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Watch Matthew Lillard Play SLC Punk!’s Stevo As an Adult

Making Fat Kid Rules the World, a movie about a suicidal obese teen saved by punk and joining a band, had actor/director Matthew Lillard contemplating what might have become of another lost soul rescued by rock: Stevo, his character in 1998’s critically acclaimed SLC Punk! So, for his feature directorial debut (now playing in New York and opening in L.A. Friday), Lillard decided to once again slip on Stevo’s trademark Docs and play him as a grown-up high-school guidance counselor in Seattle prone to spouting clichés at the titular character (“Goals are a blueprint for life; be realistic,” and so on, before things get weird). He even adopted Stevo’s dad’s best line from SLC Punk!’s original trailer: “I didn’t sell out. I bought in.” Ultimately, however, he cut it from the final version because Lillard felt “the idea of an homage to SLC Punk! and seeing Stevo all grown up was great, but it didn’t work. I sucked, and it slowed the movie down when the thing I like about the movie is that it’s quick and sharp.” But you don’t have to take the director’s word for it. You can watch the scene exclusively on Vulture and decide for yourself.

Watch Matthew Lillard Revive SLC Punk!’s Stevo