From a Post-It lovin' vamp to a feline funny man with a serious snack food addiction,
these stars tanked their own movies with their onset antics.
I Love Trouble is a 1994 romantic comedy co-written by the then-married duo of Charles
Shyer and Nancy Meyers. Shyer also directed and Meyers served as producer. It stars Julia
Roberts as a young reporter and Nick Nolte as a veteran journalist who join forces to uncover a
conspiracy that involves genetically altered milk. The pair argue constantly but develop
a formidable partnership. Alas, the film was a loser at both the box office and among critics.
As it turns out, the combative nature of the two main characters was apparently quite genuine.
In an interview with The New York Times, Roberts blamed Nolte for a difficult working environment
on set. She claimed that he could be endearing one moment and revolting the next, while adding,
"He seems to go out of his way to repel people."
The problem became so bad that the Los Angeles Times reported that the
pair often refused to act together, prompting the crew to use stand-ins,
which may well have contributed to their lack of chemistry.
A few decades ago, Wesley Snipes was one of the biggest action stars on the planet. But then he
suffered a spectacular fall from grace, which included a stint in prison for tax evasion,
although he's managed to get back on the upswing in recent years. One of
the precursors to his downfall happened with 2004's Blade: Trinity. The third entry in the
Marvel vampire franchise also starred Ryan Reynolds, Jessica Biel, and Patton Oswalt.
During a 2012 interview with The A.V. Club, Oswalt revealed that the entire
production was problematic, and that much of that was on Snipes. As Oswalt put it,
"He wouldn't come out of his trailer, and he would smoke weed all day."
Oswalt also revealed that Snipes got into a big fight with director David S. Goyer, prompting
Goyer to hire bikers for security. The feud was so bad that the actor would only communicate
with the director through Post-It notes, which is obviously not the most ideal way to make a movie.
"And each one he would sign 'Blade,' so-"
During the 80s and early 90s, Dan Aykroyd was one of the biggest names
in comedy. After starring in iconic hits like The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters,
he was able to secure a deal to create the bizarre comedy-horror flick Nothing But Trouble in 1991.
It also ended up being the one and only time he would direct a feature film. Although it
features plenty of impressive acting talent, including John Candy, Demi Moore, and Chevy Chase,
it failed to make much of an impression, grossing just over $8 million at the domestic box office.
In a 1993 profile for New York Magazine, Chase explained that the movie was the kind
of project that could end someone's career, while also making a point of noting that it
was entirely Aykroyd's concept. Not only did he write and direct, he also played two different
characters. While Chase put the blame for the movie's failure on his friend's shoulders,
there have also been questions raised about his own antics on the set.
In 2010, Mickey Rourke [RORK] starred in Passion Play alongside Megan Fox, Bill Murray,
and Rhys Ifans [REESE EE-vuhns]. Rourke took the lead as a down-on-his-luck jazz musician who falls
in love with an exotic dancer and attempts to rescue her from a violent gangster after
she's kidnapped. Despite the talented cast, the film received scathing reviews and grossed only
$25,000 at the worldwide box office against a budget of $15 million.
Rourke was actually originally quite complimentary about one of his-costars,
telling E! Online that Fox was wonderful in the film, although he later appeared to backtrack
that sentiment. When speaking with Vulture in 2011, he flat-out described the movie
as terrible and then seemed to suggest that Fox might've been part of the reason for that. When
challenged about his previous description of her as a great actor, he only smirked and responded,
"That I worked with."
That's obviously not the best way to paint your co-star in a good light.
"Listen, little lady, what can I do for you?"
In 2006's Annapolis, a young man named Jake, played by James Franco, is accepted into the
U.S. Naval Academy. Struggling academically and causing frustration among the other recruits,
he eventually wins back their loyalty and support by performing impressively against
2nd Lieutenant Matthew Cole, played by Tyrese Gibson, in a boxing tournament. The movie
didn't exactly win over many critics, though. Roger Ebert, for one, declared,
"It is [...] the kind of film that has no visible reason for existing,
except that everybody got paid."
Meanwhile, it earned less than $18 million in total at the worldwide
box office. If Gibson is to be believed, much of the failure lies at Franco's feet.
In numerous interviews since the film was released, he's claimed that Franco's Method
acting caused problems on set and even led to heated arguments, especially when Franco
actually punched his co-star. As Gibson put it bluntly in a 2007 Playboy interview,
"I never want to work with [Franco] again,
and I'm sure he feels the same way. It felt very personal."
To plenty of observers, 1990's The Bonfire of the Vanities must've looked like a slam dunk.
Director Brian De Palma was coming off a string of hits, and the movie was based on a bestselling
novel by Tom Wolfe. It also starred some big names like Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, and Morgan Freeman.
But it didn't turn out quite so well, as it made back just $15 million of its $47 million budget.
On top of the disappointing box office, Bonfire was also nominated for five Golden
Raspberry Awards, including Melanie Griffith and Kim Cattrall for Worst Actress and Worst
Supporting Actress, respectively. Speaking about the movie years later, Hanks admitted that part of
the reason for its failure was that everyone in the film, including himself, was miscast.
He also made it clear that translating the book itself to the screen was simply too challenging.
Mike Myers might not exactly be the comedy superstar that he was in the late 90s and
early 2000s, but at least he doesn't have a reputation as a jerk. However,
at least one of his co-stars might dispute that.
Myers had starred in a string of hits like Wayne's World, Austin Powers, and Shrek,
before taking on the role of the title feline in the 2003 adaptation of Dr. Seuss' The Cat in
the Hat. The movie also starred Amy Hill as the children's original babysitter.
"Look, I'm a cat that can talk. That should be enough for you people."
During a 2016 interview with The A.V. Club, Hill claimed that Myers was a huge diva who
would make the cast and crew wait for a long time before showing up on set. She also said that the
cast had to do more takes than necessary, as Myers would constantly tell director Bo
Welch that he wanted to reshoot parts of the script. Hill even went so far as to reveal,
"There was a guy who held his chocolates in a little Tupperware. Whenever he needed chocolate,
he’d come running over and give him a chocolate. That’s what divas are like,
I guess. Or people who need therapy."
Val Kilmer has always had a bit of a mixed reputation. Even from a young age,
he was said to be something of a diva and perfectionist. So it shouldn't be
too surprising to learn that he's clashed with a number of directors and fellow actors over
the years. And his most notorious behavior may have happened during
the notoriously troubled production of 1996's The Island of Dr. Moreau.
The documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of
Dr. Moreau touched upon some of these issues. Kilmer and his co-star Marlon
Brando reportedly almost came to blows several times, and filming was delayed
when the pair refused to work with each other. At one point, Brando allegedly told Kilmer,
"Your problem is you confuse the size of your paycheck with the size of your talent."
And it wasn't just Brando who had a problem with Kilmer, as director John Frankenheimer
told Entertainment Weekly that he didn't want to work or interact with the actor ever again.
Starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, 2003's Gigli is a mix of crime drama and romantic comedy
that was met with widespread ridicule. Telling the story of two mobsters who are involved in a
botched kidnapping, the protagonists eventually end up becoming romantically involved and escape
together. Often regarded as one of the worst films ever made, it was also a huge box office failure,
grossing only $7 million at the worldwide box office against a $75 million budget.
"Affleck and Lopez are so taken with each other, they don't need an audience. Good thing,
cause they're not gonna get one, not with this stinker."
Affleck has since spoken about how he believes both he and Lopez carry some
of the blame for Gigli's terrible performance. In a 2022 interview with Entertainment Weekly,
he revealed that his real-life relationship with his co-star attracted too much attention to the
project. This also led to the studio deciding to add rom-com elements that weren't originally
part of the film, initially to take advantage of all the press coverage focused on the actors.
The implication here, of course, is that if Lopez wasn't part of the production,
things might've gone differently. What makes matters worse is that Lopez only
got the role after Halle Berry dropped out, with Variety reporting that her
commitment to X-Men 2 clashed with Gigli's proposed shooting schedule.
Directed by Guy Ritchie, 2017's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is an epic medieval action
flick with fantasy elements inspired by Arthurian legends. Slated to be the start of a brand new
blockbuster franchise, it reportedly instead ended up losing Warner Bros. around $150 million,
with worldwide box office earnings of $148 million against a $175 million budget. Even
talented actors such as Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law could do little to save the movie,
which received mostly mixed-to-negative reviews.
While there are a whole host of reasons why Legend of the Sword failed to meet expectations,
Hunnam believes there is one notable cause that played a large part. While chatting
with Andy Cohen during a 2020 radio interview, he revealed that one actor was miscast and had
to be cut from the final edit. This ended up wreaking havoc on the central storyline,
and the character was ultimately absent from the movie entirely. Hunnam didn't reveal what the
cut scenes entailed or who that particular actor even was, leaving this legend a bit of a mystery.
"I just felt like we really missed an opportunity to tell a long-form story."
In the 2018 crime drama Billionaire Boys Club, a group of young men in the 1960s quickly find
wealth through a Los Angeles-based Ponzi scheme. But then they soon find themselves
at the center of controversy and implicated in the murder of a character played by Kevin
Spacey. The ensemble cast also included Taron Egerton, Ansel Elgort, and Emma Roberts.
The film wrapped production at the end of 2016, which was shortly before actor Anthony
Rapp made allegations of sexual misconduct against Spacey. More accusations from other
individuals followed over the subsequent months, as police in Britain and the United States began
to investigate the actor. The controversy surrounding Spacey led to Billionaire Boys
Club having a very limited theatrical release, as it opened in just ten theaters in the U.S.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Taron Egerton said that the movie was a disappointment
on multiple fronts, as he also admitted that its story may not have been very appealing
to moviegoers. However, he also put much of the blame directly on Spacey, as he noted,
"It's sad that his professional demise threw such a shadow over our film."
Based on this, it's not hard to infer that Egerton believes that Spacey's behavior was
effectively responsible for at least some of the film's poor performance.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault,
help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).