B.L. Freddie, you must have had a complete riot making this movie, I mean who wouldn't want to play Fred?
F.P. Well, actually in the beginning I didn't. I wasn't sure that the script was going to be any good and I didn't want to see this cartoon made into a sham. But when Sarah got the role of Daphne and then I read the script, I couldn't stop laughing and I knew I had to play Freddie.

B.L. I know that you are a huge fan of the cartoon and that you have quite the Scooby-Doo collection at home.
F.P. Yes, for about twenty years I have been collecting comics and the cartoons on video. I actually managed to get every single episode of Scooby-Doo on tape, even when they re-did it in the eighties and it was god-awful. They did a pup named Scrappy Doo and The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby and they were just terrible. I even have those. I love that kind of world and, as an artist, I want to keep my tools as sharp as possible. Living in this make-believe universe that I have created at Sarah's and my house sort of helps me live there and do good. I even have a Scooby-Doo bowling ball.

B.L. How does Sarah feel about all of this?
F.P. She's cool with it, especially since we have made the movie.

B.L. Do you let her use the bowling ball?
F.P. Hey, some things can't be shared! Even with the person you are going to marry (laughs).

B.L. How difficult was it for you to take this popular cartoon character and make him three-dimensional?
F.P. It's as difficult as any other process or character I've had to do. The only difference was that I sort of had a template and a basis to go from. And the fact that we had 90 minutes to fill as opposed to 25 minutes gave me more time to fill in the blanks and have fun with him. Fred in the cartoon always had flashes of arrogance and his ego was always a bit bigger than the rest of his friends. I saw it as a huge opportunity to make him as narcissistic and self-loving as possible so that this image that he has created of being the perfect man falls; his whole world just comes shattering down and he is just this blubbering mess on the floor.

B.L. You had to go through what millions of women have to go through -- you had to dye your hair bleach blonde! No wigs for you! I understand that was not a pleasant experience for you.
F.P. No, it was not a lot of fun. Hey, I'm a guy; I don't want to do that crap! You know what I mean? On my day off I just want to kick back play some football, take a swim. We were in Australia and I like to go in the ocean. Everybody else got to do that but, no, not me! I couldn't even get in a pool because there was chlorine and it would have turned my hair green! It really was not a great experience and I was told to wear a wig, but I chose not to because it was so hot.

B.L. What was really fun to watch in this movie was that there is a lot of tension between Fred and Daphne, played by Sarah Michelle, who of course is your fiancée. How much fun was that?
F.P. It was all acting you know. Acting with Sarah was the same to me as acting with Matthew Lillard, who plays Shaggy. I know both of them very well. In fact, I have made four movies with Matthew and two now with Sarah, so I know what to expect from her. I know what she is going to bring to the table. I know how hard I can push her and I know what she is capable of and vice versa. So, it was a very enjoyable experience both ways because there is no getting to know you period. The funny thing was with Linda Cardellini, who plays Velma, I expected a getting-to-know-you period and she really wasn't having any of that. She was just there, and we were friends. She was instantly one of the gang.

B.L. Why do you think that Scooby-Doo has endured for more than thirty years?
F.P. That's easy. He's a dog that can talk! To be completely honest, when I was a kid all I wanted was for my dog to talk to me and he never did! I would go to church and pray to the saints to let me come home and please let him talk. I really believed that it would happen; I had mountain-moving faith, but it never did happen. Scooby was the only dog that could, so it kind of made it the coolest thing on TV.

B.L. What was it like for you working with all of the special effects, especially the scenes with Scooby in it? Plus, you also got a little injured doing one of your stunts in the film.
F.P. Yes, I got tore up a little bit, but I can't be hurt, I'm a super-hero! Hey, I didn't even feel it. I did get hurt doing a stunt. I was on two sets of wires, one that was supposed to pull me forward and then after I landed on my chest another one that was supposed to pull me up. It's supposed to be this creature that they would digitize from a computer into the film after. When I landed on my chest, the guys who were pulling the wires forward had to keep on going and it bent me over backwards. It looked worse than it was, but I got up and did the stunt again because the show had to go on!

B.L. Well, I'm glad you are OK. Here's your chance to tell Canadian kids why they should go see you in Scooby-Doo the movie.
F.P. Hey, it's Scooby-Doo. You know why you should see it. It's a talking dog and we have a couple of secrets in there too!

B.L. What are we going to see next from you on the big screen?
F.P. Sarah Michelle and I, Sigourney Weaver and George Carlin, and a bunch of talented actors all contributed our voices to an animated feature called Happily Never After, which is sort of a play on fairy-tales and reverses the endings of them. I am also doing a lot of writing and I am getting ready to direct a movie that I wrote.