50 Actors Who Distanced Themselves From Their Movies
Unprofessional, or just honest?
Sean Connery
The Movie: The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The Distance: Known for being as prickly as his character Allan Quatermain, it was no surprise to anyone to hear that Connery and director Stephen Norrington weren't on the best terms.
Though Connery did his best to keep his opinions to himself at the time, when asked where Norrington was at the opening party for the film, the actor retorted: "Check the local asylum." Ooh, burn.
The Fall-Out: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen marked Connery's probably unrelated retirement.
David Cross
The Movie: Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
The Distance: Cross counteracted his embarrassment about the film, by slating it while he was supposed to be promoting it.
"It was the most miserable experience I've ever had," he told Conan O'Brien. "I was forced at legal-point to spend a week on a cruiseship ... The scenes that take place on the cruiseship, I am always in a pelican outfit where you cannot see any of my flesh, nor do I have any dialogue."
He also called one producer: "The personification of what people think about when they think negatively about Jews." Wow.
The Fall-Out: In a concerted effort at damage control, the actor took to his Facebook page to issue an apology to Chipwrecked producers Janice Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr., son of the Alvin and the Chipmunks creator, telling fans: "I have the utmost respect and appreciation for everyone else involved with the movie."
Marlon Brando
The Movie: The Freshman
The Distance: By all accounts, this movie was enjoyed by many. Brando, however, was not one of 'em. Before its release, the actor said that he thought the film would go on to become one of cinema’s biggest flops of all time, calling the film “lousy”.
The Fall-Out: None whatsoever. Who wants to pick a fight with Marlon Brando, after all?
Edward Norton
The Movie: The Incredible Hulk
The Distance: Though he kept mostly quiet, Norton was widely reported to be unhappy with the film, and disappeared during the month of the film’s release to, presumably, avoid having to promote it.
He did, however, release a statement to Entertainment Weekly saying that everything was terrific and asserting that he was sure it would be a hit.
The Fall-Out: The role was given to Mark Ruffalo for Avengers Assemble . Nuff said.
Christopher Plummer
The Movie: The Sound Of Music
The Distance: It seems Captain Von Trapp just couldn't keep his trap shut. The actor was known to refer to the 1965 Oscar-winning musical as 'The Sound of Mucus' and refused to turn up for cast reunions.
The Fall-Out: The actor changed his tune in 2010 for the 45th anniversary, explaining: “there needed to be a cynic of some kind around to stop it from getting too mawkish”.
Bruce Willis
The Movie: A Good Day To Die Hard
The Distance: Who could forget that embarrassing interview on BBC1’s The One Show in February? Willis hit out at the name of the fifth Die Hard movie, asking presenters Matt Baker and Alex Jones: “Let me ask you guys, what about the title?
"Are you confused by it? I don’t understand it. It’s a good day to die hard? No, I’m still working on it. It’s a difficult title. A good day to die hard?
"It’s like, have a sandwich and let’s go shopping – then die hard."
The Fall-Out: Bruce pre-empted any backlash by apologising for the interview, telling XFM: "I didn't get very many compliments about it. They said it was a little stale. But I was so jet-lagged. I'm very sorry."
Alec Guinness
The Movie: Star Wars
The Distance: Despite bagging a lucrative 2% of the box office takings, Guinness nevertheless had nothing but contempt for George Lucas' sci-fi saga.
In a Talk magazine interview Guinness also revealed it was his idea to kill off Obi-Wan because he "just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo."
In posthumously published letters the actor wrote from the set, he wrote: "New rubbish dialogue reaches me every other day… and none of it makes my character clear or even bearable."
The Fall-Out: For his part, George Lucas has credited Guinness with inspiring cast and crew to work harder, saying that he contributed significantly to achieving completion of the filming.
Sign up for the Total Film Newsletter
Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox
Woody Allen
The Movie: Manhattan
The Distance: Despite writing, directing and starring in the 1979 rom-com, Allen was so unhappy with the finished product that he asked the studio if it could be dumped. He even offered to make another film for free to replace it.
The Fall-Out: United Artists ignored Allen's pleas and released the film, which is now regarded a modern classic.
Sylvester Stallone
The Movie: Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
The Distance: In a wonderfully candid interview, Sly trashed the 1992 comedy.
"I made some truly awful movies. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot was the worst," he said. "If you ever want someone to confess to murder, just make him or her sit through that film. They will confess to anything after 15 minutes."
The Fall-Out: As the interview took place in 2010, we'd be surprised if it upset anyone too much.
George Clooney
The Movie: Batman & Robin
The Distance: Though he'd previously made a few digs at the movie ("I think we might have killed the franchise"), Clooney addressed his dislike for it fully while doing press for The Ides Of March .
He admitted: "Batman & Robin was a difficult film to be good in. With hindsight it's easy to look back at this and go, 'Woah, that was really s*** and I was really bad in it'."
The Fall-Out: Frankly, we all thought better of Clooney for the admission.
Sonic 3 director explains the thinking behind picking those new post-credits arrivals: "It's always 'which character is going to give us something new?'"
The Inside Out 2 panic attack scene is one of the best depictions of anxiety ever – and something Pixar director Kelsey Mann is incredibly proud of: "I couldn't be happier"