Sarah Michelle Gellar Confirms ‘Steamy’ Daphne and Velma Kiss Was Scrapped for ‘Scooby Doo’
"There was also this implication about Fred being interested in both, you know, parties…and all that got cut," Gellar revealed.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is kissing and telling.
The star of 2002’s “Scooby Doo” revealed that a “steamy” smooch between her character Daphne and Velma, played by Linda Cardellini, was cut from the final PG-rated film.
During “Watch What Happens Live,” host Andy Cohen asked if Gellar could share any details on the rumored deleted scene showing Daphne and Velma “having a relationship on the side.”
Gellar replied, “I don’t know about a relationship on the side, but there was a steamy — I mean, I said it was steamy, but they probably didn’t think it was — hence why it was cut.”
The “Cruel Intentions alum added, “There was an actual kiss between Daphne and Velma that got cut. I feel like the world wants to see it. But I don’t know where it is.”
Cohen quipped, “I feel like you could’ve added like 15 million to the box office.”
Gellar continued that there was “also this implication about Fred being interested in both, you know, parties…and all that got cut,” citing her real-life husband Freddie Prinze Jr.’s bisexual character.
“There was a great line too where I remember, I’ll never forget, where we were having a fight — Daphne and Fred — and then I yell at him, ‘And that ascot makes you look gay!’ and I slam the door,” Gellar said. “I think it was the reason I actually signed on to the movie. It was less family-friendly to begin with.”
To note, “Scooby Doo” does have a body-swap sequence where female characters inhabit male bodies. It is unclear if the cut moment was from that scene or not.
“Scooby Doo” screenwriter and now DC Studios head James Gunn previously said that Warner Bros. did not let any “Scooby Doo” characters read as queer.
“In 2001 Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script,” Gunn tweeted in 2020. “But the studio just kept watering it down and watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version), and finally having a boyfriend (the sequel).”
He added that “language and jokes and xesual situations were removed” and even “cleavage was CGI’d over” to achieve the PG rating.
In September 2022, Gunn revisited the “Scooby Doo” legacy, claiming that the 2002 film was originally set out to be PG-13 but received an R-rating from the MPAA. Warner Bros. made cuts that brought the film down to a PG rating.
The Velma character is now officially queer in animated “Scooby Doo” installment “Trick or Treat Scooby Doo,” released in October 2022.
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