Top 20 Actors Who Hate Their Own Movies
#20: Christopher Plummer
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“The Sound of Music” (1965) It may be considered one of the best musicals or really one of the best movies ever, but don’t tell that to Mr. Plummer. Over the years, the Oscar-winning actor has not looked back fondly at his role as Captain von Trapp, the head of the singing family in this musical drama. Instead, he’s made remarks calling the film “so awful and sentimental and gooey.” He even went as far as to dub the movie “The Sound of Mucus.” Ouch! He also avoided cast reunions for a while, though in 2010 he did come around and appeared with the full cast on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”.
#19: Charlize Theron
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“Reindeer Games” (2000) Charlize Theron boasts a strong cinematic resume, having starred in such critically acclaimed films as “Monster,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and the action-packed “Atomic Blonde.” Sadly “Reindeer Games” cannot be counted among them, and Charlize Theron knows it. When speaking with Esquire in 2007 about this crime thriller, released in 2000, and co-starring Ben Affleck, Theron didn’t hold back, stating matter-of-factly that “‘Reindeer Games’ was not a good movie, but [that she] did it because [she] loved John Frankenheimer." She also told the magazine that she considered it to be the worst film she’d made to date. Given that the film was a critical and commercial flop, Theron is NOT alone in having that opinion.
#18: Mark Wahlberg
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“The Happening” (2008) Every actor used to want to sign up for an M. Night Shyamalan movie in the hopes that it would have an amazing twist like the “The Sixth Sense”… unfortunately, these days, the twist is usually that the movie you’re in might not be good. Still, we can’t blame Marky Mark for taking this role. He played against type as a science teacher in the critically panned flick, which, it's worth pointing out, holds a 17% on Rotten Tomatoes. Wahlberg has publicly stated that Amy Adams “dodged a bullet” by declining Zooey Deschanel’s part. SNL had a field day making fun of his role and came up with the now viral and superior “Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals” sketch.
#17: Michael Caine
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“Jaws: The Revenge” (1987) Another true thespian… another serving of unabashed regret about taking a role in a genre film. Unlike Guinness, however, Sir Michael Caine has every reason to regret his involvement in the fourth “Jaws” film, which, by all accounts, was no “Star Wars.” Though the “Jaws” franchise began with a roar, its success giving birth to the very concept of a “summer blockbuster,” the series ended on a whimper in 1987 thanks to this embarrassing final instalment, which holds a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. Of the film, Caine boldly once stated: "I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."
#16: Hugh Grant
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“Nine Months” (1995) It wasn’t the movie itself or the working experience that made Hugh Grant regret this role. He played a character perfectly in his rom-com wheelhouse as a man-child who’s forced to settle down when he gets his dream woman pregnant. So, what’s the problem? Grant regrets having done the movie because it was a 20th Century Fox film, a company owned by media mogul, Rupert Murdoch. After the News of the World newspaper scandal in 2011, in which the Murdoch-owned newspaper was accused of phone hacking and other shady practices, Grant wanted nothing to do with Murdoch businesses ever again. So far, he’s stuck to his morals.
#15: Sam Worthington
Top 10 Actors Who Hate Their Own Movies
“Clash of the Titans” (2010) In the lead up to the sequel, Sam Worthington got candid about the first film, acknowledging that, box office performance aside, it “kind of let down some people.” In 2012, he went further into detail, saying that he wasn’t happy with what he did in the movie, that he failed to deliver a character, and instead turned in a performance as the “generic, bland action dude.” In fact, he went so far as to compare himself to a Barbie doll. Not just criticizing himself, however, Worthington indicted all parties involved, challenging both himself and the crew to try to make a better film with “Wrath of the Titans.”
#14: Halle Berry
“Catwoman” (2004) With “X-Men”, Halle Berry proved that superhero roles are in her wheelhouse. So when “Catwoman” came around, she saw it as an opportunity to further prove to the world that women of color can be superheroes. As she told Variety in 2020 however, there were a few red flags early on. Namely, “Why can’t Catwoman save the world like Batman and Superman do? Why is she just saving women from a face cream that cracks their face off”. Unable to answer those questions, the movie would eventually go down as one of the worst of all time. Halle Berry ended up winning a razzie for her performance, and gave a special shout out to the team at Warner Bros in her acceptance speech.
#13: Sean Connery
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“The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” (2003) A lot of time and energy goes into making a film, so we can only imagine the disappointment of producing a dud. Connery apparently only took the role as Allan Quatermain because, having recently turned down roles in both “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Matrix” movies, he wasn't going to miss out on another success just because he “didn't understand it.” He was then rather candid about the on-set fights between him and the director, which reportedly verged on physical violence. When asked about the director’s absence at the opening party, he said “check the local asylum” and then basically stopped acting all-together.
#12: Katherine Heigl
“Knocked Up” (2007) Perhaps one of the most public feuds in recent times between a movie and an actor, Katherine Heigl made waves when she called out “Knocked Up” for what she saw as its sexist stereotypes. She went on to say that her character was portrayed as a “bitch” and the women in it were painted as “shrews, as humorless and uptight.” Director Judd Apatow and co-star Seth Rogen didn’t stay quiet and both have defended the movie over the years. The feud hasn’t been easy on Heigl, who has had difficulty landing big roles in Hollywood since.
#11: Channing Tatum
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“G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra” (2009) The movie industry is not an easy business to succeed in. Before your big break, when opportunity comes knocking, it can be very tempting to sign multi-film deals with studios, because hey, at that point, you can’t imagine a world where you’d turn down roles. Like so many of his peers, however, early career contracts would come back to haunt Tatum when he was forced to do this Hasbro adaptation. When speaking with Howard Stern, he told the radio host “I f***ing hate that movie.” Well... no ambiguity there. Though he clearly resents having been forced into the role, he admits that it helped his career and the studio could’ve given him far worse films.
#10: Sandra Bullock
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“Speed 2: Cruise Control” (1997) She’s Hollywood royalty, so it seems like Sandra Bullock can do nothing wrong. She’s made us laugh with “Miss Congeniality” and made us cry in “Gravity,” but even Sandra’s had a misstep or two along the way. During an interview in which she was asked about a sequel to the 2013 hit, “The Heat,” Bullock was quick to say no way. She told reporters, “I’ve done two sequels. They were horrible.” It’s easy to understand why she’s not proud of “Speed 2” though; aside from the fact that y’know, it was on a BOAT and was missing Keanu Reeves, it holds a very very low Rotten Tomatoes score at just 3%.
#9: Bob Hoskins
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“Super Mario Bros.” (1993) He was a highly respected actor, so Bob Hoskins didn’t feel the need to be coy about his dislike for working on this film. When talking to the newspaper, “The Guardian,” a journalist asked him about any career lows and he replied, “It was a f---in’ nightmare.” He credits the unpleasant working conditions to the married directors, Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, who he said had their “…arrogance mistaken for talent.” And after a few hellish weeks of production “…their own agent told them to get off the set!.” Hoskins apparently made it through by getting hammered throughout production with his co-star John Leguizamo... yikes! It ultimately earned a measly 15% on Rotten Tomatoes, and was basically critically panned across the board, so can you blame him?
#8: George Clooney
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“Batman & Robin”(1997) George Clooney may be Hollywood royalty but there’s a dark spot in his past: his turn as Batman. Playing a superhero is pretty much the best thing that can happen to an actor’s career, and Clooney did benefit from the name recognition the role gave him, but that’s about it. Over the years, he’s been known to joke about his work as the Caped Crusader, even saying that he thought they “…might have killed the franchise.” Luckily for us, that wasn’t the case, though its successful revival wouldn’t be until 2005 when Christopher Nolan rebooted the series.
#7: Jim Carrey
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“Kick-Ass 2” (2013) Sometimes current events can affect the way an artist feels about his or her work, and that was the case with Jim Carrey’s feelings towards this picture. When he should have been promoting the film, Carrey tweeted, “I did Kick-Ass 2 a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence.” He went on to say that he wasn’t ashamed of the movie or his work in it by any means, but the incident at Sandy Hook Elementary that killed 28 in total caused him to re-think the portrayal of such heavy violence in film.
#6: Shia LaBeouf & Megan Fox
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“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (2009) Michael Bay’s “Transformers” franchise might go down in history as the film series with the biggest disconnect between box office success and critical reception. It’s a financial juggernaut, but each instalment has failed with critics. And any actor who praises the films… likely isn’t telling the truth. The first movie was at least a fun ride, but when the second came out, even LaBeouf went on the record to admit that they “got lost” and that without relationships, it was “just a bunch of robots fighting each other." Fox, for her part, said that “People are well aware that this is not a movie about acting.”
#5: Zac Efron
Another Top 10 Actors Who Hate Their Own Movies
“High School Musical” franchise (2006-) Heartthrob Zac Efron upset millions of fans when he decided to put down the franchise that launched him to superstardom, or more specifically, his role in it. Speaking with Men’s Fitness, he expressed nothing but disdain for his teenage self, going so far as to say “f*** that guy,” and that he wishes he could kick that guy’s ass - with “High School Musical” being at the center of his regret. Though fans were pretty quick to pick up arms, you can’t really blame the actor. “High School Musical” and its sequels were important to a lot of young people, but they were also rather cheesy, and don’t exactly showcase Efron’s best acting.
#4: Bill Murray
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“Garfield: The Movie” (2004) Bill Murray’s involvement with this “Garfield” sequel can be chalked up to a case of mistaken identity. In a “GQ” magazine interview, Bill admitted that he thought the movie’s screenwriter was Joel Coen of the Coen Brothers. What he didn’t know was that the movie was written by another Joel Cohen, with an ‘h’, and a writer who’s made his career by writing family movies like “Toy Story,” “Cheaper By the Dozen” and “Daddy Day Camp.” He didn’t back out of the movie once he realized his mistake, but suffered through recording his lines like a pro. While he got the last laugh when he made a joke about it in “Zombieland”, Murray did go on to appear in the sequel…
#3: Alec Guinness
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“Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” (1977) To be fair, while Sir Alec Guinness was dismissive of “Star Wars,” his dislike for the beloved space opera has been blown out of proportion, which is why he makes the cut, but appears relatively low on the list. About seeing the film, he actually said “There's a sort of wonderful freshness about it.” With time, however, and the enduring popularity, it seems that he grew resentful of the movie, which, despite an impressive career, had come to overshadow his other works. Years later, he would, to use his own words “shrivel inside each time it [was] mentioned.” Letters written during filming have also surfaced in which he referred to it as “fairy-tale rubbish.”
#2: Ryan Reynolds
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“Green Lantern” (2011) “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.” It’s a lesson that Ryan Reynolds clearly internalized. It took numerous poorly received comic book adaptations before Reynolds finally hit a home run with “Deadpool.” First came “Blade: Trinity,” which despite a poor reception, Reynolds credits with helping his career. Then came the painful proto-Deadpool of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which he described as a “frustrating experience” and doomed from the start. “Green Lantern” has gotten the worst of it, however, with the star himself only giving it “three or four” out of ten, and calling it a victim of the Hollywood process. Thankfully, the charming star is a good sport about all these past missteps.
#1: Robert Pattinson
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“Twilight” franchise (2008-) You might not notice it from his performance in this franchise, but Robert Pattinson is a more than talented actor. One need just look at his work in “The Lost City of Z", “Good Time” or “The Lighthouse” to appreciate his acting skills. Unfortunately, they are notably absent in the teenage tale of vampires, werewolves, and love of which its male star has made no secret of his deep hatred. Pattinson has trashed the series on too many occasions to count. He’s joked about wanting his dignity back, admitted to disliking the script, and has waxed poetic about the problems with his character, Edward, as well as the general plot.
