10 Movies Actors Thought Would Suck (But Were Awesome)

Though actors often have an idea if they're in a terrible movie while they're making it, it's also fair to say that nobody can truly know precisely how a film will end up until it's been through the editorial process and screened in front of an actual audience.

Sometimes the vibe on set simply doesn't match the magic weaved in the edit suite, and though actors have a certain instinct for how a project's coming together, they can't know everything.

As such, these 10 actors all believed they were making absolute cinematic turkeys, only to be surprised by how well everything turned out.

Whether making the movie as a pure paycheck gig with little regard for its quality or having to deal with major on-set issues, these actors had little faith in these projects being anything but glorified jobs.

But then came the phenomenal box office success, the pop-culture legacy, and perhaps even some Oscars.

These films all soared far above what those working on it expected, which is nothing if not a testament to the virtue of keeping your expectations low and never being disappointed...

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is the film that made Keira Knightley an outright star, portraying female lead Elizabeth Swann in four of the series' five entries to date.

Yet despite how lucrative the part has been for her, Knightley had basement-low expectations for the original Pirates, and according to the actress herself, so did everybody else around her.

During a 2008 interview with The Observer, Knightley held nothing back in admitting her original feelings about the first movie while shooting it:

"Gosh, I was just a teenager and you can imagine it was the most embarrassing thing telling my mates I was about to be in a movie based on a Disney theme park ride... I mean, it was really f**king embarrassing and we all thought it was going to be total s**t anyway... But then suddenly I was kissing Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom and bang, there you go, instant bloody stardom. I'd always wanted to be an actress, always dreamt of it, but I don't think you're ever quite prepared for being a movie star."

In addition to being an unexpected commercial smash, the original Pirates was also a major critical success, earning five Oscar nominations including a Best Actor nod for Depp.

All four sequels were more successful at the box office, even if none of them have matched the original's critical favour.