12 Actors Whose Careers Were Destroyed By A Single Movie
8. Ben Affleck - Gigli
The Actor: After the award success of Argo, Ben Affleck will have to make sure he learns from his previous mistakes. His career started well; working up through Kevin Smith films, he had a screenwriting Oscar before he was twenty five. Then things went bad. A string of poor decisions (Pearl Harbour, Daredevil) hurt his acting career greatly, but he still had enough charm to survive. That was until...
The Film: Gigli. A bad romantic comedy shouldn't be enough to kill a career (just look at Matthew McConaughey), but this one offered something different; Affleck and his co star, Jennifer Lopez, had been dating for a year when the film came out. The traditional celebrity obsession, coupled with a director fighting to keep the film his way put Gigli on the map, making its appalling performance incredibly high profile.
What Happened Next: He only went and pulled it back. Out of all the actors on this list, Affleck is the one most people would have put money on to stay dead. Obviously we now know Affleck's career wasn't destroyed by Gigli, but I think the dire years following that films release constitute a acting death. But then some bright spark suggested a career switch to directing and things have exploded from there. And with his follow ups to initial hit Gone Baby Gone, he's back to lead actor and director status, showing to all the failed careers we'll see, there can be hope.