1. Plans for a live-action adaptation of Scooby-Doo archetypal began successful 1994, with assorted directors and actors, including Mike Myers and Jim Carrey, being attached to the task earlier Raja Gosnell was hired successful October 2000.

2. James Gunn, who would spell connected to helm superhero hits specified arsenic Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad, wrote the script, which was initially R-rated. But Gosnell knew it needed a tweak., saying, "We're not crazy, nary 1 was going to bash an R-rated Scooby bash due to the fact that wherefore would you?" helium said. "We did get an R-rating from the MPAA committee astatine 1 point. There was immoderate misunderstanding connected immoderate language, but we cleared that up."

3. While they didn't acceptable retired to marque an R-rated movie, Gosnell and Gunn, who were some fans of the Hanna-Barbera animated bid erstwhile they were younger, were aiming to marque a PG-13 parody of Scooby-Doo. "The champion mode to accidental it is what Shrek was to fairy tales and what Austin Powers was to James Bond," Gosnell described, "James' publication of Scooby-Doo was to the Scooby. It had each those winks and acknowledgments and self-referential bits."

4. Wanting to marque the movie for chap fans of the archetypal cartoon, their archetypal mentation had, Gosnell revealed, "some winks to Velma's intersexual predisposition and determination were much cookware jokes" earlier the workplace yet decided it wanted to marketplace the movie to a antithetic audience.

"They wanted to merchantability the movie to what the existent demographic of Scooby-Doo was and that was young kids and their parents," Gosnell recalled. After the movie was screened for a trial assemblage of "pretty conservative" parents successful Scottsdale, AZ. "didn't play good astatine all," the manager said "that started the archetypal scramble to instrumentality retired each of the 'is Velma gay?' references. We conscionable had to bash our champion to support the movie and marque the champion movie we could nether newer guidelines."

5. One large alteration was taking retired each mentions of the connection "soul" aft they received immoderate "pretty hard pushback from spiritual people" during the trial screening, Gosnell said.

"Originally, nary of america thought astir this portion we were shooting, but the things that were pulled retired of the radical to spell into the demon, we called those souls due to the fact that it was a soul-sucker machine," Gosnell explained. "But we had a screening and we had immoderate beauteous hard pushback from spiritual people. We were like, 'No, it's not meant to spell there!' We fundamentally had to spell done the movie and instrumentality retired each notation and marque it protoplasm."

6. Another country that deed the cutting country level was a buss betwixt Daphne and Velma arsenic the Scooby pack exchanged souls. Excuse us, protoplasms. 

"It was 100 percent a workplace decision," Gosnell said of the kis being scrapped from the last version. "My lone regret successful the full process is that we ne'er got a accidental to amusement the movie we made to the assemblage it was intended for."

7. When it came to casting his Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy, Gosnell said helium landed his "dream cast" successful Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini and Matthew Lillard, respectively.

"I can't spot the movie without that cast. We talked to a batch of people, but it was who would audiences similar to spot successful this relation and fundamentally who champion embodies it," Gosnell explained. "And we saw a batch of radical for Shaggy and arsenic soon arsenic Matthew walked successful it was conscionable like, 'He's Shaggy, yep! Done.'"

8. To nail Shaggy's scratchy vocals, Lillard "had to shriek for similar 5 minutes each morning," Gosnell revealed.

9. The originative squad didn't acceptable retired to formed a real-life mates arsenic Fred and Daphne and it was Prinze and Gellar who brought the thought to the filmmakers.

"When the telephone came successful that Freddie Prinze Jr. wanted to play Fred and we met him and helium was like, 'Oh man, my full beingness I've been called Fred!'" Gosnell recalled. "He conscionable had specified an affinity for it and with Sarah Michelle was funny successful Daphne, it was a slam dunk."

While Fred and Daphne were ne'er officially a romanticist brace successful the archetypal series, Gosnell said, "Audiences ever enactment those 2 unneurotic arsenic a couple, truthful to person a existent beingness mates already successful place, it conscionable felt similar the audiences are truly going to similar this."

10. Prinze and Gellar, who are inactive joined and person 2 children, had nary hesitations astir starring successful the movie together, Gosnell said. 

"The thought of them doing thing together, playing a mates they grew up watching was portion of the entreaty for them," the manager explained. "It wasn't a negative, it was a immense positive."

11. Of people to play Fred, Prinze had to dramatically alteration his hair. "He's tall, acheronian and handsome, right?" Gosnell said. "But Fred has to beryllium blonde and helium has to deterioration the ascot and we wanted to grant the archetypal profiles of the characters, truthful helium dyed his hair, and it was hard connected him. I deliberation we lightened his eyebrows too, and that was conscionable a process."

For the 2004 sequel, Prinze "just shaved his caput and we wigged him," Gosnell admitted. "He said, 'I'm not doing the dye happening again, guys! So let's conscionable fig retired thing else.'"

12. The casting section was "having a small trouble" uncovering an histrion to play Mary Jane, Shaggy's emotion interest, earlier they found a then-unknown Isla Fisher, said Gosnell: "She came successful and she work with Matthew and we each fell successful emotion with her successful the archetypal 10 seconds."

13. The quality primitively had a antithetic name, but was changed to Mary Jane due to the fact that Gunn and Gosnell wanted to get successful different cookware reference.

14. Naturally a redhead, Fisher wore a blonde wig due to the fact that "we didn't privation her to beryllium successful the Daphne zone," Gosnell explained.

15. To movie the scenes betwixt the actors and the CGI-rendered Scooby, production lined up the shots with a elephantine stuffed carnal oregon usage a elephantine greenish stuffed container if it was a country successful which Lillard was holding the dog. 

"What you're truly watching is Matthew conscionable being a fantastically alert actor, conscionable ever sensing Scooby is there," Gosnell said. "Matthew made him existent much than thing other we could person done. He made it truthful casual for the animators to conscionable enactment Scooby successful there."

16. While Australian histrion Neil Fanning was primitively hired conscionable to supply Scooby-Doo's vocals during rehearsals, Gosnell revealed "but helium conscionable worked truthful good that helium ended up being the dependable successful the finished movie." 

17. "One of the much arguable decisions was that we made Scrappy the villain," Gosnell said of the film's last twist, explaining that arsenic a instrumentality of the archetypal series, "Scrappy ruined the series. It conscionable seemed similar the infinitesimal Scrappy came on, we were out. So it was conscionable a brainstorm betwixt James and I wherever we were trying to fig retired the last twist. Just retired of the session, it was like, 'F--king Scrappy! Like yes!'"

18. As for the passionate response from some fans astir Scrappy's evil turn, Gosnell said, "I cognize radical younger than america that truly similar Scrappy, truthful I deliberation that was portion of the controversy. Like, 'Ugh, wherefore did you bash that to Scrappy?!' But it was precisely similar the quality itself. The twist was wide debated connected what epoch of Scooby you watched. But capable radical hated Scrappy, truthful we were mostly applauded."

19. Mark McGrath and his band Sugar Ray's random quality arsenic a possessed set wasn't truthful random backmost successful 2002.

"It has lessened now, but this was backmost successful the time wherever you had to person a soundtrack for a large movie," Gosnell shared. "The Mark McGrath came from like, 'Hey, we person a country wherever James has written successful a band. Can we get a existent band?' They did a large job. They had a batch of amusive with it erstwhile they got to beryllium demons."  

Naturally, they besides got vocalist Shaggy to execute the main taxable song, with Gosnell joking, "That wasn't going to not happen."

20. Pamela Anderson besides made a cameo arsenic herself successful the opening of the movie, which is simply a motion to the random celebrities that would look connected the animated series.

"We conscionable thought, 'Well, who's the astir of-the-moment idiosyncratic who would beryllium the astir random idiosyncratic to ever measurement retired of the van?'" Gosnell said. "And, of course, Pamela Anderson! She flew each the mode to Australia for that cameo. It was fantastic."

21. While determination were initially plans to marque a 3rd movie, Warner Bros. shelved the task "because the 2nd movie didn't gross arsenic overmuch arsenic the archetypal movie and truthful it was like, 'Well, let's measurement backmost and rethink this,'" Gosnell said, adding helium would've done different movie "in a heartbeat."

22. Despite the workplace making important changes to the archetypal thought for a much subversive instrumentality connected the series, Gosnell doesn't harbor immoderate sick will. 

"I don't responsibility the workplace for those decisions due to the fact that Scooby-Doo is simply a large portion of intelligence spot for them," helium explained. "He's connected cereal boxes and tennis shoes and backpacks, but erstwhile they greenlit the movie, they were good with doing this parody. And astatine the extremity of the day, they didn't privation to hazard tainting the brand, truthful to speak, for this movie. That's the determination they made and we altered the movie to present to that audience."