Sarah Michelle Gellar Got in Trouble With the ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Reboot

I understand if production companies want to guard the secrets of their films. Having some surprises people don’t want spoiled is one of the easiest ways to get audiences in theaters. You have to work that FOMO to your advantage! However, not everything is a secret that needs guarding. Some things just exist as part of the production of a film or TV series, especially the mere existence of said show or TV series.

So many productions are based on existing IP at this point that the companies behind them don’t want to tip their hat as to what they’re doing. There are many possible reasons for that. They may not want folks to be spoiled by any direct aspects of the adaptation. There’s a chance they don’t want to incur the wrath of fans angry they are choosing certain characters or story beats over others. Occasionally, companies want to hide productions entirely and release them as a surprise (hello, Blair Witch).

No matter the reasoning, protecting details of productions has gone too far and few examples are better than what Sarah Michelle Gellar just went through. The actor was visiting her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr. while he was shooting a reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer (he and Gellar both starred in the original). She took a picture in video village of a chair with the franchise’s name on it and shared it on social media. BIG MISTAKE. HUGE.

“You would think that being in my position, I know what rules are on sets when they say closed sets, you know,” Gellar noted on Live With Kelly and Mark. “So my husband’s starring in the movie and it was Thanksgiving so I took our kids to Australia to go out there and visit him. And I was sitting on set and I was like, ‘Oh what a great picture,’ and then I posted it.” The folks behind the film did not care for her post.

“Then I found out that they hadn’t posted any pictures from the set yet — hadn’t announced they started filming,” she told Kelly and Mark. “Yeah … that was an ‘Oops! My bad!’” A social page for the film was then made in response to Gellar’s post. Regardless, it should be noted that if you look at the comments on the post, it’s nothing but excitement.

Production on any movie can take time. Hell, I wrote a short film three years ago that was filmed two years ago and wasn’t released until today (oh, weird, you can watch it right here). I understand wanting to be in control of details getting out before you want. But getting upset when the detail is simply “this movie is filming” feels a bit silly.