10 Leading Film Characters That Didn’t Really Go Anywhere
Top billing for 10 minutes of screen time is great for an actor, but terrible for a character.
Films are filled with characters that are developed to try and make both the protagonists and (hopefully) the audience feel something. However sometimes movies are populated with characters who play key roles that actually end up not doing much at all.
In the worst cases, this can run all the way up to the leading cast. For instance, a character may seem pivotal but really, on reflection, they do not do anything much at all and simply serve as a simple plot device.
This can be particularly infuriating if a decent actor is cast (and wasted) in that role or if the audience has come to expect more from a specific character, only to see their hopes dashed right before their eyes onscreen.
It is especially dismaying when the character is one of the top-billed cast members, with the studio happy to sell the movie on their inclusion, only to reveal they have a minor, sometimes inconsequential role in the actual story. It's a frustrating practice, and one that sadly doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.
So, let's delve deeper to see 10 examples of this happening in movies.
10. Donald Gennaro - Jurassic Park (1993)
Martin Ferrero’s “blood-sucking lawyer” Donald Gennaro is not the most beloved character in Jurassic Park, which is annoying, given that he is surrounded by well-remembered characters, some of whom will be returning in Jurassic World: Dominion (2021).
He is on Isla Nublar to determine the park’s viability for John Hammond's (Sir Richard Attenborough's) company, InGen and its shareholders. He is almost immediately overcome by his doubts surrounding the park and is blinded by the profits to be made from it. However, his awe soon turns to panic when the T-Rex escapes.
Leaving Hammond’s grandchildren, Lex (Ariana Richards) and Tim Murphy (Joseph Mazzello), Gennaro hides in a nearby toilet, only to be snatched up by the T-Rex and tossed aside like a dog’s chew toy.
Whilst Gennaro initially seems to represent the opposition within Hammond’s own company to his high-risk ventures, he soon loses his purpose once he is swept up in Hammond's dream, leaving Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) as the main voice of reason in the film, becoming little more than a cardboard cut-out of a stereotype as the greedy, weak-willed impression of a lawyer.
All that he does after that is to purely demonstrate that, in a land populated by resurrected carnivorous beasts, humans are on the menu too!