Pop culture and entertainment fans have lost a number of icons over the past few days. First was Shelley Duvall on July 11th, followed by Richard Simmons two days later. That day, it was also announced that Shannen Doherty – star of Beverly Hills 90210, Charmed and more – had passed away after a long battle with cancer at just 53. Now, Kevin Smith – who directed Doherty in 1995’s Mallrats – has broken his Silent Bob ways to honor the late actress.
It was no secret that Shannen Doherty held a grudge against Mallrats for the toll it took on her career but she and her director did end up having a good relationship. As such, Smith took to social media following the loss of his star, who was by far the most famous in the cast at that point. In his lengthy post, he wrote, in part: “Long before any other pop culture figure “broke the internet” @theshando singlehandedly shattered it in the early 90’s. This is an incredible accomplishment considering the internet as we know it didn’t even exist yet. I (and the rest of the known universe) used to watch “the girl from #heathers” every week on @beverlyhills90210. I usually did so while jockeying the register at @quickstopgroceries – so it was ironic that the film I’d eventually make there would lead to #shannendoherty.”
Smith would go on to detail how he ended up landing Doherty in Mallrats despite just how huge of a TV star she was at the time, acknowledging that she was also truly the reason the movie even got greenlit in the first place. He, too, had fond memories of their mall days. “I cherish the memories of Shannen walking her German Shepherd around the @edenprairiecenter every morning, or whenever she’d gossip and giggle between takes…But while Shannen was no shrinking violet and she gave as good as she got (particularly to the paparazzi), she was never anything but sweet to me. I told her back in December when I was on her podcast that I felt like the girl I used to watch on TV at Quick Stop was there to welcome me when I got into show business.”
Shannen Doherty, as Smith said, may have taken a lot of flak from the media – and even some of her co-stars – but there’s no denying her importance in pop culture and the View Askewniverse, as her turn as Rene Mosier in Mallrats is one of the stronger in the Smith canon. And without her, it’s evident we never would have gotten the movie at all.
At this point, all we can say is thank you to Shannen Doherty for your contributions to entertainment, especially as you helped define a decade.