10 Actors Who Blamed Themselves For Films Failing
1. Jean Seberg - Saint Joan
And finally, we have 1957's historical drama Saint Joan, a dramatisation of Joan of Arc's life, with actress Jean Seberg making her screen debut in the title role.
Seberg was chosen from 18,000 prospective youngsters to play Joan of Arc despite having no acting experience, and though she was directed by legendary filmmaker Otto Preminger, both Seberg and the film as a whole were largely panned by critics.
Though Preminger attempted to take the full blame, Seberg held absolutely nothing back in excoriating her own performance shortly after release. She said:
"I am the greatest example of a very real fact, that all the publicity in the world will not make you a movie star if you are not also an actress... I have two memories of Saint Joan. The first was being burned at the stake in the picture. The second was being burned at the stake by the critics. The latter hurt more. I was scared like a rabbit and it showed on the screen. It was not a good experience at all."
Despite this, Preminger decided to cast Seberg in his next film, Bonjour Tristesse, hoping that it would prove Seberg could act and effectively give her a second chance.
Though contemporary reception to the film is predominantly positive, at the time Seberg was once again panned for her performance, after which she and Preminger never worked together again.
Thankfully Seberg's career majorly rebounded shortly thereafter, when she appeared in the iconic 1960 French New Wave film Breathless to major acclaim.