1x1 With Kristian Harloff

“I really wanted to be the number one on the call sheet in every movie I’ve ever done. It just never went that way.”Perhaps it never went quite that way for Matthew Lillard, but his career in film, television and beyond has taken a unique turn over the years, and it’s an important one. Lillard isn’t headlining films — although I do have high hopes that will change — but he is getting supporting roles in some especially wonderful gems. Five Nights at Freddy’s, of course, was a hit for Universal and earned a sequel, and he’s also in Mike Flanagan’sThe Life of Chuck, which just scooped up the coveted People’s Choice Award at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Both wonderful wins in which Lillard delivers big as an actor, but a personal favorite aspect of seeing Lillard’s star soar especially high in recent years is watching how he’s used his success to foster community. Or rather, as he puts it, he’s become “the grandfather of geek culture.”I witnessed this for the first time at MegaCon 2023. I was qu