Finding a job you enjoy is not an easy task. Sometimes, one ends up accepting jobs that are not that appealing, either out of necessity, convenience, or just because the offer initially seems good. Although Hollywood stars seem to live in a reality that is far removed from the rest of the world, many times the artists we admire face the same problems that we, the ones that enjoy their roles, do: they struggle to find a job that they like. Getting the chance to perform an important role in a successful movie could very well be every actor’s dream. It is not an easy thing to do: first, they must be successful auditioning for that role, and then rise to the occasion in their performance. If every audition was successful, then maybe some of the most iconic roles in movie-making would have been played by a totally different actor. Can you imagine John Krasinski as Captain America? That could have happened, if not for the fact that he completely blew his audition.
Some actors, however, manage to win these dream breakout roles, but then a few years later they regret ever taking them for a number of reasons — some, because they feel that their performance was not up to the task; others, because the quality of the production failed to live up to their expectations, or simply because the role ended up pigeonholing them into playing the same type of character. Regardless of each actors’ reasons, they preferred to simply forget that role and never speak of it again. Here is a look at eight movie roles that actors have said they regret playing.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
8 Zac Efron — High School Musical
Disney
High School Musical is one of the most successful teen franchises of the past decades. Indeed, it still has fans today, 16 years after it premiered. The movies made many young actors famous, including Zac Efron. But unlike other actors, Efron thinks of his breakout role as star basketball player Troy Bolton as a big mistake. Although he didn’t want to take it in the beginning — as he wanted his career to go in a different direction — he ended up doing it, and from 2006 onwards he became a teen idol. Taking part in such a well-known teen movie had some negative consequences for the actor, who struggled to detach himself from this first role. In fact, he feels that even today, despite his other good performances, people continue to link him to the teenage franchise.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
7 Kate Winslet — Titanic
Paramount Pictures
Rose is the character for which Kate Winslet rose to fame, and probably her most remembered performance to this day. Still, the actress’ recollection of Titanic’s premiere differs greatly from what one might think. Rather than feeling happy for the release of the movie that launched her to glory, Winslet underwent a difficult period due to the harsh criticism from the media regarding herself and her body. In several interviews, the actress said that, back then, she was still discovering herself, and it was painful to witness journalists talking about her body, her weight, and the alleged diets that Kate, who was only 22 years old at the time, was following. This experience, added to the discomfort she felt starring nude in the film, helped her realize that she was not ready to be famous and led Winslet to avoid taking on roles in blockbusters in order to focus on smaller, more independent films with interesting parts that would catch her attention.
6 Robert Pattinson — Twilight
Lionsgate
The love story between the vampire and the human conquered millions of teenagers around the world. For all the films in this franchise, the actor responsible for bringing the most desired vampire at the time to life was Robert Pattinson, who subsequently became one of the most sought-after young performers in the industry. Despite the notoriety and benefits that came along with Twilight’s premiere in 2008, the actor never disguised his feelings of disdain for the saga, due to being uncomfortable with the harassment of fans and the media everywhere he went, as well as the inconvenience of being pigeonholed into a teenage role.
Nevertheless, several years after this phenomenon, Pattinson was not only able to demonstrate his skills in different projects, the latest one being The Batman, but he also managed to embrace his role as Edward Cullen, admitting that his memories of the movies are now pleasant. Particularly considering that Twilight had a renaissance in recent years, with new audiences enjoying the films in a more laid-back way.
5 Viola Davis — The Help
DreamWorks
The Help is a movie directed by Tate Taylor and starring Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain, and Bryce Dallas Howard. Although this 2011 production earned rave reviews upon its release, with Davis being nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in her role as Aibileen Clark, both the actress and society were critical of the movie for its half-hearted approach to the issues faced by Black women at the time. Davis stated in several interviews that she strongly felt that portraying that part was a betrayal to her people and to herself, as the film did not convey the entire story, and was created from the perspective of systemic racism, preserving a narrative created for a white audience instead of addressing what was really happening to those women.
4 Katherine Heigl (Knocked Up)
Apatow Productions
Knocked Up was released in 2007, and though it was a well-received movie among audiences, what kept it going for so many years was the conflict between its main characters and director. Katherine Heigl took on the part of Allison, an up-and-coming journalist who gets pregnant after a chance encounter with Ben (Seth Rogen), a very immature young man. In a post-release interview with Vanity Fair the year after the premiere, Heigl commented that she was not happy with the film, especially with its sexist way of portraying women as humorless harpies and men as amusing and endearing. These comments did not sit well with either Rogen or Judd Apatow, the movie’s director, leading to an extended fight until many years later, when Heigl said she regretted her comments. The actress stated that she was not referring to how she was treated in the film, but how she felt with her character in particular.
3 Eddie Redmayne — The Danish Girl
Pretty Pictures
Nowadays, social deconstruction is moving by leaps and bounds all over the world. As a society, we are all learning and modifying attitudes that are no longer appropriate. As part of this process we come across movies that, despite not being so old, have nowadays several critics that were not so prominent at the time of their release. Such is the case of The Danish Girl, the 2015 movie in which Eddie Redmayne played Lili Elbe, the first woman in history to have undergone gender confirmation surgery. The production that earned the actor a major nomination is, to this day, one of his biggest regrets. Redmayne said that, now, he would not take a role like that one, as it is appropriate for a trans actress to play that part, adding his desire to see a greater representation of trans characters in movie productions in the near future.
2 Harrison Ford — Star Wars
Lucasfilm Ltd.
Harrison Ford got to play Han Solo practically by chance while he was working a completely different career as a carpenter to support his family since he could not manage to grow as an actor yet. Then one day, while fixing a door in Francis Ford Coppola’s office, he crossed paths with George Lucas, who, after an audition, offered him the part of Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, a character that launched him to fame. Nevertheless, due to Ford’s reaction when referring to his iconic character in several interviews, rumors spread among fans that the actor really despises his signature character. Despite showing his gratitude to George Lucas, he went so far as to beg him to kill off the character before Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. It may have simply been boredom, or a fear of being pigeonholed forever for that character. Truth is, several years later, Ford returned for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, the movie that came out in 2015.
1 George Clooney — Batman & Robin
Warner Bros.
George Clooney stepped into Batman’s shoes for the 1997 movie. However, unlike the successful performances to which the actor is accustomed, his impersonation of Batman was far from the best. The movie scored 12% on Rotten Tomatoes and was poorly reviewed by the public. One of the main reasons was Clooney’s performance, who despite physically resembling the superhero, was not up to the task. Clooney himself claims to this day that his performance in Batman & Robin was so terrible that, for this reason, he was never called back to play the superhero again. He also stated that he would never perform as a superhero in another production, and asked his family to never watch the 1997 film.
