Tori Spelling opened up about the worst experience she claims she had with a director on the set of 2003’s sci-fi comedy Evil Alien Conquerors.
“From the moment I stepped on set, it was like I couldn’t say one word without the director being like, ‘Uh, Tori, can you do that again?’” Spelling, 53, recalled on the August 9 episode of Stephen Baldwin’s “One Bad Movie” podcast.
Spelling makes an uncredited appearance in Evil Alien Conquerors opposite comedians Chris Parnell and Diedrich Bader as part of a madcap story about intergalactic invaders sent on a mission to destroy Earth.
The project was cowritten and directed by Chris Matheson, who previously worked on the 1989 classic comedy Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its 1991 sequel Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. (He went on to cowrite the 2020 franchise entry Bill & Ted Face the Music as well.)
Looking back on her time filming Evil Alien Conquerors, Spelling initially thought that the “big furry unibrow and furry feet” she wore for the movie would help her shake off the “forever persona being Aaron Spelling’s daughter.” (Tori was one of late TV producer Aaron and wife Candy Spelling’s two children, along with brother Randy Spelling.)
The actress recalled receiving a “straight offer” for Evil Alien Conquerors, meaning she didn’t have to audition for the part, and hoped that the movie would be a “great” change of pace from her previous work on Beverly Hills, 90210. (Spelling played Donna Martin on 90210 from 1990 to 2000.)
However, Tori told Baldwin, 60, that she clashed with Matheson, 67, right away, as he allegedly asked her to do repeated retakes on many of the scenes she shot and far more frequently than her costars.
The filmmaker would reportedly ask her to give “just a little bit less” in her line delivery, which she found odd since they were making a wacky sci-fi comedy.
“Now, although I was in a drama for 10 seasons and did other work, my comedy was on point, like I was a comedian and am a comedian,” she said. “And so, in drama sometimes I was like, ‘Okay, if I get that note, I understand that,’ but comedy? No one ever gave me a note. It was always like, ‘Oh my God, that’s great, go for it.’”
Tori Spelling Savion Washington/Getty Images for Lionsgate
While Tori always felt she was “good with direction,” she came to realize that whatever she was giving in her line readings “didn’t matter.”
“It could be a scene with me and one other actor or a scene with like 20 of us… By the end I knew he’d go through the first take, and then he’d be like ‘Cut!’ And I’m like, ‘Wait for it,’ and he’d be like, ‘Tori…’” she said. “Every time! He would say it out loud across all the other actors and everyone in the room and I’d be shuddering.”
The tension ultimately got so intense on set that Tori’s agent asked for her to be uncredited in Evil Alien Conquerors. Tori finished the project convinced that Matheson “hated” her.
“I was like, ‘Just fire me and recast. This is so hard on me.’ I went to set every day just like a puddle of … I don’t know,” she declared. “I watched it. I’m fine in it, but I’m like, ‘Oh, I wish I had done more with it.’ It was a comedy. It was just like a goofy comedy. He just didn’t like me. And I’m like, ‘That’s okay.’”
Us has reached out to Matheson’s representatives for comment.
Contacted by People, Matheson said, “I’m sorry she felt that way. I like Tori personally. I just think we have some different ideas about comedy.”
Evil Alien Conquerors ultimately skipped a theatrical release in the U.S. and went straight to DVD.