Movie Roles Destroyed Actors Careers:
Success is a fickle thing, especial in Hollywood. A single role can either make or break you. Over the years, we have seen drowning actors skyrocket to the top while top actors plummet beyond rock-bottom after one movie. Sounds quite stressful, doesn’t it? Well, show business is tricky business and perseverance is the only key to survive. Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlet Johansson have the biggest examples. RDJ’s life took a sharp turn after Iron Man whereas Scarlet’s career started to bloom after Lost In Translation. But today, we are going to talk about the stars whose career dwindled after one terrible movie choice that couldn’t be removed from their records. Find out the 10 worst movie roles that destroyed the actors’ careers.
1. John Travolta
Travolta was a big deal during the’80s and ‘90s and was gliding over international fame. He was part of classic hits like Pulp Fiction, Grease, and Face/Off. But his relationship with movies got a major blow after Battlefield Earth. Since then fans are only left with one question, “WTF is John Travolta?”
2. Orlando Bloom
Orlando is still a well-known name but he owes that fame to ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ which are now long gone. He rose and subsequently fell from the top at the exact speed. He couldn’t retain that image in the industry and faced massive challenges after the failure of Elizabethtown.
3. Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan was a sweetheart of Hollywood in the late’80s and ‘90s. Some of the top classic romantic features Meg’s charming face. Our romantic movie bucket list is incomplete without Sleepless In Seattle, When Harry Met Sally and You’ve Got Mail. But the romantic queen’s career was severely attacked when stories of her affair with ‘Proof of Life’ costar Russell Crow while she was married floated on the news. Not only did the movie flop but these scandals put a dent on her career.
4. Adam Sandler
Once upon a time, Adam was a popular and admired face in comedy movies. Most of the light-hearted movies like ‘Grown Ups’,’ 50 First Dates’, ‘Happy Gilmore’, and ‘The Wedding Singer’ that made us laugh all these years belong to him. But then came ‘Jack and Jill’ in 2011 that scored 3.3 on IMDB and 3% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was augmented by his laid-back attitude on sets and wastage of money that threw off his career. Now, Netflix has revived his career with Uncut Gems and more back to back releases.
5. Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay was a promising actress with strong potentials to become a phenomenal someday. She was considered as a top star during her teens with Mean Girls and Freaky Friday. Sadly, Lindsay couldn’t hold on to that success forever. Poor life and career choices closed her gates of Hollywood forever. Movies were the last hope for her to survive the blow from her controversies. But ‘I Know Who Killed Me’ slimmed down that option too.
6. Pamela Anderson
You’ll hardly find anyone who didn’t know Pamela Anderson. She basked in the spotlight of Baywatch for her glamour and bewitching appearance. But it got snapped into dust after she took up movies that required real acting. Barb Wire starring Anderson was an epic critical and commercial disaster that everyone wanted to wipe out from their memories.
7. Halle Berry
Halle Berry was one of the brilliant A-list actors that Hollywood ever saw. She was a critically acclaimed actress who also won an Academy Award for Monster’s Ball. Her career may have stayed intact had she not moved to superhero genres. Catwoman was not only damage to her records but also a dent in Hollywood. It was so terrible that she won the Razzie Award for it.
8. Freddie Prince Jr.
Freddie Prince Jr. had a promising start in acting with popular movies like ‘She’s All That’. But as the years kept passing, his movie quality and stardom began to dwindle. None of his movies could make a mark on the critics or audience. The ‘Scooby-Doo’ franchise was the last straw which prompted him to shift his track. Watching the dead-end in his acting career, Freddie moved to write for WWE.
9. Josh Hartnett
Josh was on a rising curve at the beginning of 2000 with Black Hawk Down and Pearl Harbour. Unfortunately, the fame started to slip away from his fist after “Lucky Number Slevin” and his career dwindled before it even began properly. He did feature in some movies and series after that but the spotlight had long gone by then.
10. Topher Grace
Grace was a household name from “That ‘70s Show” who had a bright path ahead of him. Things seemed to move in a good direction, especially after he was signed by Sony Studios for Spider-Man 3. But unfortunately, that choice became the reason for his great fall. His portrayal as the Venom was abysmal despite his hard attempts to look evil.
