Every actress dreams of landing that one role that will propel them into stardom. This dream role will be the reason they get bigger, better projects and their name becomes a household name. Increased fame also means they can start being a bit more picky about the roles they want to take on.
Screenshot from HBO’s Game of Thrones
Unfortunately, sometimes some actresses end up having a role that actually does the exact opposite. For example, one sad movie will lead to them being typecast throughout their entire acting career. We’ve compiled a list of some actresses who regret playing their most famous roles and why they regret it.
Katherine Heigl in “Knocked Up”
Katherine Heigl rose to fame when she appeared alongside Seth Rogen in Judd Apatow’s 2007 movie Knocked Up. Although it became the reason she was more noticed in showbiz, she later on confessed that she wasn’t so proud of the movie.
Screenshot from Universal Pictures’ Knocked Up
Heigl said the movie was “a little sexist” during her interview with Vanity Fair. “It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys,” she added.
Jennifer Lawrence in “Mother!”
Despite Lawrence being proud of the work she did, she was candid about her thoughts on Daren Aronofsky’s 2017 horror film Mother!. Lawrence revealed that when she watched the movie for the first time, it shocked her how dark the whole movie was.
Screenshot from Protozoa Pictures’ Mother!
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lawrence said she didn’t regret being a part of the movie. However, she also said, “If I had to do it again? If there was a Mother! sequel? No. I wouldn’t be able to do it again.”
Emilia Clarke in “Terminator Genisys”
Thanks to her iconic role as the Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen, Emilia Clarke has become a household name. Unfortunately, her first Hollywood big screen role that introduced her to the sci-fi and fantasy wasn’t one she remembers too fondly.
Screenshot from Skydance Productions’ Terminator Genisys
Clarke revealed in her Vanity Fair interview that she was “relieved” that Terminator Genisys flopped so that she wouldn’t have to return for any sequel whatsoever. She also mentioned the name of friend and director Alan Taylor, saying, “He was noth the director I remembered. He didn’t have a good time. No one had a good time.”
Sally Field in “Amazing Spider-Man”
Sally Field may have played Aunt May in the successful Amazing Spider-Man franchise, but she has been very open about her disdain with playing Aunt May. She admitted that she only took on the role as a favor to her producing partner Laura Ziskin.
Screenshot from Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man
During a guesting on The Howard Stern Show, she admitted she didn’t prepare a lot for the role. “It’s really hard to find a three-dimensional character in it. You work it as much as you can, but you can’t put 10 pounds of s*** in a five-pound bag,” she said.
Jennifer Garner in “Elektra”
Jennifer Garner may be on the most idolized actresses of her generation, she has one role she’s not particularly too fond of, and that is her role in the 2005 movie Elektra. The movie was a spin-off film to 2003 movie Daredevil
Screenshot from 20th Century Fox’s Elektra
She did not talk about it personally, but her ex-boyfriend and good friend Michael Vartan disclosed that Garner hated her role, but had no other choice because it was part of her contract when she first played Elektra in Daredevil.
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Viola Davis received critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for her role in 2011 movie The Help. However, this was one role she truly regretted making due to the normalization of the “white savior” narrative.
Screenshot from Walt Disney Studios’ The Help
In a Vanity Fair interview, she explained, “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]” and added that the movie was “created in the filter and the cesspool of systemic racism.”
Cher in “Burlesque”
Actress and singer Cher may be a Hollywood icon, but it was her role in the 2010 movie Burlesque that secured that iconic status of hers. Alas, Cher has been vocal about her dislike of the film years after its release.
Screenshot from Burlesque
When Cher had an interview with the Los Angeles Times, she admitted she didn’t like how the movie turned out. “It wasn’t a good film. It had a few good moments, but I didn’t even like my performance that much,” she said.
Eva Green in “Casino Royale”
Many actresses aspire of becoming a Bond girl, but not Eva Green, who played Bond girl Vesper Lynd in the 2006 film Casino Royale. Green admitted the she felt worried when the movie came out because she didn’t feel like a Bond girl kind of girl.
Screenshot from Casino Royale
She also admitted that it was her agent who was the reason why she accepted the role even if she wasn’t too eager for it. “I wasn’t interested, but she bullied me into reading the script,” she said in her Daily Star interview.
Megan Fox in “Transformers”
Although it was Megan Fox’s role in Transformers that shot her into stardom, she has been pretty honest about her not-so-positive experience on the set of the movie, confessing that she had an unpleasant time working with the director, Michael Bay.
Screenshot from Transformers
This is what she had to say about Bay: “Michael wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he’s a nightmare to work for.” Bay was not too happy with the comments Fox made about him, and so they fired her from the series.
Sarah Jessica Parker in “Sex and The City 2”
The Sex and The City franchise was one the most loved shows from the late 90s, but we can all pretty much agree that it hasn’t aged well since. Even the franchise’s own Sarah Jessica Parker agrees with the criticisms aimed at the movies.
Screenshot from Sex and The City 2
Parker told New York Magazine’s Adam Moss, “I can see where we fell short on that movie, and I’m perfectly happy to say that publicly.” Despite her admission on the movie’s errors, she is still proud of how successful the movie was in terms of earnings.
Halle Berry in “Catwoman”
Hollywood icon Halle Berry played Catwoman in the 2004 movie of the same movie, but sad to say it ended up being a huge flop. Berry has been open about how, in hindsight, she should have been aware that the movie was going to flop.
Screenshot from Catwoman
At the New York Women in Communication award ceremony, Berry said during her acceptance speech, “Everbody around me said, ‘Girl don’t do it. It’s going to be the death of you. It’s going to end your career.’ But guess what I did? I followed my intuition and I did a movie called Catwoman and it bombed miserably.”
Jessica Alba in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”
Jessica Alba made a name in the action genre of movies like the Fantastic Four franchise. However, she has also been very vocal about her disappoint with the absence of emotional depth in movies like these.
Screenshot form Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
It turns out this movie almost drove her to quit acting. Alba revealed in an interview with Elle Magazine, “The director [Tim Story] was like, ‘It looks too real. It looks too painful. Can you be prettier when you cry? Cry pretty, Jessica.'”
Rooney Mara in “Pan”
When Rooney Mara starred in Pan, a spin on the classic Peter Pan story, last 2015, she became widely recognized. However, she later on spoke up about the regret she felt playing Tiger Lily. People criticized her role as another case of whitewashing because, as we all know, Tiger Lily is Native American… and Mara isn’t.
Screenshot from Pan
She told The Telegraph, “I really hate, hate, hate, that I am on that side of the whitewashing conversation. I really do. I don’t ever want to be on that side of it again. I can understand why people were upset and frustrated.”
Helen Mirren in “Caligula”
Multi-award winning actress Helen Mirren may be most recognized for her roles in 2001 movie Gosford Park and 2006 movie The Queen, but the 1979 movie Caligula was the one that got her first started on royal roles.
Screenshot from Caligula
Caligula has infamously become one of the most erotic Roman epics in all of Hollywood. Mirren has even described the movie as “an irresistible mix of art and genitals”. Fortunately, Mirren said she has great memories of it.
Kate Winslet in “Titanic”
Many of us know Kate Winslet as Rose in the all-time 1997 classic Titanic. She starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in this tragic love story that was the main reason she shot to fame. However, Winslet has confessed that she’s not particularly fond of herself in the movie.
Screenshot from Titanic
In an interview with CNN, Winslet said if she could, she’d redo every single scene she was in. “I’m like, ‘Ugh, really? Really? You did it like that? Oh my god.’ And even my American accent, I’m like, ‘Ugh, I can’t even listen to myself.'”
Dakota Johnson in “50 Shades of Grey”
It honestly doesn’t come as a surprise that partaking in a highly erotic movie will end up as a regret, so it’s safe to say nobody was too surprised when Dakota Johnson confessed that she had mixed feelings playing Anastasia in the 50 Shades of Grey franchise.
Screenshot from 50 Shades Freed
“It comes in waves. It’s one thing if a film has one sex scene in it, but with this, a large part of the premise is the arc of their sexual relationship,” Johnson opened up to Glamour Magazine.
Charlize Theron in “Reindeer Games”
Although Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron can now pick the movies she wants to star in, she previously starred in b-movies and movie flops. One of those was the 2000 action movie Reindeer Games, where she starred alongside actor Ben Affleck.
Screenshot from Reindeer Games
During an interview with Esquire last 2007, Theron admitted that it was her least favorite from all the movies she’s done. She said, “That was a bad, bad, bad movie.” She revealed that her consolation was that at least she got to work with John Frankenheimer.
Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction”
Glenn Close’s performance in Fatal Attraction was so stellar that she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Alas, Close deeply regretted how the movie contributed to the stigma surrounding mental health.
Screenshot from Fatal Attraction
“That did nothing but feed into the stigma,” she said in her Radio Times interview. “They made her into a psychopath. But people who suffer abuse can end up abusers. More interesting now would be the story from her point of view.”
Natalie Portman in “Hotel Chevalier”
For many, it seems as though Natalie Portman can do absolutely no wrong. In an interview with MTV news, though, Portman was disappointed with her role in Hotel Chevalier. However, it wasn’t because she was disappointed with the movie, it was more of how the nudity was misconstrued and posted on vulgar adult sites.
Screenshot from Hotel Chevalier
“I don’t really have regrets,” she said. “It’s more that I don’t like misappropriation of stuff, like when you create something as part of a story and then a piece of it ends up on a porn site. It’s meant to be a dramatic scene and part of a story.”
Nicole Kidman in “Australia”
Australia-born Nicole Kidman was the perfect actress to star alongside Hugh Jackman in the movie Australia. Although the movie became a box office success, Kidman actually considers it as nothing but a flop.
Screenshot from Australia
Kidman confessed that she ‘squirmed’ in her seat the entire time she was watching the premiere in Sydney. “I can’t look at this movie and be proud of what I’ve done,” she told radio station 2dayFM. “It’s just impossible for me to connect to it emotionally at all.”
Michelle Pfeiffer in “Grease 2”
Michelle Pfeiffer first appeared on our screens when she played the lead in Grease 2, the sequel to the 1979 musical Grease. The movie turned out to be a flop, unfortunately. However, it was the start of a wonderful career for Pfeiffer.
Screenshot from Grease 2
Despite it being her breakout role, Pfeiffer has been open about her dislike of the movie. “I hated that film with a vengeance and couldn’t believe how bad it was. At the time I was young and didn’t know any better,” she said.
Kelly Clarkson in “From Justin to Kelly”
When Kelly Clarkson won the American people’s hearts and votes in American Idol last 2002, she was given a contract for two things: an album and a movie. She starred in the movie From Justin to Kelly, a movie criticized as one of the worst films in Hollywood history.
Screenshot from From Justin to Kelly
Kelly later on revealed that she hated starring in the movie. “I cried. I talked to many lawyers and could not get out of the movie,” she told newspaper Los Angeles Times. “It was a very miserable time of my life,” she added.
Molly Ringwald in “The Breakfast Club”
Since its release, John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club has become a cult classis and remains one of the most famous portrayal of the high school life. However, Molly Ringwald later on expressed the discomfort she felt from the movie in hindsight.
Screenshot from The Breakfast Club
“John’s movies convey the anger and fear of isolation that adolescents feel, and seeing that others might feel the same way is a balm for the trauma that teenagers experience,” she wrote on The New Yorker. “Whether that’s enough to make up for the impropriety of the films is hard to say.”
Meryl Streep in “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”
Multi-award winning actress Meryl Streep may, undoubtedly, be one of the greatest actresses of this generation. She received many awards for her role in the 1982 movie The French Lieutenant’s Woman, but she admitted on The Graham Norton Show that she wasn’t really a fan of it.
Screenshot from The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Streep said she wasn’t too happy with her performance in the movie. “I’m giving myself an out, but part of it was, the structure of it was sort of artificial,” she said. “I didn’t feel I was living it. You always want to do something better after the fact.”
Carrie Fisher in “Star Wars”
Everybody knows legend Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise. In fact, it may be Fisher’s most iconic role. Although she expressed that she regretted playing Princess Leia in the franchise, it’s not for the reasons you think.
Screenshot from Star Wars
She opened up to The Today Show saying if only she knew how big Star Wars was going to be, she would have turned down the role. “I would never have done it,” she said. “All I did when I was really famous was wait for it to end.”
Gwyneth Paltrow in “Shallow Hal”
We know Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black meant well when they shot the 2001 comedy film Shallow Hal, but reflecting on it now, Paltrow admits she truly regretted being a part of the movie, and I think we all know why.
Screenshot from Shallow Hal
The movie basically gave off the idea that women are only worthy of love if they are not overweight. In a Netflix interview with Kevin Keating, Paltrow said the movie was a “disaster” for how it viewed women’s bodies.
Miley Cyrus in “Hannah Montana”
Seeing how far she’s come from that Southern innocent girl-next-door vibe she gave off, we’re not surprised to find out that Miley Cyrus wasn’t too happy with her hit series Hannah Montana.
Screenshot from Hannah Montana
Because she was under Disney and was a role model to millions of young kids worldwide, she had to maintain a squeaky-clean reputation. She confessed that she wanted to break out of the Hannah Montana mold when she was 18 saying, “It got weird. It just felt like I was grown up.”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Passengers”
Passengers was a 2016 sci-fi movie that starred A-list actors Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. Despite it having negative reviews, it actually did well in the box office. But Lawrence confessed that she regretted some things about the film, especially love scenes with co-star Christ Pratt, who is a married man.
Screenshot from Passengers
In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, she described it as a weird, bizarre experience. She said it was her first time kissing a married man and “guilt is, like, the worst feeling in your stomach.
Lindsay Lohan in “I Know Who Killed Me”
There may be a lot of controversy surrounding Lindsay Lohan, but we can’t deny that she definitely knows how to poke fun at her own expense. A fan sent her a tweet saying they watched the 2007 horror movie twice in a row, and Lohan responded with one simple line.
Screenshot from I Know Who Killed Me
The fan tweeted, “Can you tweet me. I seriously watched I Know Who Killed Me twice last night!” Lohan responded with, “Two times too many!” showing that she wasn’t a big fan of the film, too.
Mariah Carey in “Glitter”
Glitter is, sadly, known as one of the worst films in history, so it’s no surprise that lead actress Mariah Carey regretted starring in the 2001 movie. Not only does she regret it, she also said it was the lowest point of her whole career.
Screenshot from Glitter
On the Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Carey said “It almost ruined my life. It was a tough time when it came out. It was a whole thing; it was a drama.” Carey had a hard time following the flop of the movie, but thankfully she got back on her feet.
Emilia Clarke in “Game of Thrones”
There are mixed reactions from the entire world about the final season of Game of Thrones. Some believed it was an epic finale to the long-standing conflict, while some believed it was a disgrace to the character development that characters had.
Screenshot from Game of Thrones
For Mother of Dragons Emilia Clarke, she was absolutely disappoint with her fall from grace. She said on an Entertainment Weekly interview, “I cried because it comes out of f***ing nowhere. I’m flabbergasted. Absolutely never saw that coming.”
Nicole Kidman in “Big Little Lies”
Nicole Kidman is on our list again, but this time it’s for her highly-coveted role in the TV drama Big Little Lies. Although the drama gave her a career boost, she admitted that there was one scene she absolutely hated.
Screenshot from Big Little Lies
Although the therapy scene is arguably one of the best scenes from the drama, Kidman says she hated it. “When I saw the therapy scene, which people really responded to, I thought I was terrible,” she opened up to Variety.
Emma Watson in “Harry Potter”
The Harry Potter franchise may have launched aspiring actress Emma Watson’s successful career, but she admitted that she had an “agonizing” time when filmed the seven successful movies.
Screenshot from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
She described to Entertainment Weekly how it was the “most intense, grueling period of film-making I’ve ever done.” She said, “I get told what time I get picked up. I get told what time I can eat, when I have time to go to the bathroom. Every single second of my day is not in my power. I hate to sound whiny but it’s horrible.”
Mary-Louise Parker in “Weeds”
The controversial TV show Weeds may have turned Mary-Louise Parker into a showbiz darling, but she has expressed her unhappiness in a lot of the BTS decisions being made—especially her nude scene in the last season.
Screenshot from Weeds
In the June issue of MORE Magazine, she said “I didn’t think I needed to be naked. I fought with the director about it, and now I am bitter. I knew it was going to be on the internet. I wish I hadn’t done that. I was goaded into it.”
Pamela Anderson in “Baywatch”
Dur to her beach babe role in the classic TV show Baywatch, Pamela Anderson became one of the most sought after stars. After she said goodbye from the role, Anderson said there was one thing she completely regretted from Baywatch, but it’s not what you think it is.
Screenshot from Baywatch
The one thing Anderson regretted was wearing fur-lined Ugg boots on set and being the reason why they became popular. She is now a dedicated animal rights activist, so it does make sense for her. Since then, she has released her own vegan footwear.
Grace Jones in “A View To A Kill”
Actress and model Grace Jones turned heads when she became a Bond girl in the 1985 Bond film A View To A Kill. However, later on, Jones opened up about the untold tensions they had behind the scenes.
Screenshot from A View To A Kill
In 2015, she released an autobiography called I’ll Never Write My Memoirs. In it, she wrote, “There was some anxiety about having a black woman as a villain. A Bond movie is, for all the appearance of sex and violence, a fundamentally very conservative franchise.”
Juliette Danielle in “The Room”
There have only been a few films that have flopped so bad, and one of them is the iconic Tommy Wiseau movie, The Room. The movie is the Citizen Kane of bad movies and now a cult classic because it’s so bad, it’s good. Therefore, it’s no shocker Juliette Danielle says it’s her biggest regret.
Screenshot from The Room
In an interview with movie magazine The Film Itself, Danielle said, “I was seriously hiding from shame and embarrassment. I think some part of me was hoping that The Room would eventually go away, but as we all know, it never did.” It surely never did, Lisa.
