15 Actors Who Trashed Their Own Movies

When an actor stars in a film, their promotional responsibilities are often written into their contracts. They have to appear on talk shows or post about the film on their social media accounts … or even just not say anything bad about the production, no matter how the film turns out.

With the benefit of time, though, many actors look back on their work and want to let fans know that they were just as disappointed as we were. An actor trashing their own movie lets us know that they’re human just like the rest of us, and that they too can tell when something just didn’t work. It can also make for a great press anecdote. Take Dennis Hopper, for example, who told The A.V. Club that his son once asked him why he bothered to star in “Super Mario Bros.” The “Easy Rider” star recalled telling his son, ‘Well, so you can have shoes.’ And he said, ‘I don’t need shoes.’ So that was my 7-year-old’s impression.”

The actors that follow all had some choice words for their movies, sometimes with the benefit of hindsight and sometimes right in the thick of a promotional cycle, contractual obligations aside. Read on for 15 actors who trashed their own films.

“Speed” is a pulse-pounding action film, a movie with an incredible amount of forward momentum. “Speed 2: Cruise Control” is … not. Whereas the first film takes place on a bus that can’t drop below 50 miles per hour lest it blow up, “Speed 2” happens on a cruise ship. A slow-moving cruise ship, that is.

No one’s more painfully aware of the difference in quality between the movies than star Sandra Bullock. Whereas Keanu Reeves was able to get out of appearing in the sequel, Bullock found herself acting in a film she didn’t stand behind. Years later, she reflected in an interview with TooFab that it’s one of the only movies in her filmography that no one likes. “I have one no one came around to and I’m still embarrassed I was in,” she revealed. “It’s called ‘Speed 2.’ I’ve been very vocal about it. Makes no sense. Slow boat. Slowly going towards an island.” Hey, at least the score is great; all else aside, “Welcome to the Seabourn Legend” is a banger.

“Grease” is a classic for good reason. The chemistry between John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John is electrifying, and the super-catchy songs have made their mark on pop culture. “Grease 2,” on the other hand, didn’t fare as well with critics and audiences.

It also didn’t fare well with star Michelle Pfeiffer, who years later said that she disliked being in it. “I hated that film with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was,” she told Hollywood.com (via The Independent). “At the time, I was young and didn’t know better.” Still, Pfeiffer added, some people have come around on the movie’s wacky energy. “I hear it’s a cult movie now,” she said. That’s true; after all, /Film named “Cool Rider” as one of the greatest movie musical songs ever.

Pfeiffer later took it back. She took to Instagram (via Far Out Magazine) to correct the record, clarifying, “This project is and has always been so special to me and my history.”

Ben Affleck stars in “Armageddon” as A.J. Frost, an oil driller turned astronaut. In a harebrained scheme to blow up an asteroid before it destroys the planet, the government decides that it’s easier to train oil men to explore space than it is to train astronauts to use a drill.

If you’ve ever wondered why “Armageddon” went with that silly plot, you’re not alone. Affleck himself had some choice words for director Michael Bay on the film’s DVD commentary (via YouTube), recounting a confrontation where he asked Bay what he was thinking. “I asked Michael why it was easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts than it was to train astronauts to become oil drillers, and he told me to shut the f*** up,” Affleck recalled. “He was like, ‘Just shut your mouth.'” Bay insisted that the film was based on a real plan at NASA, but Affleck remained skeptical.

Movie believability aside, science says the plot of “Armageddon” is indeed possible. Apparently, we might be able to blow up an asteroid before it destroys us all. These days, though, shouldn’t we just let it?

The “Jaws” movies range from masterpiece to garbage fire. Steven Spielberg’s original is incredible, and then one by one, each sequel gets exponentially worse. By the time “Jaws: The Revenge” rolled around, we are meant to believe that the shark from the first movie had family members who were devastated by their loss, so they decided to track Brody’s widow to the Bahamas. It’s as silly as it sounds.

Star Michael Caine, who played Hoagie in the film, has never bothered to watch the movie. He’s well aware of its reputation, however. On an episode of “Andrew Denton’s Interview,” Caine explained, “One of the worst pictures I did was a picture, I think it was called ‘Jaws 4.’ … I was paid a million dollars for two weeks’ work.” The actor revealed that he was once confronted by a displeased fan. “They said, ‘It stinks.’ I said, ‘I haven’t seen it, but I’ve seen the house it bought my mother, and it’s marvelous.'” Can’t argue with that!

In the 1980s and ’90s, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were two of the biggest stars in the world … no pun intended. The burly action heroes were rivals, trying to outdo one another by picking the best projects possible.

That’s why Stallone starred in a terrible action-comedy called “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot,” as he explained to “Fox & Friends.” The Italian Stallion recalled, “Schwarzenegger tricked me to do that piece of junk,” he said. “He’s a prankster.” The “Terminator” star evidently made noise around town that he was interested in the film, and Stallone decided to steal it out from under him. “Once I got it, I realized, I’m in such a turkey, and it’s not even Thanksgiving, folks,” Stallone said. “And I have to live with that for the rest of my life.”

Stallone loves taking an opportunity to trash the film. Speaking with Ain’t It Cool News, he joked, “A flatworm could write a better script then ‘Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.'”

In 2007, “Grey’s Anatomy” star Katherine Heigl starred in “Knocked Up.” She plays Alison, a woman who finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand with a stoner (Seth Rogen). Just a year later, in 2008, Heigl spoke with Vanity Fair about the film. “It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys,” she complained. “It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I’m playing such a b****; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you’re portraying women?

Heigl’s comments surprised the industry, including her co-stars. Years later, Rogen reacted to her opinion in an interview with Howard Stern (via Entertainment Weekly). “Your trust feels somewhat betrayed,” he said. “We have a very open process. We’re like, ‘You have the ability to say anything at any moment.'”

For her part, Heigl later took it back, blaming industry inexperience. “I absolutely owe anyone an apology I unwittingly offended or disrespected. I get it,” she told Howard Stern (via Us Weekly). “It was an immature dumbass moment.”

When “The Help” was released in 2011,it was nominated for four Oscars, ultimately sending Octavia Spencer home with a statue. The film’s story resonated with many viewers, giving a peek into the lives of the Black maids who cared for white families in the South.

These days, however, the movie’s stars don’t look back on it as positively as they once might have. In 2020, amid the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd, Bryce Dallas Howard took to Instagram to recommend that fans look elsewhere for movies about racism. She told The Los Angeles Times, “The storytellers who we must listen to right now and look to and learn from — there’s an extraordinary body of work that centers on Black characters from Black creators.”

Viola Davis was nominated for an Academy Award for the film, but even she wouldn’t make it today. She is uncomfortable with “The Help” because it centers on a white woman (Emma Stone), even as it purports to be about the Black experience. She told Vanity Fair, “There’s a part of me that feels like I betrayed myself, and my people, because I was in a movie that wasn’t ready to [tell the whole truth]. [It was] created in the filter and the cesspool of systemic racism.” 

The violent, profane superhero movie “Kick-Ass” hit theaters in 2010, just as the superhero movie machine really began churning. Its more adult take on the genre entertained viewers, scoring an impressive 78% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Chloe Grace Moretz won particular praise as Hit-Girl, a trash-talking youngster with a foul mouth.

Three years later, “Kick-Ass 2” failed to recapture the magic. The movie focused more on Hit-Girl, following her adventures in high school, and it fell flat. Moretz is well aware of the film’s reception, and she herself is so uninterested in it that she doesn’t want to do a third film in hopes that people will forget there was even a second one. Speaking at the Provincetown Film Festival (via IndieWire), she admitted, “I wish the second one had been handled in a little bit of a different way. Because I think we were all kind of looking forward to something a little different than what happened with it all.” Furthermore, she added, “As much as I love the character of Hit-Girl, I think she lives and survives in ‘Kick-Ass,’ and I kind of want to keep her there.”

Matt Damon has been in some great movies, but he’s also been in some terrible ones. Just ask his daughter. Appearing on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” Damon said his daughter only watches his bad movies. “She kept calling it ‘The Wall,'” he said, “and I was finally like, ‘Isabella, that movie is called ‘The Great Wall.’ And she was like, ‘Dad, there is nothing great about that movie.'”

She’s not wrong. The 2016 action film saw Damon star as a white man in China helping repel an invasion of monsters. Despite some visual flourishes, it’s not particularly good, and Damon knew it while filming. On an episode of “WTF with Marc Maron,” Damon explained, “It doesn’t work as a movie … I came to consider that the definition of a professional actor: knowing you’re in a turkey and going, ‘Okay, I’ve got four more months.'” He was miserable on set, ultimately reflecting, “That’s as s***y as you can feel creatively, I think. I hope to never have that feeling again.”

In 1998, long before he found critical respectability (and an Oscar win) in projects like “The Dallas Buyers Club,” Jared Leto starred in “Urban Legend.” The post-“Scream” meta-slasher finds students in peril thanks to a killer reenacting famous urban legends, and Leto plays Paul, a particularly bright newspaper reporter who faces off against the killer.

While “Urban Legend” certainly has its fans, Leto isn’t one of them. Just a few years after the horror movie hit theaters, the actor’s career had taken off. He’d been in “Fight Club” and “Requiem for a Dream” among others, and in an IGN interview, he wasn’t interested in discussing “Urban Legend.” In fact, no matter how many ways the reporter tried to jog his memory, Leto claimed he had no recollection of the film’s existence. “I didn’t do that,” he said. “Get the f*** outta here! What are you talkin’ about? … That’s so weird. I’ve never even heard of that movie.” Insisting he wasn’t joking, Leto proclaimed, “I must have had a blackout.” Sure.

In 2016, Jennifer Lawrence starred opposite Chris Pratt in “Passengers.” The film tells the story of travelers in suspended animation on a journey across space. When Pratt’s character is accidentally awakened early, he revives Lawrence so he has someone to talk to. The weird, misogynistic storyline didn’t work, and “Passengers” is a rough spot in Lawrence’s filmography. 

She told The New York Times that around that time, she could tell she was disappointing her fans. “I was like, ‘Oh no, you guys are here because I’m here, and I’m here because you’re here. Wait, who decided that this was a good movie?'” Apparently she was even warned against taking the film by a famous friend. “Adele told me not to do it!” Lawrence revealed. “She was like, ‘I feel like space movies are the new vampire movies.’ I should have listened to her.” 

In 1990, Emilio Estevez directed himself and Charlie Sheen in “Men At Work.” The comedy finds the brothers playing garbage men who get wrapped up in a crime caper, and the film was not particularly well-received; it currently sits at a mere 30% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Years later, when Sheen hosted “Saturday Night Live,” his opening monologue took the form of a Q&A with the audience … or, rather, with planted audience members. Writer Steve Higgins stood up to confront Sheen over “Men At Work.” Sheen took out his wallet and selected a couple of bills, asking Higgins for more details about having gone to see the movie. “Did you see it at night or during the day? … Probably had a date, bought some popcorn. Looking at you, it’s probably a big tub,” he joked. Sheen handed the man his refund, turned back to the crowd, and shrugged, “Like I said, I’m not proud of my past!”

While the Twilight movies were massively successful at the box office, they didn’t exactly receive sparkling reviews from critics. If you, too, had some things you didn’t like about the films, you’re not alone. Robert Pattinson — Edward Cullen himself — agrees with you, as he made very clear even while promoting the franchise. Around the time of “New Moon,” for example, he spoke about the strange attraction fans have to Edward in an interview with the British OK! Magazine (via MTV). “If Edward wasn’t a fictional character and you met him in reality he is like one of those guys who would probably be an axe murderer or something,” he said.

He even once told Empire (via Gizmodo) that he couldn’t stand his character, and that affected how he chose to portray the vampire. “The more I read the script, the more I hated this guy, so that’s how I played him, as a manic-depressive who hates himself,” he said. “Plus, he’s a 108-year-old virgin so he’s obviously got some issues there.” He said it, not us!

In 1997, George Clooney slipped under Batman’s iconic cowl to portray the caped crusader in “Batman & Robin.” That’s a decision he now regrets. The Joel Schumacher-directed film was roundly mocked, not least because they put nipples on the Batsuit, making it one of the most controversial sci-fi costumes of all time. Clooney hates the movie so much that he refuses to let his wife watch it. He told Variety, “There are certain films I just go, ‘I want my wife to have some respect for me.'”

Clooney has even gone so far as to apologize for his part in the movie. In an appearance on “The Graham Norton Show,” Clooney said he told a Comic-Con audience that he was sorry. “I always apologize for ‘Batman & Robin,'” he said. “I actually thought I destroyed the franchise, until they brought it back … I thought at the time that this was gonna be a very good career move. It wasn’t.”

Few comic book movies have been as roundly mocked as “Catwoman,” the 2004 Halle Berry vehicle that saw the Oscar-winning actor don a leather bikini to play the iconic character. The movie was considered such a joke upon release, in fact, that when Berry was awarded a Razzie for worst actress, she showed up to accept the award in person. Pretending to be overwhelmed with emotion, Berry gave a tremendously funny acceptance speech that acknowledged the movie’s poor reputation. “I want to thank Warner Bros. Thank you for putting me in a piece of s*** godawful movie,” she said (via YouTube). “It was just what my career needed, you know? I was at the top, and then ‘Catwoman’ just plummeted me to the bottom. Love it!” 

Berry even went on to insult the rest of the cast. “It’s really important: in order to give a really bad performance like I did, you need a lot of bad actors around you,” she said. “So I want to thank all of them for being bad right along with me.”

These days, however, Berry doesn’t view “Catwoman” as an utter failure. “I learned two forms of martial arts,” she reflected in 2018, “and I learned not what to do.”