Latest news with #Dunaway
The Independent
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
‘I lost everything': 17 acting careers ruined by a single role
Most movie stars can survive a flop or two. But then there are roles that completely upend an actor's career, leaving them out of work or forever changed in the eye of the public. It's not really possible to talk about Faye Dunaway's career without mentioning her notorious performance in Mommie Dearest, for instance. Or to google Brandon Routh in any other context than 'what happened to Superman Returns star Brandon Routh?' Often this is unfair – women historically tend to bear the brunt of career-shaking backlash, and there are typically many different reasons why movie stardom hits a wall. But whenever an actor does seem to drop off the radar, it's usually a specific film that is to blame. From Meg Ryan's unfairly maligned erotic thriller to the body-swap comedy that prevented Judge Reinhold from becoming one of Hollywood's biggest comedy stars, here are 17 films that derailed the fortunes of their stars single-handed. Released in 1981, the Joan Crawford biopic Mommie Dearest – starring Faye Dunaway and adapted from a harrowing bestseller by Crawford's daughter Christina – painted the star in a less than flattering light. Namely, as an unhinged tyrant prone to chewing up her daughter as well as the scenery of every room she was in. The latter, in fairness, was more Dunaway's fault – and it promptly took a pick-axe to her leading-lady roles. She drew the worst reviews of her career, along with a Worst Actress Razzie, and Dunaway was so embarrassed by the film that she rarely spoke about it again. In a series of rare comments made in 2016, Dunaway said the film 'turned my career in a direction where people would irretrievably have the wrong impression of me,' adding: 'That's an awful hard thing to beat. I should have known better, but sometimes you're vulnerable and you don't realise what you're getting into.' Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls Expectations were high for the release of Showgirls in 1995. It marked a reunion between Basic Instinct 's director and screenwriter – Paul Verhoeven and Joe Eszterhas, respectively – while many assumed the film's star, the former Saved by the Bell actor Elizabeth Berkley, would be shot into the Hollywood stratosphere much like Sharon Stone after Basic Instinct. Then people actually saw Showgirls. While the film's reputation has (rightly!) turned around in the decades since – along with appreciation for Berkley's broad and undeniably mesmerising performance – the film's dismal initial response cratered Berkley's fledgling movie career practically overnight. 'There was so much cruelty around it,' she said in 2020. 'I was bullied. And I didn't understand why I was being blamed. The job as an actor is to fulfil the vision of the director. And I did everything I was supposed to do. No one associated with the film spoke up on my behalf to protect me. I was left out in the cold and I was a pariah in the industry I had worked so hard for.' Shannen Doherty in Mallrats When Shannen Doherty left the Nineties teen soap Beverly Hills 90210 in 1994, she had aspirations to launch a movie career. She had, after all, starred in a number of hit movies before going to TV, including the 1988 teen classic Heathers. But her choice of project – Kevin Smith's slacker comedy Mallrats, alongside then-unknowns including Ben Affleck and Jason Lee – was a box-office flop, and as the biggest name in the cast she took the blame. 'It died and so did my film career,' she said in 2024. 'People literally thought that I was carrying the movie so [because] it was a box-office failure, it was completely on me. There was no film career after that, which was a little brutal.' David Caruso in Jade Now best known for putting his sunglasses on and then taking them off again in the long-running CSI: Miami, David Caruso was at one point positioned to be a bonafide movie star. After a high-profile dispute with the show's producers over pay, he'd left the cop drama NYPD Blue in a blaze of negative publicity in 1994 with designs on film stardom. But his two 1995 star vehicles, the cop actioner Kiss of Death and the erotic thriller Jade, crashed and burned. The latter, for which he was paid a $2m salary, was the kind of expensive disaster that few could climb out from under, let alone an actor who'd already burnt so many bridges in Hollywood. 'When Jade came out and did $4m at the box office, the town went silent,' Caruso said in 1997. 'I could have taken my telephone and my answering machine and thrown them both in the dumpster.' That year, he slunk back to TV. No one is exactly complaining about The Godfather: Part III killing Sofia Coppola's acting career, let alone Coppola herself – she never had a love for acting, and was only pulled into the movie by her father Francis at the last minute because a number of other actors were unavailable. Cast as Michael Corleone's doomed teenage daughter Mary, Coppola saw her performance widely panned upon the film's release on Christmas Day in 1990, with one newspaper describing her as 'hopelessly amateurish'. 'It was embarrassing to be thrown out to the public in that kind of way,' Coppola said in 2020. 'But it wasn't my dream to be an actress, so I wasn't crushed. I had other interests. It didn't destroy me.' Coppola only acted twice more – once in an indie film called Inside Monkey Zetterland and again, sans dialogue, in a not-so-indie film called Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Instead she became one of Hollywood's most celebrated female directors, responsible for films including The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette. What a happy ending! Rupert Everett in The Next Best Thing Rupert Everett was, for a time, a real anomaly: an out gay actor who Hollywood really wanted to invest in. But then he made 2000's The Next Best Thing, a catastrophic romcom about a gay man and his female best friend (an unsurprisingly miscast Madonna) having a baby together, and things went awry. 'Career death is rather like real death, so it gives you an opportunity to see what real death feels like,' he said in 2017. 'One minute, you're careering round the corridors of power, and everybody's going: 'That's a fabulous idea.' The next minute, you're still careering around but you're like the Canterville Ghost: everybody's walking right through you and you've died, and you didn't realise.' The film was a critical and commercial disaster, taking out both Madonna's acting career and Everett's mainstream, name-above-the-title Hollywood career in one fell swoop. 'It blew my new career out of the water and turned my pubic hair white overnight,' Everett wrote in his must-read 2004 memoir, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins. With all due respect to the Back to the Future star Lea Thompson, it remains somewhat baffling why she agreed to star in a sci-fi movie in which her character apparently has sex with an anthropomorphic extra-terrestrial duck. Released in 1986, this was a superhero movie for kids, by the way. Howard the Duck remains one of the most infamous disasters of Eighties cinema, with Thompson later suggesting that while she appreciates the film's cult notoriety today, it did have professional side effects. 'In the course of a year, I was in the biggest hit [ Back to the Future ] and the biggest bomb,' she said in 2022. 'So that probably destroyed my film career. Even though I did some good films after that, it was really difficult.' Matthew Modine in Cutthroat Island One of the biggest bombs in Hollywood history, the 1995 pirate movie Cutthroat Island helped curtail Geena Davis's career as a leading lady and briefly derailed the career of director Renny Harlin. But worst off was the film's star Matthew Modine, who seemed set for leading-man stardom before Cutthroat sank. In 2016, the actor said that he made the error of reading a review of the film the morning of its press junket. 'It was horrible! And then I picked up another one of them and it was more horrible! And then I thought, 'There's got to be one that's good.' And it was just one after the other that was horrible, horrible, horrible. And I went downstairs to have breakfast and I felt like everybody in the café was looking at me going like, 'Oh my God! The walking dead,' you know?' He added: 'It hurts to get kicked like that really hard. And I think in some ways it kind of damaged my career.' Modine has always worked – notably in The Dark Knight Rises and Oppenheimer – but hasn't led a major studio movie since. Judge Reinhold in Vice Versa An Eighties staple, Judge Reinhold seemed set to become one of the biggest names in Hollywood comedy, particularly after major supporting roles in hits including Beverly Hills Cop and Ruthless People. But his run of star vehicles bombed, with 1988's Vice Versa – in which his character swapped bodies with his 11-year-old son – his critical and commercial nadir. 'That was really the end of my highfalutin Hollywood career,' Reinhold said in 1992. 'That's when the phone stopped ringing.' Wounded, he left Los Angeles for a small town in New Mexico, and was forced to confront his past poor behaviour on film sets. 'It was an extremely painful thing for me – to recognise and take responsibility for the damage that I'd done,' he explained. But he even expressed gratitude for his career downturn. 'If Vice Versa had become a success, I might not have dealt with any of this and I'm not sure where I would be now.' Kelly Clarkson in From Justin to Kelly Somewhat inexplicably, the winner of the very first season of American Idol was contractually obligated to star in a musical romantic comedy film. For Kelly Clarkson, who won the series before achieving global superstardom, that meant appearing alongside the show's runner-up in From Justin to Kelly, a 2003 disaster that remains her one major acting role. 'It was a very miserable time of my life,' she said in 2019. 'I can get over the fact that it's silly and cute – that's not embarrassing to me at all. I just don't find it very cool that somebody makes you do something that is not your passion and you don't want to do.' Clarkson begged to be let out of her film contract, to no avail, but did manage to convince her team to release her first single – 'Miss Independent' – before the film's release. 'I think that literally saved my career,' she said. 'The fact that ['Miss Independent'] was successful, I think that overcame what the movie was.' Clarkson hasn't acted in a live-action film since, but has lent her voice to animated movies including The Star and Trolls World Tour. John Gilbert in His Glorious Night Gossip has always surrounded the first 'talkie' starring the silent movie superstar John Gilbert, who found fame as a handsome – and quiet – romantic lead. Released in 1929, His Glorious Night cast Gilbert as a military officer who falls in love with a princess. On paper, it bore close resemblance to the films that made Gilbert a box-office draw, but audiences were reportedly bothered by the actor's 'squeaky voice', which had previously been concealed in his silent era. Gilbert's family have long disputed this, however, claiming that his career was sabotaged by studio boss Louis B Mayer – who disliked him – and that his voice was actually fine. Whatever the truth, Gilbert's career declined in the wake of the film. He died at the age of 38 following a battle with alcoholism. The Monkees in Head The pop band – think a manufactured Beatles – never recovered from their surreal 1968 film endeavour Head, which members of the band went so far as to suggest was a deliberate ploy to ruin them. A deliberate stream-of-consciousness movie not unlike the Spice Girls' sole Hollywood vehicle Spice World, Head sees the band – playing variations on themselves – rebel against their corporate overlords in search of creative freedom. Head was a massive flop, both soiling the band's fortunes as musicians and as aspiring movie stars. Band member Michael Nesmith once compared the movie to a 'murder' of the band, something engineered by their creator Bob Rafelson – who'd go on to direct films including Five Easy Pieces. 'By the time Head came out, the Monkees were a pariah,' Nesmith said in 2012. 'There was no confusion about this. We were on the cosine of the line of approbation, from acceptance to it was over. Head was a swan song.' Maxwell Caulfield in Grease 2 It's quite miraculous that the maligned sequel to Grease is a mere footnote in Michelle Pfeiffer's long career – her leading man Maxwell Caulfield, who was positioned to professionally sky-rocket à la John Travolta, wasn't as lucky. The 1982 film was a box-office bomb, and while Caulfield eventually bounced back on TV, his major movie career flatlined in an instant. 'I didn't work for practically two years, I was stone cold dead in Hollywood,' he said in 2022. 'I had a three-picture deal going into that movie with Paramount and it died a death. They'd given me this huge break and so they wanted to stitch me up for two more movies of their choosing as long as they wanted to make them. But because the film was so rush released, the film came and went and they didn't exercise their option.' He added that the experience was a bit like getting past the velvet rope in a nightclub, 'but then you just gotta try and stay in the night club and not get thrown out the fire exit.' Jennifer Grey in Wind In the aftermath of Dirty Dancing, Jennifer Grey seemed to have Hollywood in the palm of her hand. But then an incident on the set of 1992's yachting drama Wind convinced her to get a nose job, and her career was never the same. As she recalled in her 2022 memoir, Grey was filming Wind when the movie's cinematographer asked her about 'a bump' on her nose. It was the latest in a number of remarks about her nose, which led her to finally get it 'fixed'. But she was floored once she saw what her surgeon had done. 'The way the nose was oriented on my face was all wrong,' she wrote. 'This nose looked truncated. Something about the proportion was off. The placement.' Her co-stars no longer recognised her, and reshoots for Wind – which were ordered after she'd had surgery – had to be shot in a specific way to conceal her new facial feature. She didn't act in another studio film for eight years in the aftermath. 'Overnight I [lost] my identity and my career,' she wrote in her book. 'I spent so much energy trying to figure out what I did wrong, why I was banished from the kingdom. That's a lie. I banished myself.' Brandon Routh in Superman Returns After the release of Bryan Singer's Superman reboot Superman Returns in 2006, the actor Brandon Routh – who'd been chosen from thousands of auditionees to play the Man of Steel – never quite managed to build a movie career. Other than small roles in Scott Pilgrim vs the World and the comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno, he has largely acted in TV, with Superman more of a hindrance than an asset. In 2020 he revealed that he struggled in the wake of what should have been his star-making role. 'Thankfully, I didn't lean on drugs or alcohol,' Routh reflected. ' Superman Returns did not pan out the way I thought it was going to [or] the way everyone around me thought it was going to. I really had to come to terms with a lot of that. There was no sequel. The movie was widely well-reviewed. People liked the movie. It made almost $400m worldwide but that wasn't enough and it was a very slow fizzle out over the possibility of a sequel over the next two/three years.' Meg Ryan in In the Cut An outlier in this list primarily because it's really, really brilliant, In the Cut should not have dented Meg Ryan's movie career as it did. An erotic thriller from Oscar-winning filmmaker Jane Campion, the movie – a murder mystery in which Ryan's character embarks on a dangerous affair with a cop – proved too big a leap for audiences accustomed to seeing the star in winsome romcoms. The 2003 film remains one of Ryan's last studio movies, and acting roles entirely, with Ryan largely retreating from the spotlight and focusing on directing in the years since. In 2019, she reiterated her pride in the film, while expressing bemusement at the criticism sent her way because of it. 'The reaction was vicious,' she said. 'I was surprised by the negative reaction. I loved the movie and loved that experience and loved Jane Campion … Since then, I've had publicists say to me, 'You should've prepared your audience for your doing something different.' In the Cut was a sexual thing, and sex throws people.' She added that her exit from Hollywood superstardom soon after was a 'mutual' decision: 'I felt done when they felt done, probably.' A star vehicle designed to boost Greta Garbo's reputation in America – her previous films had largely been European hits – 1941's Two-Faced Woman proved to be a career-ruining disaster, and a film that led Garbo into early retirement at the age of just 36. Problems came early: the script for this oddball romcom, in which Garbo's character pretends to be her own twin sister in order to win back her ex, kept being rewritten during production. Garbo herself was said to have remarked that the film 'was not good and it could never be made good'. Reviews were unkind, with critics remarking that Garbo was 'gauche and stilted' and 'embarrassing'. Time magazine said her performance was so bad that it was 'almost as shocking as seeing your mother drunk'. The actor was reportedly humiliated by the press response, and a deal she had with MGM was terminated – allegedly by mutual agreement. She never made a film again.
Associated Press
05-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Our People: Marathon Petroleum Engineer Elona Dunaway
Key Points For Elona Dunaway, life has always been about embracing change, chasing opportunity and making a lasting impact through her career, in her community and at home. Born and raised in Albania, a country in Southeastern Europe, Dunaway dreamed of coming to the U.S. for as long as she could remember. In 2000, as a junior in high school, that dream became a reality. A decade later, she reached another milestone, becoming a U.S. citizen, a moment that reminded her how far she had come. 'Growing up in the early '90s, my dad would talk to me about freedom of speech, democracy, human rights and peaceful protests,' she said. 'Albania was emerging from a decades-long dictatorship, and those conversations shaped my view of the world at a young age.' Her mother, a high school biology and agriculture teacher, also instilled invaluable lessons that would guide her throughout life. 'She took on a greenhouse business to improve our living conditions,' said Dunaway. 'She showed me the power of independence, purpose and putting family first. I hope to leave a similar mark on my own children.' Building a career at Marathon Petroleum Dunaway joined Marathon Petroleum in 2013 as a Tech Service Engineer at the Detroit, Michigan, refinery, but her connection to the company began years earlier. From 2009 to 2012, she worked as a process design engineer on Marathon Petroleum's Detroit Heavy Oil Upgrade Project (DHOUP). Her career has taken her across the country, from Southern California to Alaska, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. Now, she leads the Economics & Planning Team at the Galveston Bay refinery in Texas, overseeing production plans, supporting product movements and optimizing value chain operations. 'Our team works closely with operations, maintenance, tech service, trading teams and MPLX (Marathon Petroleum's midstream component) scheduling to ensure we're leveraging our assets and connectivity with pipelines and dock logistics,' she said. 'Every day, we move over a million barrels of feedstocks and products.' While the work is fast-paced and complex, Dunaway thrives on teamwork and shared purpose. 'Working toward a common goal keeps me going, especially on long and demanding days,' she said. 'I've been fortunate to work with incredible people throughout my career, like my team in Kenai, Alaska, who showed me what it means to come together, overcome challenges and create a supportive work environment.' Her ability to solve problems, lead teams and drive results has earned her the respect of colleagues across the company. 'Elona has an incredible talent for spotting challenges and opportunities, bringing in the right people and making things better,' said Brian David, Lead Planning & Optimization Engineer at Marathon Petroleum. 'Her drive is inspiring, and we're lucky to have her.' Lessons Learned & Words of Advice Dunaway's journey has taught her valuable lessons, both in her career and personal life. One of the biggest surprises was how much working at Marathon Petroleum heightened her awareness of safety, not just at the refinery, but at home. 'When I bought my first home in 2009, I immediately wanted to know where the isolation valves for the water and natural gas were,' she said with a laugh. 'I started keeping up with furnace maintenance, filter changes and contractor standards, things I had never thought about before.' Her advice for those just starting out: work hard, ask questions and always seek to understand the 'why' behind what you do. 'Don't be too hard on yourself. Learn from challenges, grow through experience and always be a good teammate,' she said. 'Having the right people in your corner makes all the difference. The encouragement I received early on shaped me into the leader I am today.' Dunaway's leadership is built on accountability, collaboration and a commitment to finding real solutions. 'I will always push myself and those around me to keep learning, to keep trying new things, because I truly believe every challenge is a chance to grow and see the world differently.' 'She takes ownership, brings people together and follows through to make a lasting impact,' said Cindy Meyn, Area Team Leader at the Catlettsburg refinery. 'I'm grateful to call her a friend and colleague because she challenges me, offers valuable perspective and is always there to listen,' said Josh Brand, Global Value Chain Optimization Director at Marathon Petroleum. Quick Facts • Hometown: Fier, Albania; Detroit, Michigan • Education: Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering (Wayne State University) • Family: Husband Kyle; Daughter Elle, 9; Son William, 7 • Hobbies: Traveling, Food, Snowboarding • Fun Fact: I speak 3 languages - Albanian, Italian and English Life Beyond Work Outside of work, Dunaway's world revolves around family, travel and making memories with loved ones. She and her husband Kyle, who also works at the company as an Advanced Senior Refining Engineer, first crossed paths on Marathon's project in Detroit, where Kyle was already working. 'The first time we met there was something about her, an aura that was just undeniable,' Kyle said. 'A couple of months later she joined Marathon and the rest is history.' Watching Elona grow professionally has been inspiring for Kyle, who describes her as driven and unafraid to challenge the status quo. But what he finds even more rewarding is seeing her thrive as a mom to their two children. 'I've always been her biggest cheerleader, but lately, I think our kids are giving me a run for my money,' Kyle said. 'Especially our 9-year-old, who's already dishing out career advice to Mom.' No matter the role, whether mom, engineer or leader, Elona carries forward the drive her parents instilled in her, always pushing herself and those around her to grow, improve and make a difference. 'I will always push myself and those around me to keep learning, to keep trying new things, because I truly believe every challenge is a chance to grow and see the world differently.'
Buzz Feed
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
17 Roles That Straight-Up Ruined The Careers Of These Once-Promising Actors — And Two Who Recovered, But Only After Years And Years
1. The Star Wars prequels were infamously poorly received (though time has been kinder to them), with Jake Lloyd's performance as a young Anakin Skywalker in Episode I in particular getting panned. Lloyd retired from acting in 2001, soon after the 1999 film (his last acting credits are as Anakin in Star Wars video games), and blamed Star Wars for making him "hate it when the cameras are pointed at" him. "They would make the sound of the lightsaber every time they saw me. It was totally mad. My entire school life was really a living hell — and I had to do up to 60 interviews a day," he said. However, his mother would later claim that Jake did not quit due to the backlash from Star Wars, which she says she protected him from, but because of his schizophrenia diagnosis. Considering Lloyd retired many years before his 2008 diagnosis (his last film was in 2001), this timeline feels a little shaky. His mother may have meant he was experiencing symptoms back in 2001 that made him leave the industry, but considering she says here that he started experiencing symptoms at 19 — and he was 12 when he quit the industry — this feels shaky as well. 2. Another child actor whose career was ruined before it really got started was Noah Ringer. Completely unknown when he starred in Avatar: The Last Airbender, he was thrust into the limelight only to quickly be subject to derision. The film was panned, and its casting, in particular, was criticized, especially due to several characters' whitewashing. It may be slight cheating to include Ringer on this list, as Ringer also appeared in the similarly panned Cowboys & Aliens, which was the nail in the coffin for his career. Ringer pivoted to a career in martial arts, where he's found success. 3. Faye Dunaway rose to prominence in the 1960s on Broadway and through films like Bonnie and Clyde and continued her success into the '70s, even winning an Oscar for Network. But in 1981, a single role changed the public's perception of her, landing the Academy Award-winning actor a Razzie. That film was Mommie Dearest, which was based on the memoir written by Joan Crawford's daughter about her upbringing with Joan, whom she painted as unstable and addicted to alcohol. Dunaway portrayed Joan in the film, which was widely negatively received, with reviewers considering it overly melodramatic. "I think it turned my career in a direction where people would irretrievably have the wrong impression of me," she later said. "And that's an awful hard thing to beat. I should have known better, but sometimes you're vulnerable, and you don't realize what you're getting into." Dunaway said she thought the role would be a "window into a tortured soul" but instead "was made into camp." She told People, "It's unfortunate they felt they had to make that kind of movie. But you can't be ashamed of the work you've done." Dunaway then made a string of poorly received films, including Supergirl, which earned her another Razzie nomination. She turned more towards TV for a bit, winning a Golden Globe, before successfully returning to Hollywood, though her career never reached the same heights it had in the ' after another role further damaged her reputation. That role was in the Broadway adaptation of Sunset Boulevard. Andrew Lloyd Webber famously fired Dunaway for, in his opinion, not being able to sing well enough. This led to Dunaway suing Webber; the two later settled. 4. In another even more ~vintage~ example, Greta Garbo not only tanked her career with a single role, but it actually ended up being her last. Garbo successfully transitioned from silent to sound films and remained a celebrated actor throughout the 1920s and '30s. While she hit some setbacks, her career was looking good going into the '40s, having just been nominated for another Oscar. And then she starred in Two-Faced Woman. The film was so notoriously ill-received (due in large part to its risque subject matter around an affair) that Garbo, then a major star, never made another film. The 1941 film carries a 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though modern critics have been kinder to Garbo's attempt at comedy than the critics of the time. 5. Elizabeth Berkley became a teenage heartthrob as "girl next door" Jessie in Saved by the Bell, but her first big movie role after the series basically singlehandedly sank her career. The film was Showgirls, which garnered a Rotten Tomatoes Score of 23 percent. Not only did the NC-17 film tank, but Berkley's performance was panned, causing Berkley's career to flounder just as soon as it had begun. Berkley continued to work in film for the next decade or so, but her career never quite recovered. 6. Sofia Coppola's acting career was similarly over before it had even really begun. When Winona Ryder had to drop out of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part III, Coppola decided to cast his daughter instead. While the third installment in Coppola's Oscar-winning series failed to measure up to the first two, one factor garnered more negative attention than anything else in the film: Coppola's performance. Coppola's performance was so panned that she was even accused of "com[ing] close to wrecking the movie." The backlash was so intense that Coppola's acting career quickly ended. However, Sofia proved her skills elsewhere and became a celebrated director. 7. Coppola isn't the only nepo baby who made an ill-fated film debut at their parent's insistence. After starring in the acclaimed film The Pursuit of Happyness with his father, Will Smith, and then holding his own in The Karate Kid, Jaden Smith starred again alongside his dad in After Earth (12% on Rotten Tomatoes). The film was a colossal flop and a critical failure, with the Guardian writing that Jaden "plays the role throughout with a face like a smacked bum." Will Smith has expressed regret for coaching Jaden into the role in the years since, writing how "Jaden took the hit" for the film's failure and that "fans and the press were absolutely vicious." Jaden took an extended break from acting after the film's release, focusing instead on music, and he still hasn't returned to a blockbuster film since. 8. In the '90s and early 2000s, it seemed Mike Myers could do no wrong. After rising to fame through SNL, Wayne's World, and the Austin Powers series, Myers voiced the titular character in Shrek and became famous to a whole new generation. But post- Shrek, his career took a sharp nosedive: the third Austins Powers was a notable decline from the first two, and then he starred as the eponymous cat in The Cat In The Hat (10% on Rotten Tomatoes). Myers' character was more creepy than fun, and the film had little plot to speak of. Myers' career continued to flounder as the Shrek franchise declined (Shrek the Third got only 42% on Rotten Tomatoes), but the nail in the coffin for Myers' film career was The Love Guru (13% on Rotten Tomatoes). Film critic Rober Ebert wrote, "Myers has made some funny movies, but this film could have been written on toilet walls by callow adolescents," in a scathing review that lined up with what pretty much everyone else thought of the film. Most of Myers' following projects were S hrek -related shorts, though he did have a couple of bit parts in critically acclaimed films like Bohemian Rhapsody and Inglourious Basterds. Myers pivoted to TV in the 2020s with The Pentaverate, which he wrote, but it was released with little fanfare. It's clear he doesn't have the comedy lead career he once had, though he will appear in Shrek 5, and there has been talk of an Austin Powers 4... so we'll see what happens! 9. Myers' SNL and Wayne's World costar Dana Carvey had a similar career downturn, ending with a film so bad that there was no coming back. While Mike Meyers had his share of failures post -SNL, none of his flops measured up to Carvey's Master in Disguise, which received a whopping 1% on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert called the film a "desperate miscalculation" and compared it to "a party guest who thinks he is funny and is wrong." While Carvey claimed to have stepped away from Hollywood for his kids, it's hard to believe the film — and its suggestion that Carvey's comedy didn't translate well to film — didn't have at least something to do with it. 10. Batman & Robin was so poorly received (11% on Rotten Tomatoes) that director Joel Schumacher even apologized for it, and its own star, George Clooney, called the film terrible. However, the biggest casualty of the film was not Schumacher or Clooney, but Alicia Silverstone, who played Batgirl. Silverstone, who had risen to fame a few years prior in Clueless, won a Razzie for her performance, and the role is often described as having " ruined" her career. Warner Bros./ Courtesy: Everett Collection. However, it does seem that Silverstone made a conscious effort to leave Hollywood as a result of Batman & Robin instead of the film actively ending her career for her. "That definitely wasn't my favorite film-making experience," Silverstone said."There were working circumstances that were less than favorable in terms of how things went down. And no, I didn't say 'F--- you' and come out like a warrior, but I would just walk away and go, 'Okay, I know what that is, and I'm done; I'm not going near that again.' I stopped loving acting for a very long time." She also struggled with the focus on her weight in the media. Silverstone did continue to act — and still does today — but her career never reached the same heights. Dia Dipasupil / WireImage via Getty Images 11. Taylor Lautner seemed poised to become a major leading man after the Twilight series. He was already a Hollywood heartthrob, and while he may not have had the Oscar-worthy chops and penchant for indie films of his costars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, there seemed no reason why he wouldn't continue to find success. And then Abduction happened. Its New York Times review title was "At Least His Abs Get a Workout," and its scathing tone didn't end there: the reviewer compared Lautner to "an advanced robot simulating human speech without registering emotion or even comprehension." Bruce Talamon/Lions Gate / courtesy Everett Collection The film, which received only 5% on Rotten Tomatoes, largely finished Lautner's career, and if it had any hope of resurrection, the eight-time Razzie nominee, Grown Ups 2, ended that. Lautner went from being the highest-paid teenager in Hollywood to a TV star working on and off. He is currently set to star in a series about his post- Twilight years as himself, so we'll see how that goes, but he's certainly not moving away from the film he's best known for. Tracy Bennett/Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection 12. Rachael Leigh Cook also seemed poised to hold onto her breakout teenage stardom post She's All That, but then her next big film, Josie and the Pussycats, famously flopped (though it's now a cult classic). Cook herself has said that she felt like she was put in "movie jail" after its lack of success and that her options began to dry, even when it came to indie films. While Cook was able to transition to TV, her fame slowly dwindled until she was doing direct-to-video and Hallmark projects that failed to live up to the career she seemed destined for as a teenager. Universal / courtesy Everett Collection 13. We've got another failed teen idol story for you, this time concerning Taylor Kitsch, whose career was flying high after starring in Friday Night Lights. Cast as the star of the massive Disney blockbuster John Carter, Kitsch seemed like he'd hit the Hollywood jackpot. Instead, John Carter became one of the largest box office failures of all time, followed quickly by Battleship, which didn't fare as terribly but was certainly no hit. While Kitsch has continued to work in Hollywood, his chances as an A-Lister blockbuster star seemed forever dashed. Frank Connor/Walt Disney Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection 14. Reality star Paris Hilton attempted to make a foray into the world of acting in the early 2000s, appearing on teen dramas such as Veronica Mars and The O.C. However, her appearances amounted to little more than the horror flick The House of Wax. The film received only 28% on Rotten Tomatoes, and The Hollywood Reporter apparently called Hilton "so bad she steals the show." Other reviews were slightly kinder, but it seemed most just wanted to see A) Hilton in her underwear, and B), Hilton's character get killed. Warner Brothers / courtesy Everett Collection While Hilton appeared in a few more cameos and straight-to-video projects over the next few years, her acting career was largely over. Her next starring role was in the much smaller film, The Hottie and the Nottie, which was even more critically panned (6% on Rotten Tomatoes), earning Hilton a Razzie for Worst Actress. Regent Entertainment / courtesy Everett Collection 15. Shaq similarly tried to make a career pivot into Hollywood with the film Blue Chips, which earned him a Razzie nomination for Worst New Star. However, Staq kept at it with the family film and box office bomb Kazaam and then the superhero film Steel. Steel, referred to by some as the "worst superhero movie of all time," received only 12% on Rotten Tomatoes and proved the final straw for Shaq's floundering film career. Even the director later admitted he shouldn't have cast him, saying Shaq "was no actor." Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection 16. Mariah Carey also tried to make a major career jump, going from singing to acting with the star vehicle Glitter in 2011. The film was a massive failure, earning only 6% on Rotten Tomatoes and making $5.2 million against a budget of $22 million. The film even caused Virgin Records to drop Mariah from their label – now, obviously, Carey's music career was able to recover, but despite a smattering of other projects, it was clear she was never going to be a movie star. 20th Century Fox / courtesy Everett Collection Critics called her performance "about as fresh as rancid Chinese food that has been stuck in the back of the refrigerator for several months," while another stated Carey had "the acting range of a parakeet." The film's own cinematographer called it one of the worst films ever made. 20th Century Fox / courtesy Everett Collection 17. Similarly, Kelly Clarkson's acting career was over before it started after she appeared in another of the oft-mentioned "worst films ever made," From Justin to Kelly. The film was nominated for 10 Razzies, including "Worst Actress" for Kelly, and won two. Her performance was panned, and she never appeared in another film or TV project except as herself or in a voice-only role — except, randomly, in two episodes of the show American Dreams. 20th Century Fox/Courtesy Everett Collection However, to be fair to Clarkson, she never wanted to star in the act at all. She was contractually obligated to do the film after winning American Idol."I knew when I read the script it was going to be real, real bad, but when I won, I signed that piece of paper, and I could not get out of it. Seriously, I never thought I could act, but I knew I could sing. Not to sound cocky, but I can," she said in 2006. Clarkson was right: her singing career has endured for over 20 years, and she now has her own talk show. Manny Carabel / Getty Images for Audacy 18. After enjoying a booming career in the '80s and '90s, the beginning of the end for Eddie Murphy's career was the 2002 film The Adventures of Pluto Nash (5% on Rotten Tomatoes). Variety called the film an "ill-conceived and expensive project," and with a gross of just over $7 million against a $100 million budget, the film was one of the biggest flops ever. Warner Brothers / courtesy Everett Collection With the Shrek franchise, Daddy Day Care, The Haunted Mansion, and an award-nominated role in Dreamgirls, it seemed Murphy might survive Pluto Nash's practically unprecedented failure. But then Norbit (9% on Rotten Tomatoes) came along and more or less ended Murphy's career for the next decade. Murphy himself later admitted that all the movies he made in the 2000s were "shitty" and caused him to take an extended acting hiatus. DreamWorks / courtesy Everett Collection Murphy also specifically pointed out his Worst Actor of the Decade Razzie — which he can likely largely blame Norbit for, as the film earned eight nominations. However, Murphy was able to make a comeback in a big way with Dolemite is My Name, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe. He also appeared in sequels for his films Beverly Hills Cops and Coming to America in the 2020s. Along with Mike Myers, he is set to appear in Shrek 5. While Murphy isn't the box office draw he used to be, his comedy legacy seems at least somewhat safe. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic via Getty Images 19. And finally, we mentioned Jake Lloyd, who played Anakin in Star Wars: Episode I, earlier in this post — the same curse seemed to also befall Hayden Christensen. His career was not ruined entirely, and he's since made a comeback (which included returning to the Star Wars franchise). Still, the intense negative reception of his role as Anakin in Episodes II and III greatly impacted his position as a rising star in Hollywood. 20th Century Fox / Lucasfilm Ltd. / courtesy Everett Collection He won two Razzie Awards after his performance was panned, and many of his scenes and lines of dialogue were openly mocked for years. He appeared in five films between 2005 (when the last prequel came out) and 2008, but none gained over 24% on Rotten Tomatoes except New York, I Love You, which got 37%. Jumper, in particular, was panned (and has also been blamed for tanking Christensen's career). While he appeared in projects afterward (after a short break), none were notable until he returned to Star Wars. 20th Century Fox / Lucasfilm Ltd. / courtesy Everett Collection What role do you feel like ruined an actor's career? Let us know in the comments!
