Why Hollywood Won't Cast Seann William Scott Anymore

In March 2011, Scott entered rehab. According to TMZ, the actor voluntarily entered a treatment facility for unspecified health and personal issues, staying for the allotted 30 days before heading off to film American Pie 4: American Reunion. It's still unclear what he was struggling with, as he hasn't addressed anything publicly—and despite his party animal onscreen persona, Scott insisted to People in 2003, "I don't really party. If I did, it would probably just be trying a new bottle of wine." If he's trying to avoid vices, it's probably for the best that he avoids the Hollywood scene altogether.

At his peak, Scott was the goofy hot high schooler, sleazy party boy, or college jock, even if he was in his late 20s and 30s when he took most of those roles. Now that he's sporting some scruff and a hint of salt and pepper, he's not going to get the same sorts of parts. Perhaps if Scott had expanded his horizons during his heyday, like his Dude, Where's My Car? co-star Ashton Kutcher—who took serious turns in The Butterfly Effect and later landed the titular role of Steve Jobs in Jobs—he might not be in as much of a rut right now.

It seems like Scott got the memo, though. In 2010, he told MTV News that his role as Steve Stifler may have, er, stifled his career development, saying, "I had so much fun and loved the character, [but] I don't want to be known as that character forever." Unfortunately, as he's repeatedly learned the hard way, it can be hard to get Hollywood to take you seriously once you've been pigeonholed in a particular type of role.

Though the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard movie made some money, it was destroyed by critics, leaving it with a dismal 14 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. The site's users weren't kind either, rating it at 46 percent; one audience reviewer called it "A stupid, idiotic, ridiculous film that has no reason to exist apart from to cash in on a classic TV Series." The Houston Chronicle described it as "either one of the worst [films] of the decade, a trenchant political allegory or both," while Time Out London zeroed in on Scott's performance, describing it as "mildly perverted puppy-dog goofing." Ouch.

Aside from the critical slams, Scott also had to put up with co-star Johnny Knoxville's gross-out antics on set, including what he described to Chud as an almost daily surprise flashing of one or both of the Jackass star's testicles. Even if this film had been an Oscar contender, which it decidedly was not, we're not sure dealing with repeated unwanted genital exposure would have been worth it.

Perhaps the worst failure of Scott's career to date is his attempt at a dramatic turn in Courteney Cox's film directorial debut, 2015's Just Before I Go. While doing press for the film, Scott talked about how great it was to shift from comedic roles into something more serious by playing a man on a farewell tour of sorts before he commits suicide. "It was rewarding to play pretty much the antithesis of what I've done in the past," Scott told Variety, adding, "To get a chance to play a totally different character—because he's just a good, average, relatable guy going through obviously an awful moment in his life—was great."

Unfortunately, critics and theatergoers didn't agree. On top of the staggeringly low $10,970 total box office gross the film drew, Scott's performance was described as "tepid" and "colorless" by Stephen Holden of The New York Times. Justin Chang at Variety called the film "a dismal, tonally disastrous small-town farce," but actually threw Scott a bone by saying he "convinces well enough as a guy who wants be put out of his misery, and there isn't an actor here who doesn't look ready to join him." Oh wait, that wasn't a compliment at all, was it?

Though Scott obviously hasn't continued on the career track everyone thought he would after he rocketed to fame as Steve Stifler, that doesn't mean we've seen the last of this leading man. In 2017, he resurfaced in a pair of sequels, with Goon: Last of the Enforcers as well as Ice Age: Collision Course, which has basically been his meal ticket for over a decade now. He's even mentioned during interviews that there's been talk of a Dude, Where's My Car? sequel, called, Seriously, Dude, Where's My Car?, for which we are 100% down. Scott's also hinted that he would return for a new installment of the American Pie franchise if the script was right, so it seems like he has no problem going back to his roots in order to keep his film career moving forward. Speaking of which...

Though Scott admitted in his Reddit AMA that he's "a HUGE instigator of trouble," he also said that's where any similarities between himself and Stifler end, adding, "the majority of that character I took from the friends i went to high school with." Which is also surprising, considering he once told The Sun that where he grew up, "everyone's so chipper and you make friends just grocery shopping. We kill each other with kindness."

Scott's also referred to himself as having been "a nerd" in high school, despite his aforementioned athletic prowess, and even admitted to hating "the funny kids in high school because they got all the girls." That's right, the onscreen party animal was more of a wallflower in his formative years. In fact, when he shipped off to Hollywood, he didn't even have his sights set on the world of comedy.