During a recent appearance on the Everything Famous podcast, actress Tori Spelling recounted a difficult period filming the 2003 sci-fi comedy From. She described a tense relationship with the director, Matheson, characterized by excessive retakes and conflicting creative instructions.
The struggle to escae the 90210 persona
Spelling entered the production of From with the intention of diversifying her acting portfolio and moving beyond her most famous television role . After years of being associated with the Fox drama Beverly Hills, 90210, which aired from 1990 to 2000, she hoped the sci-fi comedy would offer a fresh start for her career.
The actress reportedly believed that her character's "big furry unibrow and furry feet" would help her break away from the established image she held alongside stars like Shannen Doherty and Jason Priestley. As the report notes, she viewed the project as a "great" change of pace that would allow her to showcase a different side of her talent.
Matheson's repetitive retakes and 'less is more' direction
The tension on set allegedly stemmed from the specific directorial style of Matheson. According to the Everything Famous podcast, Spelling felt that the director demanded significantly more retakes from her than from any of her fellow cast members.
Spelling described a specific pattern of behavior where the director would call "Cut!" and then address her by name in a way that made her feel uncomfortable and difficult to work with. She noted that his requests to give "just a little bit less" in her line delivery felt misplaced given the wacky, comedic nature of the film.
A disagreement over the tone of a sci-fi comedy
Matheson defended his approach by framing the conflict as a fundamental difference in creative vision rather than a personal grievance. The director stated that while he "liked Tori personally," the two simply had "different ideas about comedy."
This clash of styles left Spelling feeling so discouraged during the shoot that she reportedly wished she could have been recast. Despite the difficulty of the production, Spelling has since watched the finished movie and felt fine with her performance, though she admitted she wished she had been able to do more with the role.
The missing voices from the 'From' production
While Spelling has shared her perspective, several questions remain regarding the actual atmosphere on the set of From. It remains unverified whether the director's "less is more" instruction was applied universally or if Spelling was uniqely targeted.
- Did other cast members experience similar patterns of excessive retakes from Matheson?
- Was the friction strictly a matter of comedic timing, or did it impact the overall production schedule?
- How did the rest of the 2003 cast perceive the director's management of the set?
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