Tori Spelling Recalls Experience with Overly Critical Director That Left Her Hoping to Be ‘Fired’

Meredith WilshereSat, August 15, 2026 at 3:59 PM UTC

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Tori Spelling in May 2026Credit: Michael Tullberg/Getty -

Tori Spelling called 2003’s Evil Alien Conquerors her worst movie experience due to constant criticism from the director

Spelling said the director’s feedback made her feel disconnected from the role and impacted her confidence on set

She asked to be uncredited in the film, feeling the experience was so negative it overshadowed her performance

Tori Spelling “didn’t have to think twice” when asked about her worst movie.

Spelling, 53, recently joined Stephen Baldwin’s One Bad Movie podcast to talk about her venture into film after her Beverly Hills, 90210 role as Donna Martin thrust her into stardom in the ‘90s. Spelling explained that she thought signing on to 2003’s Evil Alien Conquerors, directed and written by Chris Matheson, would boost her comedic career — but things didn’t go as planned.

“It was a straight offer, and I got it, and they’re like, ‘It’s a comedy!’” Spelling remembered, noting that it starred Chris Parnell and Dietrich Bader, who played “aliens that come to Earth and find what they think are these two human girls that they’re into, but they are not humans; they’re aliens as well.”

“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,” Spelling shared.

Tori Spelling in ‘Evil Alien Conquerors’Credit: First Look International

Spelling explained that, coming off of her run on 90210, she felt like she had this “forever persona being Aaron Spelling’s daughter,” so she thought the switch-up would “be great for me.”

“From the moment I stepped on set, it was like I couldn’t say one word without the director being like, ‘Uh, Tori, can you do that again?’ “ she recalled, noting that she was always told to do “just a little bit less.”

“Now, although I was in a drama for 10 seasons and did other work, my comedy was on point, like I was a comedian and am a comedian,” she continued. “And so, in drama sometimes I was like, ‘Okay, if I get that note, I understand that,’ but comedy, no one ever gave me a note. It was always like, ‘Oh my God, that’s great, go for it.’ “

Tori Spelling in April 2026Credit: Christopher Patey/Getty

Spelling said it “didn’t matter” if she had one line or if she had a monologue; she felt like Matheson would critique her regardless. She said it got to a point where it made her feel disconnected from the role as a whole, so she would deliver lines without much emotion.

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“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...’” she claimed. “Every time! He would say it out loud across all the other actors and everyone in the room and I’d be shuddering.”

Spelling noted that she is “good with directions,” but just wished there was more of an open line of communication so she knew what the issues were.

The 2003 sci-fi comedy also starred Bader, Parnell, Michael Weston, Elden Henson and Phil LaMarr.

In the end, Spelling felt like Matheson, 67, “hated” her.

“I was like, ‘Just fire me and recast. This is so hard on me.’ 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,’” she said. “It was a comedy. It was just like a goofy comedy. He just didn’t like me. And I’m like, ‘That’s okay.’ “

Spelling said she was on the phone with her manager every day and thought it was so bad that she asked to be uncredited in the movie, yet at the time, she was young and didn’t even know what that meant. “So if you look it up, it doesn’t credit me.”

In response to Spelling’s claims, Matheson tells PEOPLE, “I’m sorry she felt that way. I like Tori personally. I just think we have some different ideas about comedy.”

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”