In order to be a great actor, you have to be able to take big risks. Unfortunately, those risks aren't always going to pay off. Despite their best efforts, these celebrities turned in performances that some film fans are still upset about to this day.
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00:00In order to be a great actor, you have to be able to take big risks.
00:04Unfortunately, those risks aren't always going to pay off.
00:07Despite their best efforts, these celebrities turned in performances that some film fans
00:11are still upset about to this day.
00:14It isn't necessarily George Clooney's fault that he got stuck with what many call the
00:17worst Batman movie, 1997's Batman & Robin, for his debut outing as the Dark Knight.
00:23After all, it's hard to imagine that any actor could manage to bring gravitas to a version
00:27of the hero with rubber nipples on his suit and a signature credit card.
00:31Of course, you can't blame the critical failure of Batman & Robin's solely un-lousy script
00:35and some silly costumes.
00:36The man in the cape and cowl has to bear at least a little responsibility.
00:40Even though Clooney would go on to earn multiple Oscar nominations for his acting, he somehow
00:43struggled in his efforts to portray a charming playboy.
00:46Both comic book fans and professional critics found themselves disappointed by his version
00:50of Bruce Wayne.
00:51As reviewer Joe Morgenstern wrote for The Wall Street Journal, of all modern Batmans,
00:55George Clooney bears the closest physical resemblance to the comic book hero.
00:59But there isn't much to say about his performance because there isn't much performance to discuss.
01:04And you are?
01:05Batgirl.
01:06That's not awfully PC.
01:08What about Batperson or Batwoman?
01:10In Clooney's defense, he spent the better part of three decades apologizing for the
01:14movie and his lackluster performance in it.
01:17But that still doesn't completely forgive the role he played in tanking the live-action
01:20Batman franchise so hard that it had to take an eight-year vacation.
01:25If you're going to remake a movie, the expectation is usually that you're going to do something
01:29at least a little different with it.
01:31Otherwise, it's the cinematic equivalent of just tracing an existing drawing, and the
01:35tracing is never going to look as sharp as the original.
01:37This is all especially true for a movie that is already perfect the way it is, like Alfred
01:42Hitchcock's trailblazing 1960 horror classic Psycho.
01:45And yet, director Gus Van Sant decided to do that very thing in 1998, when he did a
01:50shot-for-shot remake of Psycho.
01:52He went as far as using the original's screenplay rather than commissioning a new one.
01:56Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of critics declared the entire exercise to be utterly
02:00pointless, doing nothing to elevate the original or even distinguish itself from it in any
02:05meaningful way.
02:06Perhaps the worst element of all was Vince Vaughn's version of Norman Bates, the character
02:10played flawlessly by actor Anthony Perkins in the original.
02:13Dramatic acting has never been Vaughn's strong suit, and it's easy to assume that he's trying
02:17to be funny as he tries and fails to play the unsettling innkeeper.
02:21We all go a little mad sometimes, haven't you?"
02:25By the time Vaughn is revealed in his blonde wig and bathrobe, everything has completely
02:29fallen apart.
02:30The only people who weren't laughing were the producers, who bankrolled the trainwreck
02:34of a film, as it made just $37.2 million on a $60 million budget.
02:40Les Miserables is one of the most popular and long-running Broadway musicals of all
02:44time, so when it was announced that the tragic tale of revolution would be adapted into a
02:48feature film, expectations were high.
02:50Some fans weren't sure that Hollywood actors would be able to do justice to a story in
02:54which nearly every line of dialogue is sung, rather than spoken.
02:58But Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway's award-winning performances proved the naysayers wrong.
03:02Well, mostly wrong.
03:04For the role of Jar-Var, the police inspector whose blind devotion to the law sets the plot
03:08into motion, Russell Crowe was cursed.
03:10The star of numerous critical successes including Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, Crowe is an
03:14undeniably talented actor, but when it comes to singing, he's no virtuoso.
03:19The fact that the singing in Les Miserables was done live rather than inside a recording
03:23studio only made things more challenging for him.
03:26Unfortunately, Crowe's flat notes and strained delivery ended up proving distracting during
03:30a handful of intense and heartbreaking moments.
03:33Some reviewers didn't mince words.
03:34As Kimberly Jones wrote for The Austin Chronicle,
03:37"...when Les Miserables is good, it is very, very good, and when it is bad, it's usually
03:41because Russell Crowe has opened his mouth."
03:44As famous as Mike Myers is, the iconic actor has actually starred in a relatively small
03:48number of movies as the main lead.
03:50This is due in no small part to Myers' total commitment to his original characters, and
03:54the results speak for themselves.
03:56Wayne Campbell, Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, and Shrek are some of the most iconic movie characters
04:01of the 1990s and 2000s.
04:03Few other comedic performers can claim that many genre-defining figures.
04:07It's not entirely fair to hold Myers' bizarre performance as the title character in 2003's
04:11A Cat in the Hat against Myers, as he was forced to take on the project to make amends
04:15for a contract dispute over his pulling out of a movie based on his SNL character, Dieter.
04:21But the love guru was his, and his alone, based on a character he came up with that
04:24was turned into a script he co-wrote.
04:26"...I love my job!"
04:29It would've already been disappointing enough for an actor with a less impressive track
04:33record of original characters to churn out a true weirdo like guru Maurice Pitker.
04:38But the fact that it came from Myers is all the more dumbfounding.
04:41There's nothing funny about Pitker's offensive Indian caricature, and nothing he says or
04:45does comes anywhere close to redeeming the character's racist foundations.
04:49It's easy to spend the entire runtime of The Love Guru wondering how Myers convinced himself
04:54that anyone was going to like it.
04:56It makes sense that a former child star would want to move on to more mature projects as
05:00an adult.
05:01That's why, three years after graduating from the teen sitcom Saved by the Bell, Elizabeth
05:05Berkley took center stage for one of the most infamous theatrical events in film history.
05:09Showgirls was the first movie-rated NC-17 to receive a wide release, and it was so poorly
05:15received that there's never been another one since.
05:17It's safe to say that the cultural response to the sexual content of Showgirls was a bit
05:21of an overreaction.
05:23Almost overnight, Berkley found herself under fire by everyone from concerned parents to
05:27talk show hosts.
05:29Berkley's career was permanently derailed for the crime of turning in a campy performance
05:32as the ambitious dancer Nomi Malone.
05:35Nice dress.
05:36Thanks.
05:37It's a Versace.
05:38It's Versace.
05:39What?
05:41Berkley had to have known that taking the lead in such a risque project would result
05:45in controversy, but she couldn't have possibly predicted just how intense the blowback would
05:49end up being.
05:50The fact that she seemed to be taking her role extremely serious in media appearances
05:54didn't do her any favors, leaving public opinion of the young actor in an unfortunate state
05:58by the time Showgirls left theaters.
06:00Thankfully, that's not where the story ends.
06:02In the decades after its release in 1995, Showgirls has developed a cult following,
06:07with fans who appreciate Berkley's over-the-top performance and prefer laughing with her to
06:11laughing at her.
06:13When a television series that debuted in 1949 has more progressive casting than a major
06:18studio film released in 2013, that's a serious problem.
06:21In the Lone Ranger TV series that ran for five seasons before ending in 1957, an indigenous
06:26Canadian named Jay Silverheels played the title character's Native American sidekick,
06:31Tonto.
06:32It was a surprisingly inclusive decision during an era in which white actors frequently played
06:36characters of color, and nobody batted an eye about it.
06:39Unfortunately, in Disney's 2013 film adaptation of the property, Tonto was played by Johnny
06:44Depp.
06:45As if the white Depp playing a Native American character wasn't bad enough, this version
06:48of Tonto was even more of an ethnic caricature than the 1950s version, complete with face
06:53paint and a dead bird for a headdress, and a very cliched manner of speaking.
06:57Given Depp's executive producer credit and tendency to exert creative control over his
07:01characters along with the fact that he was Disney's golden boy during that era, it's
07:05hard not to assume that all of these offensively baffling choices came directly from him.
07:10Critic Stephen Marsh had an even stronger take, writing for Esquire,
07:13"...Depp is a courageous actor who takes big risks, which sometimes pay off magnificently
07:17and sometimes end in disaster.
07:19The decision to play Tonto falls into the latter category.
07:22It's the kind of artistic failure that makes you question not just the movie and everyone
07:26involved in making it, but the entire culture that produced it."
07:29Zoolander was a hit in 2001, with its memorable jokes and lovable characters turning the film
07:35into a modern comedy classic.
07:37Unfortunately for director, writer, producer, and star Ben Stiller, audiences weren't nearly
07:41as kind when he decided to return to the dark world of male modeling with Zoolander 2.
07:46Stiller obviously bears most of the blame for the movie's 20 percent audience approval
07:50rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but nobody forced Benedict Cumberbatch to accept the role of
07:54an offensively written, non-binary model named All.
07:57Cumberbatch's casting was a source of backlash before Zoolander 2 was even released, as a
08:01joke featured in the trailer made it clear from the start that All's identity would be
08:05used as a punchline.
08:06"...All is not defined by binary constructs."
08:08"...That's cool.
08:09I don't like labels either, but I think he's asking, do you have a hot dog or a bun?"
08:15Reflecting on the controversy years later, Cumberbatch agreed that a non-binary actor
08:19should have played the role instead of him.
08:20He also claimed that he saw All's presence in the movie as a way to point out how out-of-touch
08:24the other characters were, and that they were supposed to be the ones being laughed at rather
08:28than All.
08:29If this is completely true, his performance is one of many elements that make Zoolander
08:332 a difficult watch.
08:36It's hard to believe Quentin Tarantino for wanting to make cameos in his own movies,
08:39even if they tend to be a bit distracting.
08:41Nevertheless, he's been doing them from the very beginning, as he delivered a scene-stealing
08:45monologue as Mr. Brown in his debut film Reservoir Dogs.
08:49Anyone who had watched that particular movie probably wasn't surprised to see Tarantino
08:52make another appearance in his sophomore feature, Pulp Fiction.
08:55That said, they probably were surprised to hear what was coming out of his mouth.
08:59Tarantino plays Jimmy Dimmick, a Los Angeles homeowner who finds himself in a predicament
09:03when local hitmen Jules and Vincent arrive at his door, covered in blood.
09:06They have a body that they need to hide, but Jimmy makes it emphatically clear that they
09:10won't be hiding it on his property.
09:12Perhaps a bit too clear, what follows is an explicit rant featuring several of the hardest
09:16hours ever uttered by a white man in modern cinema history.
09:19The moment isn't particularly well-acted by Tarantino, but it's clear that he enjoyed
09:23filming this scene a little too much.
09:25While Pulp Fiction is still considered a must-watch movie, lots of people would have
09:29preferred it if Tarantino had stayed behind the camera.
09:31Two of the actors who have played the Joker on the big screen, Heath Ledger and Joaquin
09:36Phoenix, won Academy Awards for their respective portrayals.
09:39Jack Nicholson didn't get an Oscar nomination, but that's mostly because comic book movies
09:43still struggled to be recognized as legitimate cinema in 1989.
09:46Nevertheless, he was nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.
09:50As for another certain someone who tried to bring Gotham City's clown prince of crime
09:54to life, nobody objected when award nominations didn't come rolling in for Jared Leto's take.
09:59When the cast list for Suicide Squad was made public in December 2014, fans were curious
10:04to see what Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto would do in the role of Batman's most iconic
10:08villain.
10:09That said, any hope that he would deliver an impressive performance was shattered when
10:12the first image of the character was released a few months later.
10:15Mr. J's metal teeth and tattoos instantly made him a laughingstock across the internet.
10:20How you sweep-talkin' to me?
10:22Ah, ah, ah, I love this guy."
10:27When Suicide Squad finally hit theaters in August of 2016, everyone's worst fears were
10:32confirmed.
10:33Leto's blinged-out urban crime lord vibe fell massively flat, compared to the likes of Ledger
10:37and Nicholson.
10:38Suicide Squad was widely panned, and 2019's Joker soon made Leto's look even worse by
10:44comparison.
10:50Suicide Squad was widely panned, and 2019's Joker soon made Leto's look even worse by
10:52comparison.
10:53Suicide Squad was widely panned, and 2019's Joker soon made Leto's look even worse by
10:54comparison.
10:55Suicide Squad was widely panned, and 2019's Joker soon made Leto's look even worse by
10:56comparison.
10:57Suicide Squad was widely panned, and 2019's Joker soon made Leto's look even worse by
10:58comparison.
10:59Suicide Squad was widely panned, and 2019's Joker soon made Leto's look even worse by comparison.
11:00Suicide Squad was widely panned, and 2019's Joker soon made Leto's look even worse by comparison.
11:01Suicide Squad was widely panned, and 2019's Joker soon made Leto's look even worse by comparison.
11:02Suicide Squad was widely panned, and 2019's Joker soon made Leto's look even worse by comparison.