Acting Up
Whether it’s for financial or contractual reasons—or perhaps just a bad experience on set—sometimes an actor ends up in a role that they might not necessarily enjoy. Though they may not always let it show, some actors are all too vocal about the roles that they hated. While there’s some we definitely expected, there are also some serious surprises when it comes to actors who absolutely hated playing these iconic characters.
Robert Pattinson/Edward Cullen
Perhaps no other actor in history has been as disdainful of the role and film franchise that gave them their start then Robert Pattinson. Casting for the Twilight series was hotly anticipated—the books were already beloved. Everyone knew that whoever got cast would be Hollywood’s next big heartthrob.
Red Letter Media, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2
Overnight Success
Though Pattinson had already appeared in a blockbuster franchise (Harry Potter), he was unprepared for the attention that The Twilight Saga brought. Luckily, even critics who hated the films appreciated his acting. But when it was all over, Pattinson had a lot to say.
Red Letter Media, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2
Biting The Hand That Feeds You
There are numerous soundbites and interview clips where Pattinson rips apart the Twilight franchise and his character—but this is one of the best. Pattinson once said: “"He's the most ridiculous person...the more I read the script, the more I hated this guy...Plus, he's a 108 year-old virgin so he's obviously got some issues there”. Ouch.
Jamie Lee Curtis/Kelly “Kit” Foster In Virus
After making her name as the original scream queen in Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis enjoyed a blockbuster career in the 80s and 90s, starring in hits like A Fish Called Wanda and True Lies. As the decade came to a close, Curtis was slated to appear in a hotly-anticipated thriller alongside William Baldwin. But it didn’t quite work out as planned…
Regrets, I’ve Had A Few
That movie was called Virus, and it was a total financial flop that was also panned by critics. And Curtis wasn’t exactly surprised by its reception. During the film, she already thought that it was so bad, that she actually tried to get director John Bruno fired.
Don’t Hold Back
Curtis agreed with the critics about Virus—saying “It was maybe the only time I’ve known something was just bad and there was nothing I could do about it. It’s an unbelievably bad movie; just bad from the bottom”. It may come as a surprise to her that in the years since its release, it’s gained a cult following—just don’t tell Jamie Lee.
Willem Dafoe/Vulko
Willem Dafoe is a Hollywood chameleon, able to work in indie films and blockbusters alike. He’s always had a knack for appearing as stone-cold weirdos, like his characters in Wild at Heart and The Boondock Saints. He also garnered acclaims for his portrayal of the Green Goblin in Spider-Man, so it made sense for him to try another superhero movie. And then Aquaman came along…
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Wild At Heart (1990)
If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…
Dafoe has said that he has trouble lying in interviews—which makes what few things he’s said about his role as Vulko in Aquaman all the more telling. The one thing he said about it? “I think they’re going to make another one. We will see about my involvement in that”. In the same interview, he was asked if he enjoyed the experience—and while he didn’t answer, the interview said his entire demeanor darkened.
Christopher Plummer/Captain Von Trapp
The Sound of Music is one of the most enduring and beloved films of all time—but not by one of its leads. It turns out that Christopher Plummer didn’t exactly love his experience playing Captain Von Trapp—and what he has to say makes a lot of sense. Plummer said he was “bored” with the character—but that’s not all.
Robert Wise Productions, The Sound of Music (1965)
Not His Favorite Thing(s)
Plummer also claimed that The Sound of Music “was so awful and sentimental and gooey. You had to work terribly hard to try and infuse some minuscule bit of humor into it”. He probably thought he was saying “So Long, Farewell,” when filming wrapped—only to have it become one of the most popular movies of all time.
George Clooney/Batman
After the success of Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer’s entries into the Batman franchise, the 1997 Batman & Robin starring George Clooney seemed like it would be a guaranteed hit. Clooney was halfway through his time on the megahit TV show ER and he was a bona fide heartthrob. But then…it all went wrong.
Warner Bros. Batman & Robin (1997)
The Cape Isn’t Easy To Fill
The film flopped—and though Clooney admitted his performance wasn’t great, he refused to shoulder all the blame. Clooney said that the script and direction were also problematic, saying that both the screenwriter and director later admitted their own contributions to its failure. As Clooney shared, “We all whiffed on that one”.
Matteo Chinellato, Shutterstock
Kate Winslet/Rose In Titanic
Kate Winslet’s turn as Rose in 1997’s Titanic was her star-making role, AND it netted her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress at just 22 years old. You’d think that she’d be proud—but not quite.
Twentieth Century Fox, Titanic (1997)
Hindsight Is 20/20
Winslet doesn’t take umbrage with the quality of the film itself, but instead has looked back with experience and declared that her performance simply wasn’t up to snuff. She doesn’t stand behind the creative choices she made in the role—nor does she think her American accent was particularly good.
Twentieth Century Fox, Titanic (1997)
Your Own Harshest Critic
Winslet doubled down on the criticism of her own performance, saying that while actors do tend to be too self-critical, when she re-watched Titanic, she found it painful. Winslet said: “I have a hard time watching any of my performances, but watching Titanic, I was just like, ‘Oh God, I want to do that again’”.
Emilia Clarke/Sarah Connor
Linda Hamilton’s shoes are tough to fill—and Emilia Clarke learned that one the hard way. After the mega-success of Game of Thrones, Clarke hoped to find her footing in film. And what better way than by appeared in the Terminator franchise, which has been pretty stacked with successes? Unfortunately, it wasn’t so easy to make the leap from small screen to big.
Carolco Pictures, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Under Pressure
Clarke reunited with frequent Game of Thrones collaborator Alan Taylor on Terminator Genisys. However, as director, Taylor didn’t get quite the same treatment from the studio that he did at HBO. Clarke remarked that Taylor was “eaten and chewed up” by the studio on Genisys.
HBO, Game Of Thrones (2011–2019)
What A Relief
Taylor wasn’t the only one who had a bad time on set. The terrible vibes trickled down the cast, and Clarke said that it was “miserable” to work on. When the film flopped, Clarke actually confessed that she was relieved—it meant that there was no pressure to make a sequel.
Mark Wahlberg/Dirk Diggler
Boogie Nights was a breakout hit for director Paul Thomas Anderson and much of the film’s cast. Though Mark Wahlberg’s co-stars, particularly Julianne Moore and Burt Reynolds, netted dozens of nominations and awards for their performances, Wahlberg wasn’t so lucky. He ended up nominated for the Stinkers Bad Movie Award for Worst On-Screen Couple, alongside his prosthetic appendage. But that wasn’t his only problem with the movie.
New Line Cinema, Boogie Nights (1997)
Critic’s Choice
The awards committees might have ignored Wahlberg—but the critics did not, and many of them praised him for his performance as Dirk Diggler. Rolling Stone called it his breakout role and no less a figure than Gene Siskel said Wahlberg "couldn't be better". However, it was a performance that Wahlberg almost immediately regretted.
New Line Cinema, Boogie Nights (1997)
Better To Ask For Forgiveness Than Permission
Thanks to his commitment to Christianity, Wahlberg worried that God would disapprove of his participation in a film about the adult industry. He said “I’ve made some poor choices in my past. Boogie Nights is up there at the top of the list.”
Penn Badgley/Joe In You
Casts of hit teen TV shows don’t always have an easy go of it when their shows end—think of Mischa Barton after The OC or Taylor Kitsch after Friday Night Lights. So, when the show You took off in popularity, it seemed like a win for former Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley. There was just one problem.
It Ain’t Easy Being Sleazy
Badgley’s character, Joe, isn’t exactly a hero. Or even really an antihero. After all, he’s a cold-blooded killer—more of a villain than anything. As a result, Badgley has been pretty blunt when it comes to talking about his character, calling Joe “reprehensible”. But all that aside, there’s one particular reason why the character drives him crazy.
Don’t Yuck Their Yum
Badgley is particularly disturbed by the fact that so many fans of the show seem to have developed crushes on his downright-evil character. And considering what happens throughout the seasons of You, we can’t really blame him.
Viola Davis/Aibileen Clark In The Help
Viola Davis is an absolute powerhouse in Hollywood. She’s one of only three actors to achieve both the EGOT and the Triple Crown of Acting (Emmy, Oscar, and Tony wins). Her breakthrough in film came in 2008’s Doubt, which netted her an Oscar nom. This was followed up by another critically acclaimed film, The Help—but Davis has her qualms about the film.
Walk A Mile In Her Shoes
Davis got the Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Aibileen Clark in The Help, but when she looked back, she wasn’t satisfied with its portrayal of the film’s Black characters. Davis said “if you do a movie where the whole premise is, I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963, I want to hear how you really feel about it. I never heard that in the course of the movie.”
Halle Berry/Catwoman
No one can say that Halle Berry isn’t an actress who owns her wins and losses in showbiz. But it wasn’t easy for her to get there. Berry became involved in Catwoman after another project she was excited about was shelved. She hoped that the movie would be a “great chance for a woman of color to be a superhero”. But when she stepped on set, she knew things weren’t right.
The Plot Thickens
In contrast to the superhero movies that preceded it, Catwoman didn’t really have a plot about saving the world like Superman—or even saving the city like Batman. Instead, it featured a plot where, as Berry put it, Catwoman is “just saving women from a face cream that cracks their face off”.
A Good Sport
Ultimately, the Razzie Awards nominated Halle Berry for her turn as Catwoman—and when she won the award, she actually accepted the award herself, saying “I want to thank Warner Bros for casting me in this […] god-awful movie. It was just what my career needed—I was at the top, now I’m at the bottom”.
Jennifer Lawrence/“Mother” In Mother!
Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky was coming off the high of Black Swan and the low of Noah when he began productions on another biblically-inspired film, 2017’s mother! Jennifer Lawrence played the lead, but even her star power couldn’t save it from flopping.
Your Mother!
Though critics seemed to favor mother!, audiences mostly found it confusing—and they were the only ones. When asked how much she understand the plot on a scale of one to “totally confused,” Lawrence replied “Five? …or a four”. But she attributed at least some of that to her, ahem, personal connection to the film.
Mother Knows Best
Soon after mother! wrapped filming, it came out that Lawrence had started dating director Aronofsky, 22 years her senior. While Lawrence was effusive about Aronofsky during their relationship, she later joked about their year-long romance and the confusing plot of mother!, saying, “Well, I was sleeping with the director, so I had CliffsNotes”.
Megan Fox/Mikaela Barnes In Transformers
Transformers was something of a surprise hit and a breakout film for stars Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox—but the whole experience was miserable for Fox, from start to finish. She clashed with director Michael Bay, and later claimed that he made her clean his Ferrari and had her on a tanning and diet regimen.
DreamWorks, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Keeping The Wolves At Bay
After starring in two Transformers films, Fox disparaged both Bay and the movies themselves, likening the director to Napoleon and saying “People are well aware that this is not a movie about acting”. Unfortunately, she paid the price for it.
DreamWorks, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
My Boss’s Boss
Though she began rehearsals for the third Transformers film, seemingly with Bay’s blessing, but according to Bay, his boss, executive producer Steven Spielberg, demanded that Fox be fired and replaced. Spielberg denies this story, saying they parted ways amicably. Ever since, Fox has had a reputation for being “difficult,” and has had trouble getting cast in films.
DreamWorks, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Dave Bautista/Drax The Destroyer
Dave Bautista’s prolific wrestling career led him to acting, and he had small parts in a few films and TV shows before being cast as Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. It was a huge hit, and fans clamored for a sequel.
Marvel, Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Guardians Of The Gunn
When GotG director and MCU mainstay James Gunn got caught up in a Twitter scandal in 2018, Bautista and his castmates stood up for him. Bautista went on to appear in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. But he also branched out…
Marvel, Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Destroying Drax
Bautista’s fantastic performances led to roles in more critically acclaimed fare like Blade Runner 2049 and Dune. It appeared that more prestige films have seduced Bautista away from the MCU, as he said that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 will be the last time he appears as Drax—and he didn’t mince words about it.
Columbia Pictures, Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Playing Nice
Bautista made it clear he has no interest in continuing with the character, saying Vol 3 was “going to be the end of Drax”. Later, he clarified that it was all in good fun, joking, "By the time G3 comes out I'll be 54 yrs old for gods [sic] sake! I'm expecting everything to start sagging any second now”.
Zoe Saldana/Gamora
Bautista isn’t the only Guardians of the Galaxy cast member who never expected to spend so much time in their role. Zoe Saldana said that she would no longer play Gamora after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. With so many departures, it seems to set the franchise up for a reboot…
