For those interested in making it in show business, the numbers are against them. Thousands of actors are all competing for the same roles, and only a select few are chosen. Even fewer become successful, and even a smaller number become household names and iconic movie stars.
For those who have reached that level of fame, they know the long and arduous journey that an individual has to take to get there. It takes many years, auditions, and rejections before an actor can make it to the coveted A-list status in Hollywood.
Because it is such a rocky road to reach that Hollywood fame, there’s at least a few projects that every star regrets in the span of their career. For some, the roles that they regret are actually the very parts that made them famous in the first place.
An A-list actor might regret a movie for a number of reasons. They might have thought the project was promising when they signed up, but on set may have been a disaster. Or, years of experience have made them realize exactly how bad one of their movies actually is.
This list includes some of Hollywood’s top names, A-listers that everybody is bound to know, and reveals which parts they’ve played in the past that they regret more than anything else.
From harsh directors to terrible scripts to just plain awful movies, these stars recount the range of reasons why some movies have gone down in their memory as some of the worst professional decisions they made.
Here are the 25 Iconic Roles A-Listers Completely Regret.
Michael Fassbender - Assassin’s Creed
Video game fans everywhere were hoping that Justin Kurzel’s 2016 movie adaptation of Assassin’s Creed would finally be the first truly successful video game film adaptation to hit the big screen.
The movie’s star, Michael F
assbender, a fan of the video game himself, had similar hopes.
However, the movie just didn’t pan out, earning only $54 million in American theaters and receiving harsh feedback from critics.
Fassbender has since expressed his regret over taking the role in Kurzel’s movie.
Calling the project a “missed opportunity,” he also said, “I think it took itself too seriously.”
Assassin’s Creed will be remembered as a missed opportunity in the minds of both Fassbender and video game fans.
Sally Field - The Amazing Spider-Man
Before Marisa Tomei turned the traditional image of old Aunt May completely upside down in Spider-Man: Homecoming with her hip and stylish version of the character, there was Sally Field.
Field bridged the gap between Tomei and the older version that appeared in Rami’s original movie.
While fans were intrigued by the new imagining of Aunt May, Field herself was not amused in the slightest by the role.
The actress has come out and condemned the role, claiming that “it’s really hard to find a three dimensional character in it,” and that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t bring Aunt May to life in the way she wanted.
Alec Baldwin - Rock of Ages
If you’ve ever been puzzled over why Alec Baldwin would ever take a role in a movie like the 2012 musical-comedy Rock of Ages, don’t worry: he wonders the same thing.
He once told the press that he thought the movie was “a complete disaster” and that he realized almost immediately what a huge mistake signing on for the project was.
“A week in you go, ‘Oh God, what have I done?’” Baldwin said, mimicking how he felt on set of Rock of Ages.
Baldwin doesn’t need to worry, however. Not many even remember Rock of Ages, so his regretted role has faded away quietly into the background.
Nicole Kidman - Australia
Baz Luhrmann’s sweeping romantic epic Australia heated up screens in 2008 and became the one of the highest grossing Australian movie production in the country’s entire history.
However, while many were enjoyed the romance that played out on screen between Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, the movie’s leading lady can’t even stand to watch the movie.
“It’s just impossible for me to connect to it emotionally at all,” she said on the role, telling journalists that she “squirmed” in her seat throughout the entire movie’s premiere.
She even went so far to say that the only reason she attended the premiere at all was as a favor to her friend, director Baz Luhrmann.
Bill Murray - Garfield
Imagining such an iconic comedic actor like Bill Murray starring in a movie adaptation of Garfield, which involved a CGI-animated version of the comic strip cat might be a jarring concept for some.
However, nobody is more puzzled over the entire situation than Bill Murray himself.
Murray has explained that he didn’t take the role for money. Instead, he took it because he thought the script was written by Joel Coen, half of the Coen Brothers filmmaking duo that is responsible for hit indie films like Fargo.
However, the Garfield script was actually written by Joel Cohen.
According to Murray, this is the reason why his character in Zombieland says he regrets doing Garfield.
Michelle Pfeiffer - Grease 2
Few thought that the 1978 musical Grease needed a sequel, but in 1982, Grease 2 hit theaters starring Michelle Pfieffer.
The role was Pfieffer’s breakout role, and though her performance made an impression on many, the movie as a whole was not received well at all.
It might be Pfieffer herself who has the strongest feelings over the movie.
She seriously regrets Grease 2 and actually thinks the role set her career back.
“I hated that film with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was,” Pfieffer said. “At the time I was young and didn’t know any better.”
At least Pfeiffer can take comfort in being an A-lister today.
Edward Norton - The Italian Job
The 2003 remake of the classic heist movie The Italian Job had an A-list cast all-around.
As it turned out, there was one star in the cast that couldn’t stand the production and regrets doing the role to this day.
Edward Norton didn’t even want to sign on to The Italian Job in the first place. However, he had a five-year agreement with Paramount Pictures, and if he didn’t take the role, he risked being sued by the company.
Norton begrudgingly took on the role of Steve Frazelli, and though his performance in the movie is still entertaining and top-notch, the actor was regretting every second of it.
Kate Winslet - Titanic
James Cameron’s 1997 romantic epic Titanic changed the face of American cinema. It was the most expensive movies to ever have been made at that point in time and went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time until 2010.
While Kate Winslet was originally ecstatic to take on the role of Rose, today she has some major regrets.
There’s one aspect to the movie that continues to haunt Winslet to this day: the portrait scene.
She says that people will come up to her with photos from that scene and ask for her autograph.
“It feels very uncomfortable,” Winslet has said. “People ask me to sign that [picture] a lot.”
Will Smith - After Earth
When Will Smith announced he was doing a sci-fi movie with his son, Jaden Smith, fans were intrigued.
While the post-apocalyptic story about humans settling on a different planet in the future sounded cool at first, the execution was sorely lacking.
The movie ended up being a major flop, and Will Smith says he still feels some stinging regret over After Earth.
“That was a valuable lesson for me… with After Earth,” Smith told Variety. “That was the most painful failure in my career.”
Smith said he learned an important lesson with the movie and that he now thinks twice about signing on for projects just to chase box-office numbers.
Katherine Heigl - Knocked Up
Katherine Heigl is an A-list star who has been one of the most vocal actors in Hollywood to voice her regrets over certain projects.
In fact, her comments over her role in Seth Rogan’s comedy brought on quite a bit of controversy.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Heigl called her role in Knocked Up “a little sexist,” claiming that the movie makes women look “humorless and uptight,” while making men look “goofy [and] fun-loving.”
The interview caused some back-lash when Rogan came out afterwards and said he had been a bit hurt by Heigl’s comments.
Heigl and Rogan have since made up, but Heigl’s regrets over the movie still stand.
Burt Reynolds - Boogie Nights
Many consider Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 drama Boogie Nights to be one of the filmmaker’s early triumphs in his career.
However, one of the movie’s stars, Burt Reynolds, is inclined to disagree.
Reynolds has revealed that he has long regretted his role as Jack Horner in Anderson’s drama, claiming that the young director was “full of himself” on set.
The actor also said the filmmaker was not as visionary as Anderson thought, with Reynolds claiming, “[Boogie Nights] wasn’t original.”
Asked if he would work with Anderson again, Reynolds simply said, “I don’t think so. Personality-wise, we didn’t fit.”
Rooney Mara - Pan
Nobody really asked for 2015’s Pan, but director Joe Wright went ahead and did it anyway.
The box-office reflected audiences’ lack of interest. The movie went down as one of Warner Brothers’ biggest flops of 2015.
Few are as disappointed in the movie as Rooney Mara, who drew controversy when she was cast in the role of Tiger Lily, a character who is supposed to be Native American.
Mara now regrets ever taking on the role.
She told journalists that she “hated” being involved in a whitewashing controversy and that “I don’t ever want to be on that side of it again. I can understand why people were upset and frustrated.”
Ben Affleck - Daredevil
One of the biggest failures in the superhero movie genre is certainly Mark Steven Johnson’s 2003 Daredevil, which starred Ben Affleck in the leading role.
With Batman v Superman, Affleck has since gone on to star in other comic book movies, but the actor still remembers his Daredevil role as one of his biggest career missteps.
Affleck has said the movie is his only career regret, explaining that he loves the Daredevil character and that the disappointment of the movie’s failure follows him around to this day.
The actor even suggested that Daredevil’s failure is what led him to other superhero projects. “Maybe that’s part of the motivation to do Batman,” Affleck admitted.
James Franco - Your Highness
James Franco has made many comedies over the years, some worse than others, but there’s one in particular that he has since turned his back on.
His 2011 movie Your Highness, which also starred Danny McBride and Natalie Portman, was a complete box-office flop.
Movie critics issued some harsh criticism over the raunchy comedy, and the movie received a mere 26% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Franco tends to agree with the movie’s criticisms. He once told journalists exactly how he felt about the movie, bluntly stating, “Your Highness? That movie sucks. You can’t get around that.”
Jeremy Irons - Batman v Superman
After the first Batman v Superman trailer was released, many Batman fans were interested to see how Jeremy Irons’ younger and more stylish version of Alfred would measure up to Michael Caine’s iconic portrayal of the character in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy.
However, Iron’s character couldn’t save the movie, which was panned by film critics and comic book fans alike.
Irons himself has similar feelings on the movie.
When journalists told him about the negative feedback Batman v Superman was receiving, he responded, “Deservedly so,” going on to call the movie, “overstuffed.”
It certainly seems as though Irons regrets dipping his feet into a superhero franchise.
Matt Damon - The Bourne Ultimatum
One of Matt Damon’s most famous roles is his CIA assassin character, Jason Bourne.
Beginning with Paul Greengrass’ 2002 The Bourne Identity, the original trilogy ended in 2007 with The Bourne Ultimatum, which ended up being the most critically acclaimed film of the entire series.
Even though critics loved the movie, Damon himself couldn’t stand it.
Most of his complaints came from Tony Gilroy’s script, which he claimed was so “terrible” and “really embarrassing” it could have been “a career-ender” for the screenwriter.
Damon might of enjoyed his first two runs as Jason Bourne, but his comments over the script indicate he was less than thrilled to take on the role a third time.
Dev Patel - The Last Airbender
Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender grew excited when it was announced that M. Night Shyamalan was taking on a movie adaptation.
Excitements grew even more when Dev Patel, break-out star of Slumdog Millionaire, was cast in the role of Prince Zuko.
The movie made history, alright – but in all the wrong ways. The movie was panned by both critics and fans.
Patel has said that the role tarnished his thoughts on big-budget movies. He said that on set, he regularly felt like he “wasn’t being heard.”
The star says that when he saw himself in the movie, he “saw a stranger on the screen that I couldn’t relate to.”
Jessica Alba - Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer
Jessica Alba had such a negative experience on Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer that it nearly caused her to give up acting forever.
Alba detailed her disastrous experience for journalists some time after the film’s release. “I wanted to stop acting. I hated it,” the actress said.
She said the very last straw was when the director told her that her crying looked “too real” and that she should focus on being prettier because they could just “CGI the tears in” during post-production.
Alba has continued to act in many different movies since, but there’s no doubt that she won’t be forgetting such a regretful role any time soon.
Josh Brolin - Jonah Hex
Josh Brolin was thrilled to take on the role of Jonah Hex in 2010, as he was excited to bring the DC character to life on the big screen.
Unfortunately, the movie was a huge box office failure, receiving loads of negative press and reviews.
In 2016, Brolin reflected back on the movie and expressed his disappointments.
“Oh, Jonah Hex, hated it. Hated it,” the actor said.
Brolin blamed the movie’s flop on producers, who forced the stars of Jonah Hex to reshoot 66 pages of the script in 12 days, according to the actor.
The process was so exhausting and the final movie so disappointing that Jonah Hex remains as one of Brolin’s biggest career regrets.
Emilia Clarke - Terminator Genisys
Emilia Clarke is no stranger to the blockbuster. Clarke first grabbed audiences’ attentions in her role as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones and recently starred in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
While Clarke had a great time filming both of these projects, there’s one blockbuster in her career that she didn’t love so much.
Clarke revealed that director Alan Taylor, who the actress had previously worked with on Game of Thrones, got “eaten and chewed up on Terminator.”
As a result, Clarke said the set was very tense and that, “no one had a good time.”
The actress still remembers her filming experience as one of the worst of her career.
