10 Famous Acting Performances That Got Worse As Their Franchise Went On

4. James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) - James Bond

Pierce Brosnan is surely the unluckiest actor to ever play James Bond: he was originally tipped to take the role instead of Timothy Dalton, though his contractual obligations to Remington Steele denied him that. Still, he got the part in 1995, and delivered a strong Bond outing right out of the gate with Goldeneye, where Brosnan's performance was praised for its emotional complexity compared to previous interpretations of the character. The sad thing about Brosnan's run is that, aside from Goldeneye, he didn't really get any good scripts to work with. His following three films, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day were certainly lower-tier Bond flicks, milking as much cornball dialogue and ludicrous action out of the actor as possible, while not really giving him room to breathe as the slick, suave secret agent. This reached its most wearisome point in his final effort, where his natural charisma was almost completely drowned out by over-the-top CGI stunts and a complete lack of chemistry with sexy co-star Halle Berry. Brosnan went on to criticise the production himself, and given his soporific performance, it shouldn't be too surprising.