10 Famous Actors Who Were Forced To Appear In Movies Against Their Will

Contractual obligations, forgery and outright trickery. Oh, Hollywood!

Just because an actor signs on to star in a movie (of the large or small variety; it doesn't make a difference), it doesn't mean that they actually wanted to be in said movie. Whilst that notion might sound a tad crazy, as far as Hollywood is concerned it's totally and utterly true. Actors wind up being in movies they don't really believe in all the time; Hollywood negotiations (and their associated contractual obligations) can be something akin to a minefield. Signing onto one film might mean that you're forced to sign onto potential sequels - and if the first chapter turns out badly, you've stuck with the rest. In other cases, actors agree to a deal with a particular studio, which gives them the safety of several pictures and thus a number of roles. But when you fall into that scenario, it can turn out to be more of a benefit than a hazard as actors find themselves pushed or blackmailed into appearing in all sorts of lackluster or arbitrary movies. In the "golden days" of the studio system, between the 1920s and the 1960s, this made for a lot of unhappy actors. For a whole smorgasbord of reasons, here are 10 famous actors who were forced to appear in motion pictures against their will - very few of which actually turned out to be any good...

Contributor

Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.