You'd be surprised by a lot of these
A single movie role can launch an actor into stardom.
But there are a bunch of movie roles that renowned actors have come to regret. For some, it's because of the fame that came with the performance, while some just cringe at characters they've played. Others simply dislike the movie that made their career.
Here are a bunch of franchises and blockbusters that its stars regretted in hindsight.
There seems to be something about playing James Bond that isn't quite the dream you'd expect. After all, Daniel Craig infamously said he'd rather slash his wrists than return as the spy for another film (yet here we are awaiting Bond 25).
More famous still is the case of Sean Connery who hated hating that role he became synonymous with. His resentment for the Bond franchise began with the first film, 'Dr. No', which he felt underpaid for. By the sixth film, he was so sick of playing the spy that he began giving his salaries for the films to charity. He even said he would gladly kill James Bond if he ever had the chance.
Next, Kate Winslet, who would never go back in time and disagree to 'Titanic', given its importance to her career, has admitted she wishes she could take back that famous nude scene given it followed her around for so long, with photos and clips from it becoming so renowned.
She told CNN (via Newhub) she hated her performance in the film: "Every single scene, I’m like, ‘Really, really? You did it like that? Oh my God.’" She also finds it hard to listen to her own American accent.
Apparently co-star Leonardo DiCaprio cringes just as much as director James Cameron explains:
"I didn't show him the whole film but I showed him 18 minutes of it a few months ago. It was a good reunion for us but great to watch his reaction. He couldn't believe it. He said to me, 'I'm such a young punk. Look at me.' He was practically crawling under the seat. It was a good moment."
For all the love for 'The Sound of Music', its male lead Christopher Plummer aka Captain von Trapp, loathes the movie. In 2010, he told The Boston Globe he "disliked almost every aspect of it, except working with Julie Andrews" and “was a bit bored with the character.
Although we worked hard to make him interesting, it was a bit like flogging a dead horse.” He has described the film as “so awful and sentimental and gooey”, often referring to it as “The Sound of Mucus,” or “that movie.”
Harrison Ford infamously hates his roles in both 'Blade Runner' and 'Star Wars'. This in spite of his coming back for sequels to both franchises years later.
Of the former, he has said he “didn't like the movie one way or the other” and found in Rick Deckard, he “played a detective who did not have any detecting to do.” He added: “In terms of how I related to the material, I found it very difficult. There was stuff that was going on that was really nuts.”
Regarding Star Wars, Ford reportedly begged George Lucas to kill off Solo at the end of 'Return of the Jedi', so he could wipe his hands of the character forever. At least he got his wish for 'The Force Awakens'.
Ford is not the only one who regretted 'Star Wars' either. Alec Guinness, who starred in 'A New Hope' as Obi Wan Kenobi, described the series as “fairy-tale rubbish” and criticized the movie as it was being filmed. He once met a young boy who said he’d seen Star Wars a hundred times and advised the kid to never watch it again.
Carrie Fisher also regretted the legacy of Star Wars, telling The Today Show in 2008, that if she had known how famous she would become for playing Princess Leia, she “would have never done it.” She also said that "George Lucas ruined [her] life" with his ridiculous costuming.
A number of famous young male actors associated with franchises also came to regret the roles that kick started their careers. For Daniel Radcliffe, it was 'Harry Potter', for Robert Pattinson it was 'Twilight', and Zac Efron regrets 'High School Musical'.
While Radcliffe has expressed much appreciation to the J.K. Rowling movies and the opportunities they provided him, he’s generally embarrassed looking back on the movies as he feels he’s not particularly good at acting in them. “I'm just not very good in it,” he told Playboy in 2012. “I hate it. My acting is very one-note and I can see I got complacent and what I was trying to do just didn't come across."
Much of the 'Twilight' cast have trashed the films at one point or another, but Robert Pattinson has been the most outspoken. He has poked fun at the films’ many plot holes and was bothered by how the films turned him into an instant celebrity.
He described the sound of 'Twilight' fangirls screaming as “the sound you hear at the gates of hell,” and admitted, “The more I read the script, the more I hated this guy. So that’s how I played him, as a manic-depressive who hates himself… Plus, he's a 108 year-old virgin so he's obviously got some issues there.”
This video should give you a good idea of his disdain for the franchise.
Zac Efron told Men’s Fitness (via Popcrush) upon being asked about his role as 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 f***ing kid from 'High School Musical'."
Of course all three have gone onto much better roles with Efron stunning audiences recently as Ted Bundy in 'Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Vile and Evil' while Pattinson has landed the coveted role of The Batman so they can’t complain.
Another franchise-related one that people may be surprised to hear is that in spite of the Bourne trilogy being loved by audiences and critics worldwide, Matt Damon wasn’t fond of Jason Bourne’s third outing, 'The Bourne Ultimatum'.
He thought the original script was awful, telling GQ: "It was unreadable. This is a career-ender. I mean, I could put this thing up on eBay and it would be game over for that dude. It's terrible. It's really embarrassing."
But then of course Matt Damon came back to do a fourth Bourne movie. Money talks, people.