Why Seann William Scott Was Never The Same After American Pie

Sometimes, all it takes is one role to change your career. This is especially true of comedic actors, who can go from obscure figures to household names with one carefully-chosen supporting role in a hit comedy. 

Just look at how Melissa McCarthy or Zach Galifianakis had their entire career trajectories upended with acclaimed, uproarious turns in "Bridesmaids" and "The Hangover," respectively. Long before those two became household names, however, it happened to Seann William Scott, who stole "American Pie" as crude, rude, dim-witted dude Stifler. 

But in the years after that breakthrough, everything changed for Scott. The two decades since has given fans a view to a wild career whose every twist and turn can be traced back to this pivotal role — for better, and for worse. 

The notoriety Scott garnered from playing Stifler has allowed him (at times) to be a leading man in movies, a fixture in modern television, and even offered him the freedom to pursue more serious efforts as an actor. It also will most likely be the role the soon-to-be-45-year-old may never outgrow. With that in mind, here's a look at the good, the bad and the ugly sides of a career built on his generation's most iconic coming-of-age movie.

When Scott was first hired for the role of Stifler, it hadn't been written as a major character. In fact, Stifler only had a passing presence in the story. 

"The Stifler character was in two or three scenes and he was written to be such an a**hole that I was like, 'I don't even know if I'd want to play this guy,'" Scott told Entertainment Weekly in 2019. "So I was like, 'I'm going to rewrite a bit of it, make him the guy you hate to love.' He's probably insecure. He's like the guy who wants to be loved the most."

As it would turn out, his meager scripted presence in the production resulted in a mediocre payday. Despite portraying a fan favorite character in the sex comedy, Scott only scored $8,000 for playing the role. 

Nevertheless, Scott saw the part as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. "[Stifler] was such a fun character to play," Scott told Yahoo! twenty years after the initial "Pie," reflecting on the role. "At the beginning of my career, that genre of films of R-rated crazy comedies were doing really well, so as much as I wanted to maybe do something more dramatic or serious, I was like, this character is much more fun to play than the boring straight guy." 

In the wake of "American Pie," Scott's status as an actor was significantly elevated. 

His first appearance, in 2000's original "Final Destination" was a brief one that had him meeting a graphic demise on-screen. After that, Scott headlined the Todd Phillips feature "Road Trip," another raunchy comedy that cast him among a group of students who hit the road in pursuit of sexual delights. 

Other roles around this time included inspired ones ("Dude, Where's My Car?") and best-forgotten ones ("Evolution"), all playing off the dim, horny jock persona he suddenly had all to himself. It's an age-old Hollywood question: Do you lean into your notoriety and risk the diminishing returns of repetition? Or do you try to blaze a unique path, and risk alienating your newfound fans?

"I was like nah, being the funny guy, that's not why I came to LA.," Scott said in 2003 of his struggle grappling with such questions. "But I appreciated it and I realized that this is really just a blessing to be able to make people laugh."

While films like 2001's "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" and 2003's "Old School" cast Scott in supporting roles, he also got plenty of opportunities to become a leading man.

In 2003, he was cast opposite fellow-rising-star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in Peter Berg's so-so "The Rundown." He also signed on for 2005's high-profile reboot of "The Dukes of Hazzard," joining a cast that included Johnny Knoxville, Jessica Simpson and Burt Reynolds — all of whom were at hot points in their career. Despite a massive ad campaign, the General Lee failed to take flight again, with "Dukes" bombing both critically and at the box office.

A string of ill-conceived comedies followed, many trying to recapture that Stifler magic. 2007's "American Loser" cast him opposite Gretchen Mol as a rudderless adolescent adult, that same year "Mr. Woodcock" put him opposite Billy Bob Thornton as an adult looking to get revenge for his adolescence, and 2008's "The Promotion" had Scott competing with John C. Reilly to get past the adolescent ways that had stopped them from advancing in their careers. Collectively, the films made enough money at the box office to pay for the cardboard box labeled "bargain bin" where their VHS tapes would soon reside.

In 2008, however, Scott made a dent with Paul Rudd on one of his first star vehicles, "Role Models." 

"He's not really mean to anybody," Scott said at the time, trying to put some space between his "Models" character and Stifler. "He's actually a very optimistic guy. But clearly just the whole kind of physicality of it, and just that vibe is very similar. But, I had wanted to add something that made him a little more irreverent." 

Paired up with "Wet Hot American Summer" filmmaker David Wain, "Role Models" earned significantly better reviews than "Hazzard" and Scott's other films of this period, and also fared better at the box office. But still, now a decade after his "American Pie" breakthrough, Seann William Scott was still trying to overcome the same typecasted limitations.

In 2010, Seann William Scott kicked off a new decade by connecting with one of the most prolific names in 1990s indie cinema. 

Filmmaker Kevin Smith probably seemed like safe bet, as did starring opposite the legendary Bruce Willis. What Scott most likely didn't anticipate, however, was a troubled production that had the original title dropped against Smith's wishes, the director and leading man coming to despise each other, and the entire experience being so miserable that Smith hasn't made a studio film since.

Scott was, however, one of the funnier parts of the finished film. Despite "Cop Out" faring poorly with critics and the box office, it did earn the actor a dream role — well, maybe.

Smith, who has an entire Wikipedia page devoted to his intended projects that never got off the ground, considered his collaboration with Scott to be the inspiration he needed to push "Hit Somebody" (a hockey comedy based on a Warren Zevon song) across the goal line.  

"Seann, for me, was the key into the character," Smith explained in 2010. "This dude has something in him that you can just see hangs so well on Buddy. He's got some pain that's going to work out well." 

As you may have guessed, "Hit Somebody" has still not made the leap from the page to the silver screen. It was going to be two movies, then one movie again, then a mini-series, and eventually Smith just read a script on his podcast in 2018. Whether the film is ever resurrected — and whether Scott will still play the part — seems doubtful at this point. If you want an idea of the general vicinity of that project, however, it might be worth tracking down Scott's two "Goon" films — which have a loyal following and also tell a hockey tale.

Two decades after his "American Pie" breakthrough, Scott is still a working actor — although it's hard to argue any of his several dozen roles has come close to Stifler as far as mass appeal and awareness.

In 2018, he took over the lead role in the FOX cop show "Lethal Weapon." Though he was coming on to a program fraught with behind-the-scenes drama, Scott's presence on the show gave it a much-needed positive boost in publicity. Intriguingly, Scott apparently pursued the role himself once he saw that the show's original lead, Clayne Crawford, had been fired by the program.

Though "Lethal Weapon" with Scott in the lead role lasted just one season, that wasn't the end of his TV work. Later in 2021, he'll be back on the FOX network with "Welcome to Flatch," a docu-comedy that aims to be "The Office" for small-town America. 

A comedic project, "Flatch" seems like it could represent a fundamental shift in Scott's career, as he plays an authority figure in the lives of some younger troublemakers who seem like they would've been fast friends with Stifler back in his heyday. Who knows? Perhaps this is the beginning of Sean William Scott reinventing himself as a middle-aged actor whose days of frivolity are behind him.