Don't call us, we'll call you! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at ill-fated roles that actors were never quite able to recover from.
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00:00 I moved in with my parents, okay? I worked really hard. I came up with a concept, okay?
00:03 It's called...
00:04 "Zebras in America."
00:06 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at ill-fated roles that actors were never quite able to recover from.
00:12 While some of these actors had a string of misfires,
00:14 we're singling out the one role that officially took them off every casting agent's Rolodex.
00:19 I don't know if this is a very good idea, Luce.
00:21 What are you talking about? You stole him!
00:23 Sharon Stone, "Basic Instinct 2."
00:27 I don't like rules.
00:28 It makes sense that Sharon Stone wanted to revisit the iconic role that turned her into a certified star,
00:33 even if the studio wasn't interested.
00:34 What's your new book about?
00:36 A detective. He falls for the wrong woman.
00:42 Although MGM pulled out, Stone claimed her contract entitled her to at least $14 million,
00:47 whether or not the sequel went forward.
00:49 Notably, Michael Douglas was paid $14 million for the first film,
00:53 while Stone only received $500,000.
00:56 Yes, when it came down to it, I guess my life was more important to me than his.
01:00 Douglas opted not to return for "Basic Instinct 2," which was produced following a legal battle.
01:04 How do you picture it?
01:06 The studio would have been better off giving Stone $14 million and canning the project.
01:11 I do like to take risks.
01:13 Instead, they wasted $70 million on one of the worst and most unnecessary sequels ever.
01:18 Fourteen years after Catherine Tramiel made Stone a household name,
01:22 the same role killed her bankability.
01:24 It's hurtful.
01:26 Then there's some hurts you don't just get over.
01:30 Jaden Smith, "After Earth"
01:32 I can't do this without myself, Ben.
01:34 Nepotism is a term that gets tossed around a lot these days,
01:37 but many so-called "Nepo-babies" have gotten out from under their parents' shadow,
01:41 forging a unique path.
01:42 Alas, "After Earth" highlighted two sad facts about Jaden Smith.
01:46 One, he's only an actor because of who his father is.
01:49 Don't get me wrong. I respect everything you've done.
01:54 But you have a son in the other room that you do not know.
01:59 Two, he doesn't have his father's leading man charisma.
02:02 I was not advanced to ranger.
02:04 You were not advanced to ranger.
02:10 I was not advanced to ranger, sir.
02:13 Underneath the sci-fi film's bland characters and uninspired story,
02:16 there seems to be an allegory for Jaden and Will Smith's real-life dynamic.
02:20 The story, which Will devised, casts Jaden as Kitai,
02:23 the son of a renowned military leader who must strike out on his own.
02:27 My body feels heavier.
02:28 Very good.
02:29 Proving to his father that he's worthy.
02:31 All Kitai proved, though, is that Jaden's acting career peaked when he was younger.
02:35 What happened?
02:36 You didn't see that?
02:39 Kitai, what happened?
02:41 I'm fine. No change. I just slipped.
02:49 Tom Green, Freddy Got Fingered
02:51 All right, let's just cross our fingers, okay, Freddy?
02:54 Let's cross our fingers and hope that I get a job. I'm serious.
02:57 Just cross your fingers.
02:59 All right, fingers crossed.
03:02 With a character as awful as Gord Brody, one must ponder...
03:05 My ear popped. My ear just popped.
03:07 Did Tom Green purposely sabotage his career?
03:10 When he showed up to accept multiple Razzies for the 2001 comedy,
03:13 Green proudly proclaimed that he set out to win this award.
03:16 What in the name of sweet breakfast meats are you doing?
03:20 For your information, this is me being creative.
03:23 Betty told me this is what I need to do in order to become an artist.
03:26 It's not as if Green expected or even wanted his feature directorial debut to be liked by the masses.
03:31 If the intent was to alienate audiences, we suppose Freddy Got Fingered was a success.
03:35 Green doesn't see the film as a failure, arguing that it technically made a profit.
03:39 You wanna see what a million dollars looks like?
03:41 Will you keep it down? I have to work and eat.
03:45 What the hell is that?
03:46 It's a check for a million dollars.
03:48 I sold my cartoon.
03:49 Yet, even Green would acknowledge that the production killed his odds of ever directing another major Hollywood picture.
03:55 Whether that was by design or a fatality of Green's demented humor, we may never know.
04:00 If word of that were to get out, well, I could lose my job.
04:04 I could lose all of this!
04:06 And we wouldn't want that now, would we?
04:08 Maria Petillo, Godzilla
04:10 I've been doing research for you after hours and weekends for over three years.
04:14 This is a very important job to me.
04:16 It was a Godzilla movie so bad that neither fans nor Toho will even acknowledge it as a real Godzilla movie.
04:23 Fortunately, the franchise would recover in time.
04:25 So would the cast.
04:26 Except for Maria Petillo, who's best known for playing Matthew Broderick's love interest in the film.
04:31 Somehow I never thought your life was this exciting.
04:34 You'd be surprised.
04:36 At the time, Audrey Timmons seemed like a breakthrough role for Petillo, who was signed on for two sequels.
04:41 While Godzilla 2 entered early development, the studio sensed few would show up, and TriStar let the rights expire.
04:47 Petillo's career expired as well.
04:49 After winning a Razzie, Petillo only appeared in two low-profile films, both released in 2000.
04:54 A couple of minor TV roles later, Petillo left acting, becoming an interior designer with her husband.
05:00 Is he alright out there by himself?
05:02 Oh yeah, he has a caretaker, his older brother.
05:04 Ernie.
05:07 Bert and Ernie.
05:11 You can't make this stuff up.
05:12 Clinton Spilsbury, The Legend of the Lone Ranger.
05:15 Some famous characters are better left in the past.
05:21 The Lone Ranger, aka John Reed, is one example.
05:25 The role did Armie Hammer zero favors, although something else killed his career.
05:30 Where is brother's justice?
05:31 I'm not a savage.
05:33 You are not a man.
05:38 For Clinton Spilsbury, The Lone Ranger ended his 15 minutes of fame less than one minute in.
05:43 His 1981 turn as the masked hero would be Spilsbury's first and last film role.
05:48 He shines like the moon.
05:50 Life's silver.
05:52 Fans were already furious at the producers for legally ordering actor Clayton Moore to no longer portray the character he originated.
05:58 Spilsbury was a less than worthy successor, so much that the filmmakers had James Keach redub his lines.
06:06 If Spilsbury's lackluster line delivery wasn't enough to ruin his reputation, his unprofessional behavior on set would.
06:12 And don't come back.
06:15 Dana Carvey, The Master of Disguise.
06:18 Dana Carvey is a master impressionist.
06:24 But few productions outside of SNL have put his talents to effective use.
06:31 Following some creative missteps and a break from the spotlight, Carvey returned to the silver screen with a new character, Pistachio Disguisey.
06:38 So you want to play games?
06:40 Let's play games.
06:41 Who's your daddy?
06:47 If you think that name sounds painfully lazy,
06:49 I'm the disguise, I'm master of disguise.
06:50 Just wait until you endure 80 minutes of comedy crucifixion.
06:55 While Carvey as a master of disguise sounds promising, Pistachio and his various alter egos possess no charm, wit, or remotely humorous components.
07:03 Sorry to all of you turtle guy stans.
07:07 Am I not turtley enough for the turtle club?
07:10 Since then, Carvey has popped up in small roles and brought back some of his classic characters,
07:15 but Pistachio ended any prospects of movie stardom.
07:18 Carvey wanted to focus on stand-up and his family anyway.
07:21 Lindsay Lohan, I Know Who Killed Me.
07:23 You want me to go in with you?
07:25 Um, no, it's okay.
07:27 Probably better go back.
07:28 Might get suspicious.
07:29 Several factors hurt Lindsay Lohan's career in the mid-2000s,
07:32 but we all know what role killed her career.
07:34 Aubrey Fleming, or is it Dakota Moss?
07:37 Aubrey Fleming, session number one, 1030 AM.
07:40 I'm not Aubrey Fleming.
07:43 Then what should I call you?
07:45 My real name would be nice.
07:46 By the end of this confusing and unpleasant psychological thriller,
07:49 You Won't Care, Lohan doesn't seem to care much either on screen.
07:52 It doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense to you.
07:54 We'll put the pieces together.
07:56 Sleepwalking her way to more than one Razzie.
07:58 Over the following years, Lohan attempted to stage a comeback on multiple occasions,
08:03 although she's never been able to live down her legal setbacks or creative setbacks like this film.
08:07 Living off residual goodwill from Mean Girls,
08:10 Cool.
08:11 Lohan will always have a fan base rooting for her to recapture the glory days.
08:14 For now though, Lohan's career renaissance seemingly came full circle,
08:18 beginning and ending with her playing twins.
08:20 Why's everyone staring?
08:23 Faye Dunaway, Mommy Dearest.
08:25 You're having a happy birthday, Christina Dunaway.
08:28 This is the best party I ever had!
08:33 I love you, Mommy Dearest.
08:35 It's not hard to see why Joan Crawford left acting after starring in 1970's Trog.
08:40 Not so fast.
08:41 We believe that Trog could be the connection between the creatures of early civilization and man as we know him today.
08:49 Almost a decade later, Faye Dunaway portrayed Crawford in a career-ending turn.
08:54 No more hangers!
08:59 To be fair, Dunaway still found work here and there,
09:02 but her career can essentially be split into two eras, before and after Mommy Dearest.
09:07 Guess which era brought more Oscar nominations?
09:10 Times are tough.
09:11 Dunaway gives the ultimate scenery-chewing performance in a film that aims for prestige drama,
09:16 instead delivering campy comedy.
09:18 After all those years, I never thought it could happen to me.
09:23 I don't know what I'm gonna do.
09:30 While this earned Mommy Dearest a cult following,
09:32 it's difficult for many to take joy in a film where Crawford repeatedly torments her daughter.
09:36 I hate you!
09:38 I hate you!
09:41 It does so without providing any genuine insight into who Crawford was,
09:45 damaging her legacy while pulling Dunaway's career down with it.
09:48 Where are you going?
09:52 So this is your club, your hideout?
09:58 Yeah.
09:59 I came to check it out.
10:01 Sofia Coppola might have been a decent enough child actor, but let's be honest,
10:05 directing and writing were her true calling.
10:07 She wasn't destined to be a movie star.
10:09 Coppola seemed to know this when her father asked her to fill in for Winona Ryder
10:13 and Michael Corleone's daughter, Mary.
10:15 Hey.
10:17 Hey, cuz.
10:19 Hi.
10:21 Hi.
10:22 Where's your leather?
10:24 Stop it.
10:27 Sofia's casting was the primary criticism surrounding Godfather 3,
10:31 and while we're not going to pretend it's a good performance, it's not exactly her fault.
10:34 Coppola had no real aspirations of being a Hollywood starlet.
10:38 She was doing her dad a favor, and in return,
10:40 people blamed her for ruining an anticipated sequel that admittedly had other issues.
10:44 It might have killed any acting ambitions Coppola had,
10:47 but her filmmaking career was thankfully just getting started.
10:50 That you're using me just to pull the strings,
10:53 to get the money where you want it.
10:55 Oh, come on, please.
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11:11 Marlon Brando, the island of Dr. Moreau.
11:15 I thought maybe it was one of the creatures or something that I hadn't seen
11:18 that was like a different design, and it was Marlon.
11:24 Marlon Brando is one of the greatest actors of all time.
11:27 He was also the wildest of wild cards.
11:29 Directors never knew what they were going to get when he showed up.
11:32 Oh, my word. You startled me.
11:35 Sometimes his unpredictable, even maddening behavior paid off.
11:39 Other times, you get Dr. Moreau.
11:41 Following a family tragedy with the death of his daughter Cheyenne,
11:44 Brando went AWOL with production crumbling to pieces.
11:47 When Brando finally arrived, he lived up to his notorious reputation,
11:51 refusing to learn his lines and opting to improvise when he could.
11:54 I understand that I must be shocking to you.
11:57 Brando was responsible for several other bizarre choices,
12:00 such as Dr. Moreau's makeup, which he applied himself.
12:03 Oh, God.
12:04 Brando's career had gone through several deaths and resurrections,
12:07 although this role in the cinematic disaster was seen as the final nail in the coffin.
12:12 Not to kill for pleasure.
12:14 Which career-ending role did you find the most painful to watch?
12:17 Let us know in the comments.
12:19 Ahoy there!
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12:29 [music]