When Hollywood’s Stars Look Back: Actors Who Deeply Regret Their Roles
It’s a question that can elicit a wince or a shrug: “What are your biggest regrets?” For actors, this often translates to specific roles or films that, in hindsight, they wish they’d never touched. While a critical darling might seem like a career high, sometimes the experience behind the scenes, or the final product itself, leaves a sour taste. We’ve recently seen this with Ryan Reynolds, who has been vocal about his dissatisfaction with 2011’s The Green Lantern while promoting his latest blockbuster, Deadpool & Wolverine. Similarly, Dakota Johnson didn’t hold back her candid thoughts on her much-maligned superhero flick, Madame Web. However, for some, the regret isn’t about the quality of the film, but the missed opportunity altogether, a sentiment Scarlett Johansson experienced in 2013.
Here, we delve into the stories of eleven actors who have publicly expressed their regrets about certain film roles.
Timothée Chalamet – A Rainy Day in New York (2019)
Timothée Chalamet is among a group of actors who have voiced discomfort with their involvement in projects helmed by Woody Allen. The director has faced serious allegations made by his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, which resurfaced with greater intensity during the #MeToo movement. Chalamet, deeply affected by the renewed scrutiny, made a significant gesture. He declared he did not want to profit from his work on the film and pledged his entire salary to three charities: Time’s Up, the LGBT Centre in New York, and RAINN. He issued an apology for accepting the role, stating, “That is not something that sits easily with me in the current or indeed any moment, and I am profoundly sorry. It’s a small gesture and not one intended as close to compensation.”
Matt Damon – The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
The original Bourne trilogy, starring Matt Damon, was a critical and commercial success, earning accolades worldwide. Yet, Damon has been surprisingly critical of the third instalment. He openly discussed his dissatisfaction with the initial script, penned by director Tony Gilroy. Speaking to GQ, Damon didn’t mince words: “It’s really the studio’s fault for putting themselves in that position. I don’t blame Tony for taking a boatload of money and handing in what he handed in. It’s just that it was unreadable. This is a career-ender. I mean, I could put this thing up on eBay and it would be game over for that dude. It’s terrible. It’s really embarrassing. He was having a go, basically, and he took his money and left.”
Zac Efron – High School Musical (2006-2008)
For many, Zac Efron will forever be associated with Troy Bolton from the beloved High School Musical franchise. However, Efron himself has expressed a desire to be known for other work. In an interview with Men’s Fitness, he admitted, “I step back and look at myself and I still want to kick that guy’s ass sometimes. He’s done some kind of cool things with some cool people – he did that one thing that was funny – but, I mean, he’s still just that f*ing kid from High School Musical.”
Sally Field – The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
The Amazing Spider-Man series, featuring Andrew Garfield as the iconic web-slinger, was envisioned as a major cinematic universe, potentially rivaling the Avengers. There were even whispers of a spin-off film focusing on Aunt May. However, Sally Field, who portrayed the character, was far from enthusiastic about the prospect. Reflecting on her role in the film with Howard Stern, she lamented, “It’s really hard to find a three-dimensional character in it. And you work it as much as you can, but you can’t put 10 pounds of s** in a five-pound bag.”
Harrison Ford – Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner exists in multiple versions, with seven distinct cuts circulating. One version includes narration from Harrison Ford’s character, Rick Deckard, while director Ridley Scott’s preferred cut is more ambiguous and omits this narrative element. Ford, however, expressed dissatisfaction with both. Speaking in 2017, ahead of the release of Blade Runner 2049, he stated, “I didn’t like the movie one way or the other, with or without. I played a detective who did not have any detecting to do. In terms of how I related to the material, I found it very difficult. There was stuff that was going on that was really nuts.”
Christopher Plummer – The Sound of Music (1965)
Despite being one of the most cherished films in history, Christopher Plummer harboured a strong dislike for his role as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music. He confessed to The Hollywood Reporter, “I think the part in The Sound of Music was the toughest. Because it was so awful and sentimental and gooey. You had to work terribly hard to try and infuse some miniscule bit of humour into it.”
Daniel Radcliffe – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Daniel Radcliffe was a child star, taking on the iconic role of Harry Potter at just 11 years old. Even with the immense success of the franchise, he hasn’t shied away from critiquing his own performances. In a 2012 interview with Playboy, he admitted, “I’m just not very good in [ The Half-Blood Prince]. I hate it. My acting is very one-note and I can see I got complacent and what I was trying to do just didn’t come across. My best film is the fifth one [Order of the Phoenix] because I can see a progression.”
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl (2015)
British actor Eddie Redmayne recently reflected on his Oscar-nominated role as trans artist Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl. Speaking to The Sunday Times, he stated that he “wouldn’t take” such a role today. While acknowledging that he “made that film with the best intentions,” he confessed, “I think it was a mistake.” Redmayne elaborated on the broader issue of representation, noting, “The bigger discussion about the frustrations around casting is because many people don’t have a chair at the table. There must be a levelling, otherwise we are going to carry on having these debates.”
Kate Winslet – Titanic (1997)
Kate Winslet holds no ill will towards Titanic as a film, but her own performance as Rose is a different story. She has admitted to being highly critical of her work, telling The Telegraph, “Every single scene, I’m like ‘really, really? You did it like that? Oh my God’. Even my American accent, I can’t listen to it. It’s awful. Hopefully it’s so much better now. It sounds terribly self-indulgent but actors do tend to be very self-critical. I have a hard time watching any of my performances, but watching Titanic I was just like, ‘Oh God, I want to do that again.’”
Dakota Johnson – Madame Web (2024)
Dakota Johnson was unsurprised by the critical and audience backlash that met Sony’s Madame Web. Discussing the film’s poor box office performance and its early reputation as one of the year’s worst, Johnson told Bustle: “Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has. But it was definitely an experience for me to make that movie. I had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again because I don’t make sense in that world.” She described the experience as a “learning experience,” adding, “Sometimes in this industry, you sign on to something, and it’s one thing, and then as you’re making it, it becomes a completely different thing, and you’re like, ‘Wait, what?’” While admitting it’s “not nice to be a part of something that’s ripped to shreds,” she confessed, “I can’t say that I don’t understand.”
Ryan Reynolds – The Green Lantern
While heavily promoting his latest venture, Deadpool & Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds made it abundantly clear that he harbours a deep-seated aversion to The Green Lantern, his 2011 superhero outing that became a significant box office failure. The film’s poor reception reportedly kept Reynolds in a kind of career limbo until Deadpool arrived in 2016. Since its release, Reynolds has consistently acknowledged the film’s disastrous nature, recently revealing that the only way he could “process it” was by rewatching it – a decision he now regrets.
