I think collectively we’re all proud of what was delivered. And I think the fans really came out and loved it.
Yeah, I could not agree more. I have a friend whose kids are obsessed with FNAF, and I think they’ve watched the movie like 20 times at this point.
Matthew Lillard: Yeah, there’s a lot of that. There’s a lot happening around that. And excitingly, we’re right now, as of today, the DVD comes out, it’s got a Blu-ray and DVD 4K. It’s got additional scenes, additional content, so those super fans can now check out the DVD. They can slow it down, rewind it, watch it three times. They can do whatever they want. Which is awesome.
Did you have a favorite scene that maybe didn’t make the cut for the movie?
Matthew Lillard: Not really. I’m only in… Spoiler alert, I’m not in the movie very much, much. I mean, I have a smaller part in this iteration. But yeah, so I don’t really recognize anything that was taken out. My stuff all stayed, thank God. In fact, they added stuff. The phone call was just supposed to be voiceover, but they decided to shoot it just in case they had it. And all that stuff I think ended up in the movie, which I was very happy with.
Very cool. And then what would you like to explore further with William Afton, assuming we have a sequel?
Matthew Lillard: Yeah, one of the things I was surprised about is that I sort of fell in love with the costume work. I really found it exciting to explore working within that huge body. In drama school, you do these things called mask exercises, and so it was like this big moving mask exercise. So I really enjoyed that. I would love to obviously continue that when he’s spring trapped, but I’m hoping to find other elements in the movies. Hopefully they make more movies. One would assume they would, but I hope to find more opportunities for him to be out of the spring trap costume. But we’ll see. We’ll see.
And was that kind of homage to Scream with the knife? Was that your idea?
Matthew Lillard: No, that was Emma, actually. Emma Tammi was like, Do this. And so she gave it to me. I don’t remember if I did it once in a take, and she just had me do it again. But yeah.
I love that moment.
Matthew Lillard: Yeah, it’s funny. I think it stood out way more than I ever assumed it would.
And then so you got to not only be in the giant suit, but you also had the animatronics on set. What was that interacting with them?
Matthew Lillard: Yeah, it’s great. Look, as an actor, the more information you have, the richer your performance can be. One of the things about working with Scooby-Doo in Scooby-Doo is that he’s just never there. So your best friend is something that’s an X on a wall. And so the idea of being able to sort of at that last sequence, having Foxy walk at you is a very different experience than sort of over pretending. And so look, I think that that’s, and they did an incredible job. The Jim Henson Company is… Their obviously historically world-renowned, and they didn’t disappoint, they’re amazing pieces of work.
Yeah, I completely agree. And then do you want to explore William Afton’s relationship with his daughter more in the future?
Matthew Lillard: Yeah, I mean, look, for me, the only thing I want to explore are the things that make sense for the fan base, for Scott, for the storytelling. I mean, frankly, our job in that movie is to deliver lore, right? So much of the game is fans have for so long filled in the blanks, and our job is to fill in where we can and what’s Scott and Emma thinks appropriate. So for me, only thing I care about is that we’re doing something that the fans want, that they’ll be excited to see.
And then what did Emma Tammi’s directing style bring to the movie for you?
Matthew Lillard: Oh, Emma’s incredible. She delivered this sense of realism to it that I think in less capable hands would’ve been lost. And I think within that, you would’ve made a campy film. I think there’s something that makes this film feel grounded and allows the absurdity of these monsters to land on a much higher level, and it gives the movie a depth that I don’t think people expected.
And then I think it’s kind of funny that, infamously, people have been debating whether or not your Scream character survived. And here we get to have you kind of be the ghost face of this franchise, but you are the one that gets to come back every time. Is that kind of a fun nod to Scream for you?
Matthew Lillard: It is not a nod to Scream, but it is definitely nice to make the sequel. If they make a sequel. But it’s definitely nice to know that if they’re going to make a sequel, the lines, “I always come back.” That’s part of the IP, so I am always coming back. That makes me super happy. In all honesty, as an actor, your careers ebb and flow and nobody goes straight up except for Tom Cruise. And it’s nice at this juncture in my life to start a franchise in my early fifties that hopefully will take me through the next 10 years of my life. And yeah, it’s just nice to have that in a career.
I very much hope we get sequels because I want to see you playing William Afton for a while.
Matthew Lillard: Thank you, Caitlin. You’re the best.
Can you talk about working with Jason Blum, who’s become kind of the tent pole in horror because you yourself are a legend in that horror space as well?
Matthew Lillard: Yeah. I’m not going to lie to you. A buddy of mine said, “I’m having Jason Blum over for a dinner party. You want to come by?” And I said, “Yes.” It was after I’d shot the movie before I met him, and I went up to him and I said, “I’m not going to lie to you. One of the reasons I took this movie is to be in your wheelhouse.” I love horror movies. I think horror movies for me, speak to the actor I am. I mean, there’s really high stakes, people are running for their lives. I think that’s a world in which I operate well in. And I know from my fans at conventions that they like me in horror movies.
So I’ve been looking for an opportunity to get back in to the horror genre, and I couldn’t be happier being in business with Blum and Blumhouse. What they’re doing is incredible. I just did a baking show for them that comes out next year that we pushed off because of the strike, but it’s a horror baking themed cake contest. And so yeah, if it was up to me, I said to this to him last week, I would spend the rest of my career working in his space because I think he’s a good dude. I think the stuff he makes is the world I want to live in and I can do well at, and I’m hoping to be around for a long time.
I hope so as well. And then my last question for you, you said you started playing the games a bit. Is there a particular… Because I know you said two and three are kind of where the space is going to live. Is there a particular setting or specific game that you want to really dive into in future movies?
Matthew Lillard: No. Again, look, it’s so beyond my pay grade. You know what I mean? They pay me to put on makeup and step on a mark and say my line. And so here’s the good news very few movies are born into a fan base as rich and as passionate as this. And so the fact that we have Scott sort of guiding us, I think we’re in good hands. I think that wherever he takes us and whatever he thinks is essential to cover, we have a basis to build off of. And I don’t think that many films have that, right? I mean, at the end of most movies, you’re like, well, where should we go next? The good news is we have a really clear roadmap, and so wherever they go, I think is going to be the best way to go.
About Five Nights At Freddy’s
Mike Schmidt, a troubled security guard, accepts a night-time job at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a once-successful but now abandoned family entertainment center, where he discovers its four animatronic mascots – Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy – move and kill anyone that is still there after midnight.
Check out our other Five Nights At Freddy’s interviews here:
- Emma Tammi
- Emma Tammi @ NYCC
- Jason Blum @ NYCC
- Emma Tammi & Robert Bennett
Five Nights at Freddy’s
Five Nights at Freddy’s is an adaptation of the popular video game franchise of the same name, directed by Emma Tammi. The film centers around a maintenance worker handling night duties at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a children’s amusement center home to a grizzly tragedy in its history. The animatronics come to life at night, and the worker must survive until daybreak.
- Release Date
- October 27, 2023
- Director
- Emma Tammi
- Cast
- Josh Hutcherson , Matthew Lillard , Elizabeth Lail , Piper Rubio , Mary Stuart Masterson , Kevin Foster , Jade Kindar-Martin , Jessica Weiss , Roger Joseph Manning Jr.
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 109 Minutes
- Genres
- Horror , Thriller
- Writers
- Scott Cawthon , Seth Cuddeback , Emma Tammi
- Story By
- Scott Cawthon, Chris Lee Hill, Tyler MacIntyre
- Budget
- $25 Million
- Studio(s)
- Blumhouse Productions , Scott Cawthon Productions , Striker Entertainment
- Distributor(s)
- Universal Pictures
- Franchise(s)
- Five Nights at Freddy’s
