Here we give you 12 actors and actresses who almost ruined their careers by one single movie.
12. Halle Berry: “Catwoman”
There’s a legend going around Hollywood that once you play a Bond lady, you never really get any major roles after that. However, Halle Berry managed to break the trend, and starred in X-Men and Catwoman! Amazing!
Except no. Starring in Catwoman was her biggest mistake. After the movie flopped in the box office (and became every MRA’s go-to “women-led-films-don’t-work” argument) Hally Berry was never given any other major roles. She’s returned to her role as Storm in X-Men, but nothing big has happened in her acting career since.
11. The Rock: “Tooth Fairy”
Sure, right now we all hear “The Rock” and remember the great movies like Walking Tall, the Fast and Furios, and cough Bay Watch cough. However, there was a time when The Rock’s career was all but over. After he stared in Tooth Fairy, a family-friendly flick with zero funny moments and an awful plot in general, he couldn’t land any good roles for a very long time.
I get it. You’re in more or less the same category of actor as Vin Diesel (bulky, strong as hell, and bald). Vin Diesel landed Pacifier and absolutely nailed that role. You’re The Rock, of course you’ll be able to pull off a similar stunt.
But The Rock couldn’t.
10. Will Smith: “After Earth”
You would think people with careers like Will Smith’s could do no wrong. Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Men in Black, Wild Wild West, Pursuit of Happiness – Will Smith (and his son) have a great track record for staring in great movies. However their choice of “star family vehicle” which was After Earth was a terrible critical and commercial flop, and both actors couldn’t land any significant roles for a very long time. Only recently Will Smith was able to overcome the damage done by After Earth by staring in the great movie Concussion.
9. Topher Grace: “Spider-Man 3”
The first Spider-Man movie was a humongous hit. It was the first depiction of Spider-Man on the big screen, and fans of cinema and comic books were thrilled to see something this exciting hit the screen. The sequel, Spider-Man 2, managed to exceed expectations (one of the few cases in which the sequel is just as good as the first installment). There was nothing that could possibly go wrong with Spider-Man 3, a movie that was to bring in one of Peter Parker’s biggest enemies – The Venom.
Topher Grace had a winning hand. He was to play THE villain of all Spider-Man villains.
But now we know how that movie turned out. There were a few sad turns in the screenwriting department, a few big tonal misjudgments by the director, and yet the movie managed to make it to the big screen, where it managed to disappoint even the most forgiving fans of the Spider-Man franchise.
8. Geena Davis: “Cutthroat Island”
It speaks loads when a movie kills three careers. Cutthroat Island ended Renny Harlin (director), Matthew Modine, and Geena Davis’s career. All three of them weren’t able to get another major successful film since this terrible flop. Geena Davis was the closest to returning to the spotlight when she starred in Stuart Little (I grew up on those!) films. Other than that it’s been TV and straight-to-DVD movies.
7. Chris Klein: “Rollerball”
Oh man… This movie is TERRIBLE. It is so awful it doesn’t even get an “it’s so bad it’s good” pass. I mean, the concept is that there’s a dystopian world where the biggest entertainment is a fictional sport called Rollerball and it’s vicious and dangerous. Why on earth would Chris Klein even agree to this? It ended his career. He was doing so well with American Pie, and then this happened…
6. Natalie Portman: “Star Wars”
The Star Wars prequels were horrible. Of course if you grew up right as they were coming out you might have thought differently, but even now, in retrospect, having seen the old ones – it’s objectively true that the prequels were putrid, nasty things. Oh well. Hindsight is 20/20. I’m sure Natalie Portman knows this better than most. Her role as Padme Amidala in the Star Wars prequels did all but almost killed her acting career. All the films were met with backlash from the fans, and after the films she went through quite the buffer period before finally being cast in “Put Her in Cold Mountain” by Anthony Minghella.
5. Hayden Christensen: “Star Wars”
Okay, so, if Natalie Portman’s career suffered because she acted in a bad movie, Hayden Christensen’s career stalled after he failed to act in a bad movie. You can blame the screenwriters and director all you want, but when you get to play the most evil villain in the history of cinema, whatever you do, you don’t portray them as a petulant child that acts up because they felt mistreated. And yet that’s what he did. Thanks to his amazing acting Darth Vader is nothing more than the result of a teenage rebellion period that got carried away and lasted a few decades too long.
This kind of acting sin can’t be forgiven. The Star Wars prequels were bad, but his dead career is 100% on the actor himself.
4. Sean Connery: “League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen”
Sean Connery’s track record is as solid as an actors’ portfolio can be. He was James Bond for God’s sake! And yet, there isn’t a single movie star on this planet who isn’t immune to the awful misfortune of starring in a horrible film.
Sean Connery played a character in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and hasn’t been seen on the big screen since. Yeah… That movie was THAT bad.
Sure, you could argue that the problem is Connery’s age, but I’d like to remind you that Connery won “People’s Sexiest Man of the Century” at the age of 69, so no, it’s not that.
3. Cuba Gooding, Jr.: “Jerry Maguire”
The irony of winning an Oscar for Jerry Maguire and ending his career with, basically, Jerry Maguire is not lost on Cuba Gooding. In his older days he had no trouble finding great roles. What’s more, having his name signed to a movie was enough to give it a green light from the studio. But this days are over, and he now acts in straight-to-DVD movies. Although, to his credit, he doesn’t seem to mind. He’s chosen to turn down roles in some great movies to avoid looking like someone desperate to have their career put back on track. I respect that.
2. Demi Moore: “Striptease”
Before Striptease destroyed her career, Demi Moore was cast in Ghost (lovely, legendary movie), Indecent Proposal (great movie), and Disclosure. Then she stared in Striptease and everyone forgot about her for a long long time until she married (and then divorced) Ashton Kutcher. Striptease was obviously a terrible movie (12% on rotten tomatoes). It’s goal was to cash in on Demi’s sex-symbol status after Indecent Proposal, but it didn’t quite work out, did it?
At least Demi came out of it with a $12.5m paycheck and a lesson learned. In her next movie she played a bald soldier (and it did much better at the box office, too).
1. Jennifer Lopez: “Gigli”
Remember when J Lo was a serious cast member in some pretty good movies? Out of Sight, Anaconda, The Wedding Planner – she really had a good roll. That is, she had a good roll with roles until Gigli. By far the worst movie on this list (6% Rotten Tomatoes rating), and one that demolished J Lo’s career. She was close to making a big comeback with Shall We Dance, but since then it’s mostly been supporting roles in ensemble casts.
Surprisingly, Ben Affleck is doing fine, despite also being terrible in this horrible movie. Sexism. I honestly wish it was the other way around. J Lo is a great actress, and Ben Affleck is a terrible Batman.
