Actors Who Hate Their Own Movies
We've all made professional decisions that, with the help of hindsight, we wish we could take back, and this is true even for Hollywood's finest. Many actors' resumes are not without a few projects they wish they could erase from their work history. Let's run down some of Hollywood's regrettable films and the stars who hate them.
Stars Rip Their Own Films
We've all seen movies that made us wonder, "How on earth did they get someone so great to make a movie that's so obviously bad?" Well, the actors who star in those projects go through the same thing. Let's take a look at some of Hollywood's biggest stars and the movies they want to forget.
Matt Damon
In a recent interview, Matt Damon took Bourne writer Tony Gilroy to task for a phone in script for the franchise's third film. Damon said, "I don't blame Tony for taking a boatload of money and handing in what he handed in. It’s just that it was unreadable. This is a career ender. ... It's terrible. It's really embarrassing. ... He took his money and left." Damon later apologized for going public, calling his ouburst "unprofessional" and "douchey."
Charlize Theron
Even as one of the most beautiful women in the world and even with an Oscar on the mantle, Charlize Theron still wishes she could take back 2000's Reindeer Games with Ben Affleck. When asked about the schlocky thriller, Theron simply stated, "That was a bad, bad, bad movie."
Halle Berry
Picking out a script for a superhero movie can be tricky because some turn out really well, and some fail miserably. Unfortunately, whoever was advising Halle Berry back in 2004 has probably been fired thanks to the immense flop of Catwoman. Berry lost most of her Oscar cred after being torn to bits for the wretched comic book adaptation.
Mark Wahlberg
Since Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan has routinely taken a beating from critics, but The Happening also got a bashing from its star. In an interview for The Fighter, Mark Wahlberg stated, “I was such a huge fan of Amy Adams. We’d actually talked about another movie, and it was a bad movie that I did. She dodged the bullet. I don’t want to tell you what movie. All right,The Happening. F-ck it. F-cking trees, man."
Joel Schumacher's contribution to the Batman franchise has become an ongoing joke within film circles, and George Clooney is happy to get in on the mocking, saying, "It was a difficult film to be good in. With hindsight it’s easy to look back at this and go ‘Woah, that was really shit and I was really bad in it.’"
Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck
Oh Gigli, what a disaster you were. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez spent years working their way back from the epic failure that was Gigli. Perhaps it's not the best career move trying to make a movie almost solely designed to capitalize on your Hollywood power couple status. Not even Bennifer part 1 could make it out of that one alive.
Tobey Maguire & Kirsten Dunst
Ouch, what happened to the Spider Man franchise? The third film had the same leads and the same director, but it was terrible in comparison to the first two. It was as if everyone was phoning it in, something stars Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire basically said outright, each expressing their frustration at being roped into another superhero film.
Jessica Alba
Apparently, it was the Silver Surfer sequel to Fantastic 4 that made Jessica Alba stop caring about the quality of her projects. Alba said her career "low point" came when the 4 director said they'd just CGI tears in because her crying wasn't "pretty enough." After that, Alba "just said, 'F-ck it. I don't care about this business anymore.'" Hopefully her morale has rebounded.
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl is building a reputation for sabotaging her own work: She made headlines when she turned down her Emmy nomination for Grey's Anatomy because she felt the show's "material" wasn't deserving, and she had an unflattering take on the box office and critical hit Knocked Up. Heigl felt the film was sexist and "exaggerated the [female] characters" and said, "It was hard for me to love the movie."
Mickey Rourke
Despite a comeback with his Oscar-nominated role in The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke is still getting stuck in bad movies, and he'll be the first to tell you. In speaking of his recent film Passion Play with Megan Fox and Bill Murray, Rourke said, "Terrible. Another terrible movie." When told that the film was getting a limited release, Rourke quipped, "That's because it's not very good." At least he's honest.
Shia Labeouf
Shia Labeouf made his name with the Transformers franchise, but that didn't stop him from panning the second installment of the series. Labeouf found that Revenge of the Fallen lost it's way, saying, "I wasn't impressed with what we did... There were some really wild stunts in it, but the heart was gone. ... It's just a bunch of fighting robots."
Bill Murray
Most any actor would want to work with the Coen brothers, so we'll have to forgive Bill Murray for making Garfield. Apparently, Murray confused Garfield writer Joel Cohen for the Joel Coen of the Oscar-winning pair of brothers. Although that doesn't explain why he ended up back in the sequel. At least Murray redeemed himself in the animated realm with a role in Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Hugh Grant
Sometimes actors regret their work on principle rather than the content of the finished product. Such is the case with Hugh Grant and 1995's Nine Months. After the News of the World scandal, Grant came clean that he regretted working for Fox Studios once he realized it was owned by Rupert Murdoch. He's made sure not to go back to Fox since that first go-around.
Colin Farrell
"Miami Vice? I didn't like it much." No, that's not a quote from a critic or the guy next door, it's from the star himself. Colin Farrell echoed many viewers' sentiments with his "meh" attitude toward the film adaptation of the classic '80s show, also calling it slow and unrelatable.
Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis is diplomatic enough not to spell out past projects that he's not a fan of, but he'll definitely tell you that there are more than a few. When asked if he regrets making any of his 60 plus films, Willis said, "about a dozen. I'd love to strike them off the list." Any guesses on which 12 he'd like to forget?
You should probably get a pass if your biggest resume regret comes at the very beginning of your career, so Michelle Pfeiffer shouldn't be too hard on herself for Grease 2. Despite coming out nearly three decades ago, Pfeiffer still looks back on the experience poorly, "I hated that film with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was. At the time I was young and didn't know any better."
Jamie Foxx
Do you remember Stealth? Chances are you might have forgotten about that fighter pilot film from 2005, and that's just how Jamie Foxx wants it. During promotion for The Kingdom shortly after, Foxx said he was glad he didn't have to lie and say it was good like he had to with Stealth. Keep that in mind when you hear an actor tell you to go see his movie.
Matthew Goode
When wondering what an actor's motivation is for taking on a project that clearly seems awful, sometimes the answer is simple. For Matthew Goode, he'll tell you straight up why he did Leap Year: "The main reason I took it - so that I could come home at the weekends. It wasn’t because of the script, trust me. Do I feel I let myself down? No. Was it a bad job? Yes, it was. But, you know, I had a nice time and I got paid."
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Making a movie you regret can have some benefits down the line. Just ask Arnold Schwarzenegger, who uses Red Sonja as punishment: "It's the worst film I have ever made. When my kids get out of line, they're sent to their rooms and forced to watch Red Sonja 10 times. I never had too much trouble with them."
Bob Hoskins
Bob Hoskins seems pretty hung up on one movie in particular. From a Guardian interview :
Q: What's the Worst Job You've Done?
A: Super Mario Bros.
Q: What has Been Your Biggest Disappointment?
A: Super Mario Bros.
Q: If You Could Edit Your Past, What Would You Change?
A: I wouldn't do Super Mario Bros.
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