In a recent interview, actress Dakota Johnson recalled working in the Fifty Shades Franchise, which gained her worldwide fame—stating that the movie’s final cut was much different than she had initially signed up for. EL James, the author of the 50 shades books, insisted on having a lot of creative control over the script, which further destroyed the final product with exaggerated dialogue and cringe-sex scenes.
Dakota isn’t the first actress to show her embarrassment about her movie choices. Here are 11 actors who showed disdain for their acting roles.
Alec Guinness- ‘Star Wars’
‘Apart from the money, I regret having embarked on the film.’
Nowadays, almost every actor dreams of being a part of the Star Wars universe. But the original Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alec Guinness, didn’t quite feel the same about his role. The actor felt conflicted and referred to the franchise as fairy-tale rubbish in Guinness’s private letter before the release of ‘A New Hope’.
Sandra Bullock- ‘Speed 2: Cruise Control’
‘Makes no sense: slow boat, slowly going towards an island. That’s one that I wished I hadn’t done.’
With the success of the original Speed, the makers made a sequel with a cruise liner in its theme. Replacing Keanu Reeves, the lead from the first movie, came Jason Patric for the sequel. It’s safe to say the critic’s reviews matched the audiences.
Channing Tatum-‘ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’
‘Look, I’ll be honest, I hate that movie. I hate that movie. I was pushed into doing that movie.’
From the massive success of Transformers, Hasbro (a toy company) sought to make new movies franchised for their other toys. In 2009, this Channing Tatum starrer movie, based on their military figurine, gained massive publicity. However, the actor wasn’t keen to sign three movie deals then, saying that the studio forced him into it.
Christopher Plummer- ‘The Sound of Music’
‘It was so awful and sentimental and gooey. You had to work terribly hard to try and infuse some minuscule bit of humour into it.’
Over the years, Plummer, the acting legend, has repeatedly tried to sway away from the famous role of Daddy Von Trapp. The actor disliked that the part came to define his career. Furthermore, in an interview, he even referred to the movie as ‘Sound of Mucus.’
George Clooney- ‘Batman and Robin’
‘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 awful, and I was really bad in it.’
Before the Worldwide loved Christopher Nolan trilogy, the Batman franchise kept killing the old versions. With nipply Batsuits, over-the-top fighting sequences and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr Freeze, it simply wasn’t a movie to be remembered for anything.
Ben Affleck- ‘Gigli’
‘It doesn’t work, by the way. It’s a sort of horse’s head in a cow’s body.’
Despite an all-star cast, this crime comedy failed at the box office. With bad critics review, Affleck says the movie made him reevaluate his career choices and gravitates toward the direction of films.
Kyle MacLachlan- ‘Showgirls’
‘It’s a very slow, sinking feeling when you’re watching the movie, and the first scene comes out, and you’re like, “Oh, that’s a really bad scene.” And you somehow try to convince yourself that it’s going to get better… and it just gets worse.’
Claimed as a trash classic by the ironists, this Paul Verhoeven movie narrates the gaudiest tale of backstabbing Las Vegas strippers. It also became an embarrassment for actor Kyle MacLachlan, who played a sleazy casino owner. The film also shows what might be the most awkward sex scene ever caught on video.
Katherine Heigl- ‘Knocked Up’
‘It paints the women as shrews, as humourless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys. Why is this how you’re portraying women?’
In an infamous interview with Vanity Fair, Heigl criticized the Judd Apatow-directed movie in which she starred. In the actress’s view, the film is a bit sexist and more sympathetic to Seth Rogen’s character.
Robert Pattinson- ‘The Twilight Saga’
‘There’s a lot of stuff in the Twilight world that doesn’t make sense. It’s like, why are they still going to high school? Like, up until last year? They’re a hundred years old.’
Pattinson had hated the series, in which he plays an emo sparkly vampire, before it was cool to do so. He has spent an entire decade living down the role, so much so that there’s a tumble account dedicated to his criticism of the movies.
Halle Berry- ‘Catwoman’
‘First, I want to thank Warner Bros. for putting me in a bad, godawful movie. It was just what my career needed!’
Admittedly, one of the worst Batman spin-off movies. With the non-sensical basketball scene and no resemblance to the comic books. The movie easily marks something to be overlooked in the actress’s career. Berry even won Razzie Awards for best actress, and the best part- she showed up to collect her award.
Viola Davis- ‘The Help’
“At the end of the day, the movie wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard. I know that 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. Never heard that in the course of the movie.”
Though the role earned Davis a Best Actress nomination, she has conflicting views about the advancement of her role. In the period drama, the actress expresses her regret over the representation of her character’s story in the film.
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