12 Actors Whose Careers Were Destroyed By A Single Movie
Play Superman, you say? What could possibly go wrong?
Sometimes an actor we all know and sort of love will just disappear from our cinema screens. One minute, they're in every sort of movie under the sun, but before you know it theyre gone, reduced to voicing a supporting character in a Dreamworks animation. Sometimes an actor will just slowly slip from notoriety, picking increasingly obscure projects by choice, until they eventually declare its over. But often it'll take only one film for someone to go from the peak of the A-List to the base camp of the Z-List.
Here we give you twelve actors who had their career ruined by one film. Some of them went gallantly, realising their time was up and honourably quitting. Others were less so; trying their best to cling on to what semblance of fame and ended up as desperate as a Superman fan attempting to find something good in Man Of Steel.
I'm not going to cover actors who've had a slow decline (Tim Robbins, Robert De Niro) or who Hollywood think are still big when audiences would beg to differ (Will Smith, Tom Hanks).
These are all people who have one major offending movie, with its poster on their dartboard and a Golden Raspberry (the terrible movie equivalent of the Oscars) proudly on the mantle.
12. Sean Connery - The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The Actor: Despite being over thirty when he hit big, Sean Connery's had quite a career. Playing some of the most defining roles in cinematic history, Connery will always be remembered in the annals of cinematic brilliance. But unlike his octogenarian counterpart Clint Eastwood, Connery's been notably absent from our cinema screens recently.
The Film: Alan Moore is the comic king of concepts. Starting with the revolutionary dystopian sci-fi V For Vendetta and going on to redefine the superhero with the alternate reality Watchmen, he's proven incredibly capable of turning good ideas into great graphic novels.
Making these ideas into films have proven more difficult. Before the marginally successful adaptation of the previously mentioned titles, Hollywood went with Moores still in progress Victorian literary team-up, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The film sank with critics and barely scraped a profit.
What Happened Next: You could argue Connery was already sliding into retirement before LXG, but with the occasional film coming out, it was definitely the last straw. In 2005 he announced his retirement, disillusioned by those in power and memories of LXG still strong in his mind. It wasn't all bad though - LXG also killed director Stephen Norrington's career too (along with much of the supporting cast).