Actress Tori Spelling begged to be uncredited in her 2003 comedy Evil Alien Conquerors following a miserable experience working under director Chris Matheson.
Speaking on Stephen Baldwin's One Bad Movie podcast, the 53-year-old star explained that production on the low-budget science-fiction comedy was the worst experience of her career, leaving her feeling so targeted on set that she asked for her name to be removed from the finished film.
Spelling, who rose to global fame playing Donna Martin on the hit 1990s television drama Beverly Hills, 90210, said she had initially been eager to take on the comedic role after spending a decade playing a wholesome television character.
The daughter of TV mogul Aaron Spelling noted that the project came as a direct offer. "It was a straight offer, and I got it, and they're like, 'It's a comedy!'" Spelling recalled on the podcast. "All I know is I had a big furry unibrow and furry feet, and I was one of the girlfriends, and it was just I was so excited."
The film starred Diedrich Bader and Chris Parnell as two incompetent aliens who arrive on Earth with a strict mission to behead all of mankind within two-and-a-half days or face destruction from a 100-foot giant. Spelling played an alien in human disguise with unusual physical characteristics.
On-Set Friction and Director Criticism
However, Spelling recounted that her excitement quickly vanished once filming began due to constant friction with writer and director Chris Matheson. She felt the 67-year-old filmmaker personally hated her and criticized her performance relentlessly in front of the cast and crew.
"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…'" Spelling described. "Every time! He would say it out loud across all the other actors and everyone in the room and I'd be shuddering."
The constant public criticism left Spelling wishing she would be fired from the production altogether. "I was like, 'Just fire me and recast. This is so hard on me,'" she told Baldwin. "I went to set every day just like a puddle of... I don't know. I watched it. I'm fine in it, but I'm like, 'Oh, I wish I had done more with it.'"
Spelling added that the tone of the movie made the experience even more perplexing. "It was a comedy. It was just like a goofy comedy. He just didn't like me. And I'm like, 'That's okay.'"
Removal from Film Credits
The distress caused Spelling to ask producers to take her name off the project entirely. "So if you look it up, it doesn't credit me," she told Baldwin, who is the youngest brother of Alec Baldwin.
When asked about Spelling's recollections, Matheson told People: "I'm sorry she felt that way. I like Tori personally. I just think we have some different ideas about comedy."
Career History and Podcast Departure
Spelling is best known for playing ultimate goody-goody Donna Martin in Beverly Hills, 90210. Her father, Aaron Spelling, was one of Hollywood's most successful television producers.
Her enlightening story comes on the heels of her departure from the 90210MG rewatch podcast in late July. She had co-hosted the show alongside her former 90210 co-star Jennie Garth and producer Amy Sugarman since 2020.
During a livestream with former co-star Brian Austin Green, the mother-of-five stated she wanted to take time to "assess, really reflect" and speak her truth thoughtfully rather than being reactive. Meanwhile, Garth and Sugarman confirmed the move was "100 percent her decision," following reports of Spelling addressing a rift with Garth.
