The death of Shannen Doherty has dressed the Hollywood industry and her fans worldwide in mourning, who will always remember her for her iconic roles in Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed. The actress passed away last Saturday at the age of 53, after living with breast cancer since 2015, a disease she publicly talked about throughout all these years.

This open, frank conversation without taboos was mainly carried out on Let's Be Clear, her podcast, in which she provided frequent updates on the advancements and setbacks of her illness, which in recent months had worsened by spreading to her bones and brain as well.

Her podcast also featured colleagues and friends she had worked with in film and television. One of them was Kevin Smith, the director of Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Mallrats, a movie in which Doherty starred in 1995, and to which he attributes the failure of her film career.

"The box office failure fell entirely on me, so there was no film career after that, which was a bit brutal," Doherty half-jokingly, but seriously, told Smith, her friend of 30 years, when he visited her on her podcast last December.

"You're right, dude. Besides, your fame was the reason I was able to produce the movie," Smith said. "I apologize for that." The movie only grossed a little over 2 million dollars at the box office with a budget of 6 million.

What it's about

Mallrats was Smith's second feature film after Clerks (1994), and despite its box office failure and some critical backlash, it has since become a cult classic.

The movie follows Brodie and T.S., who have just been dumped by their respective girlfriends. To take their minds off things, they decide to visit a shopping mall. Once there, and with the help of several friends, they try to win them back and also sabotage the contest being prepared there by one of the girls' father.

At the time of the premiere, Doherty was the most famous person in the cast, which also included Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Jeremy London, Claire Forlani, Priscilla Barnes, and Michael Rooke. Comic book legend Stan Lee also made a special appearance. In recent years, Smith had talked about his plans to make a sequel to Mallrats, in which Doherty would reprise her role as Rene Mosier.

A fond tribute

This Sunday, Smith dedicated a heartfelt post on Instagram to his dear friend, in which he shared several images of them together from the 1990s and more recent times.

"Shannen was a true talent and became a good friend, but so no one forgets, she was the only reason Mallrats got the green light in 1995," part of Smith's tribute message says.

"And Shannen was one of the most famous people on the planet, and the fact that she chose Mallrats as her first follow-up to Beverly Hills, 90210 made the movie a reality. I treasure memories of Shannen walking her German Shepherd at Eden Prairie Center every morning, or when she gossiped and laughed between takes."

The filmmaker continued: "In December, when I appeared on her podcast, I felt like the girl I used to watch on TV was there to welcome me into show business. Damn... she died too soon. I already miss you, Do-Do. Thank you for thirty years of friendship. My Canadian buddy was right: you are (and always will be) an American icon."

*This article has been automatically translated using artificial intelligence