Celebrities Who Regret Taking Famous Roles

Not every actor is in love with each piece of work that they produce. Sometimes, they absolutely hate the final product. It can be difficult to gauge a film just off of the script, and sometimes, they actually regret taking on a role and having it on their resume. 

Some actors even hate the piece that made them famous!

Blake Lively in Gossip Girl

Blake Lively played Serena Van Der Woodsen so well that people actually thought their personalities were the same. Fans would compare Lively to her character, and it made her very uncomfortable. "It's a weird thing when people feel like they know you really well, and they don't. I would not be proud to be the person who gave someone the cocaine that made them overdose and then shot someone and slept with someone else's boyfriend."

Megan Fox in Transformers

Megan Fox starred in the first two Transformers films but shot down the idea for starring in a third one. "I mean, I can't sh*t on this movie because it gave me a career and opened all these doors for me, but I don't want to blow smoke up people's a*s." She later called director Michael Bay both misogynistic and "a nightmare." 

Bruce Willis in approximately 12 of his films

Bruce Willis isn't afraid to talk about the films he hated doing. In fact, he revealed that he said he regrets making "about a dozen" of the films he's made. "I'd love to strike them off the list." He never revealed which ones, but he has said that he's bored of making action films...

George Clooney in Batman & Robin

George Clooney has been in tons of films, so there are bound to be a few that he doesn't quite like. He especially regrets his role as Batman. "Let me just say that I'd actually thought I'd destroyed the franchise until somebody else brought it back years later and changed it. I thought at the time that this was going to be a very good career move. It wasn't."

Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City 2

Sarah Jessica Parker was an idol to some women for her role in Sex and the City. When the first film came out, fans were pleased. The second one dropped, and everyone was upset. SJP says that she doesn't blame fans for hating the film. "I understand, I actually get it. I will say, I also understand how much frickin' money it made. I feel like that is forgotten in the discussion." 

Jamies Dornan in Fifty Shades of Grey

Jamie Dornan hit major popularity for the raunchy series, but he wasn't quite fond of his character. "I don't think I'll ever play a character who's less like me," he said of Christian Grey. Apparently, his wife still hasn't seen the films. 

Zac Efron in High School Musical

The High School Musical franchise arguably made Zac Efron's career, but he has some hang-ups about Troy Bolton. "I step back and look at myself and I still want to kick that guy's ass sometimes. He's done some kind of cool things with some cool people - he did that one thing that was funny - but, I mean, he's still just that kid from High School Musical."

Halle Berry in Catwoman

It's very possible that everyone already knows how much she absolutely hates Catwoman. Fans were stoked to see her reprise the supervillain role, but Berry hated every second of it. She accepted an award on stage in 2005 for the film and said, "I want to thank Warner Bros. for casting me in this piece-of-sh*t, god-awful movie." 

Emilia Clarke in Terminator Genisys 

Most people know of Emilia Clarke from her role in Game of Thrones, but she's been in plenty of other films. She took on a role in Terminator Genisys when one of the GOT directors brought her on for the role. She said that she immediately regretted making that decision due to toxic filming environments from the showrunners. "No one had a good time." 

Dev Patel in The Last Airbender

M. Knight Shyamalan's The Last Airbender was a complete flop in the box office and in the hearts of Avatar fans. Dev Patel played Prince Zuko but said that he couldn't relate to "the stranger on the screen" while watching himself in a preview of the film. The environment on set was also a horrible experience, and Patel said that, "I felt like I wasn't being heard. That was really scary for me, and that's really when I learned the power of no, the idea of saying no."

Gwyneth Paltrow in Shallow Hal

Paltrow starred in the film Shallow Hal which wasn't received well when it debuted years ago. The directors had Paltrow put on a "fat suit" and walk around in the Tribeca Grand. She says that she deeply regrets signing onto the film and called it "a disaster."

Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Daniel Radcliffe has been in all of the Harry Potter movies (obviously). It's not that he didn't like this film, but he didn't like himself in it. "I'm just not very good in it. I hate it... my acting was very one-note and I can see I got complacent and what I was trying to do just didn't come across. My best film is the fifth one because I can see a progression." 

Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights

Boogie Nights had Mark Wahlberg playing an A-list porn star named Dirk Diggler. Looking back on the film, Wahlberg deeply regrets ever going on with the film. "I just always hope that God is a movie fan and also forgiving because I've made some poor choices in my past... Boogie Nights is up there at the top of the list."

Penn Badgley in You

You is one of the most talked-about original series on Netflix, and Penn Badgley is the star. Joe is a violent and dangerous stalker through and through, and Badgley hates the fact that people romanticize him. "That was when I was like, 'Joe, I've never liked you less!"

Mandy Patinkin in Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds fans were shocked when Mandy Patinkin left the show, but they had no idea that it was for a good reason. "The biggest public mistake I ever made was that I chose to do Criminal Minds in the first place. I thought it was something different. I never thought they were going to kill and rape all these women every night, every day, week after week, year after year. It was very destructive to my soul and my personality." 

Allison Williams in Girls

Girls showrunner Lena Dunham has been in hot water for multiple reasons, which made people look at Girls with a more critical eye and notice how truly anti-feminist it was. Allison Williams always knew that but never such much about it until she was done with the show. She struggled with her characters' decisions. "I did not want her to go down that road. I thought Marnie was better than that, but she wasn't, so I had to be okay with it too."

Robert Pattinson in Twilight

Robert Pattinson never kept his hatred of Edward Cullen a secret. "He's the most ridiculous person... the more I read the script, the more I hated the guy... Plus, he's a 108-year-old virgin, so he's obviously got some issues there." 

Kate Winslet in Titanic

This may be Kate Winslet's most famous and popular role ever, but she feels very differently about her time on set. "Every single scene, I'm like 'Really, really? You did it like that?' Oh my God, Even my American accent, I can't listen to it. It's awful... 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."

Adam Brody in The O.C.

Adam Brody doesn't really hate his time on the infamous The O.C. but he's not really a fan of it, either. "It gets boring, that's all. The only way it bothers me - it's not that I'm not proud of it - it's that I've exhausted the conversations about it, in my mind." Stop asking him questions about Seth Cohen! 

Colin Farrell in Miami Vice

Miami Vice released in 2006 and was easily one of Farrells least popular roles, despite co-starring with Jamie Foxx. When asked about the film years later, Farrell responded, "I didn't like it so much. I thought it was style over substance and I accept a good bit of the responsibility." 

Justin Guarini in From Justin to Kelly

Justin Guarini was the runner-up in the first season of American Idol. He and Kelly Clarkson were the stars of the musical comedy film. On a 2013 episode of Oprah's Where are They Now? Guarini said that the film was "abysmal."

Kelly Clarkson in From Justin to Kelly

Kelly Clarkson isn't a fan of the musical flick either. In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, the interviewer asked if she had burned all of the copies of the film. "No, I think I would have to own it first. But that is something I will look into. I have a little joke with our nanny because she told me she loves that movie. She was like, 'My roommate and I used to watch it all the time! I'm totally going to show your daughter From Justin to Kelly.' I'm like, 'I will fire you.'"

Brad Pitt in The Devil's Own

Brad Pitt starred in the thriller/drama film The Devil's Own in 1997. That same year, Pitt said that the film was "the most irresponsible bit of filmmaking, if you can even call it that, that I've ever seen." Easy to say, he's not a fan. 

Cher in Burlesque 

Burlesque was an important movie in pop culture, especially since Cher and Christina Aguilera were at the forefront. Cher disagrees with its popularity, saying, "It could have been a much better film. It was always sad that it was not a good film. I remember [the director] saying to me, 'I don't care about what you say, I just want to shoot the dance numbers.'"

Jim Carrey in Kick-Ass 2

Kick-Ass is a popular film franchise about down-and-out superheroes. Jim Carrey starred in the second film as Colonel Stars & Stripes. Carrey isn't a fan of the movie due to his stance on the violence that it promotes. "I did Kick-Ass a month before Sandy Hook and now all in good conscience I cannot support that level of violence." 

Penn Badgley in Gossip Girl

Badgley didn't outright say that he hated Dan in Gossip Girl, but he hasn't been quiet about how little he likes the idea of a TV show about rich people in New York City. He once tweeted out, "Lol sh*t we are *reclining* on New York City. I'm posted up like it's a futon. Talk about an image of white privilege." 

Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up

Knocked Up was Seth Rogan's first feature film and launched him into superstardom. Heigl feels that the film is bittersweet. "It was a little sexist. It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight. I had a hard time with it, on some days. I'm playing such a b*tch; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you're portraying women? 98% of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love this movie."

Jennifer Garner in Elektra

Fan-favorite Jennifer Garner starred in a 2005 film called Elektra. Her ex-boyfriend, Michael Vartan, was interviewed by Us Weekly and dropped the tea on the film. "I heard [Elektra] was awful. Jennifer called me and told me it was awful. She had to do it because of Daredevil. It was in her contract." 

Shia LaBeouf in Indiana Jones

Shia LaBeouf was a young kid in 2008, but that doesn't mean he doesn't regret roles from back then. He played Mutt in Indiana Jones but felt like he "dropped the ball." "The actor's job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn't do it. So that's my fault. Simple."

Jamie Foxx in Stealth

Jamie Foxx let his disdain for Stealth slip during his press promotion for The Kingdom. "Sometimes, you do a movie and you have to go promote it, so on Stealth I was like, 'Yeah, this is the greatest.' And people would see me after seeing the movie and say, 'I can't believe you liked to me like that.'"

Jason Bateman in Horrible Bosses 2

It seems like not a lot of actors are fans of their popular films' sequels! Bateman is one of them. "The second one was garbage, as far as box office goes. Who knows whether it was on the merits or when they released it, but it did not do any money." 

Channing Tatum in G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra

Channing Tatum seems like the perfect person to play G.I. Joe, but he begs to differ. On Howard Stern's radio show, he said, "I'll be honest. I hate that movie. I was pushed into doing it. The script wasn't any good. And I didn't want to do something that I was a fan of since I was a kid and watched every monring growing up - and didn't want to do something that was one: bad and two: I just didn't know if I wanted to be G.I. Joe"

Shailene Woodley in The Secret Life of the American Teenager

Shailene Woodley's breakout role was on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which lasted for five years. "Towards the end, morally, the things that we were preaching on that show weren't aligned with my own integrity. So that was a bit hard to show up to work every day knowing that they were going to project all of these themes to thousands, millions, of young adults across the country, when in fact they weren't what I would like to be sending out."

Sally Field in The Amazing Spider-Man

Sally Field is one of the most iconic actors out there, but that doesn't mean she's loved every role she's been in. She was not a fan of the Spider-Man sequel. "It's really hard to find a three-dimensional character in it, and you work it as much as you can, but you can't put ten pounds of sh*t in a five-pound bag."

James Franco in Your Highness

James Franco has been all over the place in terms of films. He played Prince Fabious, the popular older brother of Prince Thadeous (Danny McBride). Franco said of the comedy/fantasy film, "Your Highness? That movie sucks, you can't get around that." 

Charlize Theron in Reindeer Games

Famed actor Charlize Theron starred in a 2000 film called Reindeer Games. At one point, she was asked about her time on set and how she felt about the movie... All she could say was: "That was a bad, bad, bad movie." 

Shia LaBeouf in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Oddly enough, LaBeouf simply isn't a fan of this Transformers film. "I wasn't impressed with what we did... There were some really wild stunts in it, but the heart was gone. It's just a bunch of fighting robots." He even admitted to taking a nap during the screening!

Mariah Carey in Glitter

Pop diva Mariah Carey starred as herself in the film Glitter. She once told pop reporter Andy Cohen that it was her biggest regret. "It was a horrible couple of years [after the release] and then I had to get my momentum back for people to let it go." 

Cara Delevigne in Paper Towns

This one was actually a misunderstanding. Delevigne played the main character, Margo, in the movie adaption of John Green's book Paper Towns. During an interview, she was asked if she had anything in common with her character. Being the sarcastic person that she is, Delevigne said, "No, I actually hate her." The interviewer didn't get the sarcasm and neither did a lot of other news outlets! 

Mark Wahlberg in The Happening

Wahlberg was not a fan of another film that he had done. The Happening, directed by M. Knight Shyamalan, is one of his least favorite films. During a promotion during his movie The Fighter, he admitted that co-star Amy Adams asked about "another movie" and he told her that she dodged a bullet. When asked about what movie that was, he said, "I don't want to tell you what movie. All right, The Happening. F*ck it."

Daniel Craig in James Bond

There have been so many Daniel Craig x James Bond movies. It's no secret that Craig is over the series. When he was asked if he could do another one, he said, "Now? I'd rather break this glass and slash my wrists. No, not at the moment. Not at all. That's fine. I'm over it at the moment. We're done. All I want to do is move on." 

Jennifer Lawrence in Mother!

This film was super harrowing to watch as an audience member, but imagine how it was for J. Law! "I was really shaken. My first reaction was that we took it too far. Then, after the images died down a little bit, it's exactly what we're supposed to be doing and what we need to be doing. We have a message and if we watered it down to make people comfortable, then what's the point?" 

Jessica Alba in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Jessica Alba was a treat in the Fantastic Four franchise, but she was almost totally over it by the sequel. Director Tom Story told her that she wasn't "crying pretty enough." She almost quit right then and there. 

Lindsay Lohan in I Know Who Killed Me

Linsday Lohan has tried to get back into acting multiple times, but it's just not her jam anymore. There are a bunch of roles that she took on and hated, which included her role in I Know Who Killed Me. A fan wished Lohan a happy birthday and said, "I seriously watched I Know Who Killed Me twice last night." Lohan responded, "Two times too many."

Sylvester Stallone in Stop, or Mom Will Shoot

Sylvester Stallone is best known for his role in the Rocky films. He was featured in the 1992 comedy Stop, or Mom Will Shoot. He told GQ that this film was, "maybe one of the worst films in the entire solar system, including alien productions we've never seen."

Christian Bale in Newsies

Christian Bale, best known for his role as Batmanplayed Jack Kelly in Newsies. When asked about the film, which debuted in 1992, he said that, "Time healed those wounds, but it took a while." Easy to say, he's not a fan. 

Ben Affleck in Daredevil

Ben Affleck starred in the 2003 superhero film, but he didn't love it. In an interview, he spoke about his hatred towards the film. "Part of it was that I wanted for once to get one of these movies and do it right - to do a good version. I hate Daredevil so much." Sounds a little personal! 

Carrie Fisher in Star Wars

Even though the Star Wars franchise was what made Carrie Fisher who she was, she hates everything about it. She did not like that it got so famous and became what it became. "I wish I'd turned down Star Wars." 

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Red Sonja

Although the film came out in 1985, Schwarzenegger was haunted by it for the next few decades. "It's the worst film I have ever made. When my kids get out of line, they're sent to their rooms and forced to watch Red Sonja 10 times. I never had too much trouble with them."

Ben Affleck in Gigli

Affleck wasn't a fan of Gigli for the movie that it was and for the fanfare that surrounded it. "It could have been a bad movie that no one cared about. Angelina Jolie had a bad movie that year and no one cared. But it was because I was dating Jennifer Lopez that made it a big deal. So not only was it just a bad movie but 'they dated each other.'" Sadly, this film was also one of the biggest box office bombs ever. It grossed $7.2 million against a $75.6 million budget. 

Matt Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum

Although the Jason Bourne series has been quite popular, Damon has said he hated the third film because the director gave up on it. "I don't blame Tony for taking a boatload of money and handing in what he handed in. It's just that it was unreadable. This is a career-ender... it's terrible. It's really embarrassing. He took his money and left." 

Michelle Pfieffer in Grease 2

Michelle Pfieffer played Stephanie in the sequel to Grease. Years down the road, she had no idea how much she'd come to hate it. "I hated that film with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was. At the time, I was young and didn't know any better."

Miley Cyrus in Hannah Montana

For younger millennials, Miley Cyrus is Hannah Montana. Unfortunately, this franchise did a number on her confidence level. "I was told for so long what a girl is supposed to be from being on that show. I was made to look like someone that I wasn't, which probably caused some body dysmorphia because I had been made pretty every day for so long, and then when I wasn't on that show, it was like, who am I?"

Harrison Ford in Blade Runner

Harrison Ford starred in the original 1999 Blade Runner. Apparently, he wasn't a fan from the get-go. "I didn't like the movie one way or the other, with or without. I played a detective who did not have any detecting to do. In terms of how I related to the material, I found it very difficult. There was stuff going on that was really nuts."

Rooney Mara in Pan

During filming, Rooney Mara noticed the lack of diversity on set and knew that it was going to be a problem. "I really hate, hate, hate that I am on that side of the whitewashing conversation. I really do. I don't ever want to be on that side of it again. I can understand why people are upset and frustrated." 

Alec Guinness in Star Wars

Alec Guinness starred in Star Wars as Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was a classicly trained actor and felt that this role was below his level. In his autobiography, he wrote that he regretted taking the role because of his disdain for the dialogue and writing. 

Crispin Glover in Back to the Future

Crispin Glover played George McFly in Back to the Future. Apparently, he wasn't a fan of the trilogy's ending. He even expressed his issue with the director. "I said, 'I think if the characters have money if our characters are rich, it's a bad message. That reward should not be in there." Obviously, they didn't listen. 

Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone

Home Alone is one of the most popular films of all time, but Macaulay Culkin just can't look at the film the same way everyone else does. The fact that the film is so ingrained in our society makes it difficult for him. "I'm remembering that day on set, like, how I was hiding my Pepsi behind the couch. I can't watch it the same way other people can." 

Sean Connery in James Bond

Just like his counterpart, Sean Connery wasn't a fan of the James Bond series after a while. He was totally over the bit. In a 1965 Playboy interview, he said that he was "fed up to here with the whole Bond bit." 

Evangeline Lilly in Lost

Evangeline Lilly did not relate to her character Kate in Lost. "I always thought she was obnoxious. I mean, not at the beginning. In the beginning, she was kind of cool, and then as the show went on, I felt like she became more and more predictable and obnoxious. I felt that my character went from being autonomous - really having her own story, and her own journey, and her own agendas - to chasing two men around the island." 

Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire

Marlon Brando played Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. Even though this film is one of the most iconic of all time, Brando isn't a fan. He said that his character was "everything I'm against - totally insensitive, crude, cruel." 

Andrew Lincoln in Love Actually

Andrew Lincoln is popularly known for his role in The Walking Dead, but he was first made famous because of Love Actually. This film is still widely celebrated, but he'd rather just not think about it. "In one of the most romantic movies of all time, I got to play the only guy who doesn't get a girl... I got to be this weird stalker guy." 

Alec Baldwin in Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages didn't get any real critical acclaim, but Baldwin thinks of it as one of his worst fails. He said that the 2012 film was a "complete disaster" and that he knew it was going to be a problem early on. "A week in you go, 'Oh God, what have I done?'"

Matthew Goode in Leap Year

Matthew Goode has said that he didn't want his role in Leap Year but couldn't turn it down for the work-life balance. "The main reason I took it is so that I could come home on the weekends. It wasn't because of the script, trust me. Do I feel that I let myself down? No. Was it a bad job? Yes, it was. But, you know, I had a nice time and I got paid."

Next Post →

The More You Know

  • Snoop Dogg and Brandy are first cousins.
  • Robert Downey Jr. claims that Burger King saved his life from his drug addiction.
  • Lady Gaga taught herself to play the piano at only four years old!
  • Growing up, Eva Mendes wanted to be a nun, but she changed her mind when she found out they didn't make any money.

Post originally appeared on Upbeat News.