Shannen Doherty blames Kevin Smith’s ‘Mallrats’ for destroying her ‘film career’: ‘It died’

nypost.com:

1995 comedy “Mallrats,” she claims that it derailed her film career.The “Jay and Silent Bob” creator, 53, appeared on Doherty’s “Let’s Be Clear” podcast recently, where they discussed the now-cult classic’s poor box office at the time.“That’s kind of the interesting thing about ‘Mallrats,’ right, is that it wasn’t a box office success,” she said, with Smith chiming in: “Oh, it died.”The “Charmed” alum nodded her head: “It died.

So did my film career. That was it.”Smith then noted that Doherty’s fame was the reason the feature was able to get produced.“Mallrats” also starred a young Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Jeremy London and Jason Mewes.“People literally thought that I was carrying the movie, so therefore it was a box office failure; it was completely on me.

So there was no film career after that, which was a little brutal,” she explained. “I really thought ‘Mallrats’ was going to kick me into that gear [of making movies].”The screenwriter then expressed regret to Doherty over the “Mallrats” failure, sighing: “She’s right, man.

It’s like, if this works, here goes the movie career. And it really did not. Boy, I apologize for that.”The movie only made a little over $2 million at the box office with a budget of $6 million.“Mallrats” follows two best friends (London and Lee) as they spend a day at the mall after they break up with their respective girlfriends.The “Dogma” director then confessed that he didn’t expect the movie to flop after it screened well with audiences at San Diego Comic-Con.He revealed that Tom Pollock, who was the head of Universal Studios at the time, was at the test screening and believed that “Mallrats” would make “$100 million.”“And he was off by $98 million,” Smith quipped.