16 Actors Who Hated The Roles That Made Them Famous

With hundreds of movies releasing every single year, it’s easy for a performance or a character to get lost in the shuffle. Though, every now and again, an actor puts on such a stellar performance and a character is written so well that moviegoers flock to them and place them on a pedestal among the greatest of their generation.

For a novice actor trying to get his or her name out there, nothing is better than that one role that makes you a break-out star! For more seasoned actors, these roles are proof that you’ve finally perfected your craft. However, fame comes with a price.

Sometimes the result of this newfound popularity leads to the actor being typecast into the same role over and over again. Sometimes, the actor completely hated the direction the character went or just disliked their characterization in general, and are completely perplexed as to why anyone would find enjoyment in them. Other times the actor just gets sick of hearing about their one “legendary” role and want to move on to their more recent ones.

This means that there are several actors and actresses out there who look back negatively on the character that propelled them into the spotlight.

Here are 16 Actors Who Hated The Role That Made Them Famous.

16 Kate Winslet – Rose (Titanic)

Titanic shattered all sorts of box office records when it was first released, and was the movie responsible for launching the career of Kate Winslet and solidifying Leonardo DiCaprio as an A-list actor. The 1997 flick followed the real-life story of the ill-fated voyage and is still considered to be one of the greatest historical dramas ever made.

Despite Rose being her breakout role, Winslet has tried to push the character out of her head. Director James Cameron was famously mean to the actress on set, calling her “Kate weighs-a-lot” and flying off the handle at the drop of a hat. Then there’s the fact that Winslet thinks her performance was terrible, and wishes she could go back and do it again.

15 Robert Pattinson – Edward Cullen (Twilight)

Though it doesn’t get talked about as much these days, Twilight was a cultural phenomenon in the late 2000s. The series sparked an entirely new genre of fiction (paranormal romance) and was adapted into a successful movie series featuring rising stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner. The Twilight series received a lot of criticism for it’s somewhat stalker-like romance and melodramatic story.

Nobody was more outspoken about their hatred for the franchise than Robert Pattinson; someone on YouTube edited together all the clips of the actor hating on Edward Cullen as well as the series as a whole. In one interview Pattionson was asked what he took from the set when he left. He responded with “my dignity.” When an interviewer asked Pattinson if the ending of the Twilight series was bittersweet, the actor laughed and said, “For them! [the fans].” Ouch.

14 Harrison Ford – Han Solo (Star Wars)

Harrison Ford kind of blundered his way onto the acting scene while working as a carpenter for one of George Lucas’ movies. Lucas loved the guy’s personality and invited him to try out for a part in American Graffiti. He got the part, Lucas asked him to try out for Star Wars, and the rest is history.

However, Harrison Ford doesn’t hold Han Solo in the same regards as he does his other characters like Indiana Jones. He has been consistently begging for the character to be killed off every since the days of Empire Strikes Back (he finally got his wish in Episode VII). Ford famously went on The Today Show during the press tour for Return of the Jedi and claimed that he was “…glad to see that costume for the last time.” The actor also referred to Solo as “…dumb as a stump.”

13 Blake Lively – Serena (Gossip Girl)

In the world of Gossip Girl you can’t get more “with it” than Serena van der Woodsen. One of the heroines of the series, she is the sterotypical rich, beautiful, and bright-eyed girl from New York City. Blake Lively played Serena throughout the entirety of the Gossip Girl TV Show on the CW and is the only character other than Dan and Blair to appear on every episode.

Lively absolutely hates that she is still compared to Serena; she claimed it felt “compromising” to play her character on the show. The actress is as wholesome and kind as you can get, but she claims that people still associate her with “…[the girl who] gave someone the cocaine that made them overdose and then shot someone and then slept with someone else’s boyfriend” and is frustrated that Serena is the furthest from her real personality as you can get.

12 Megan Fox – Mikaela (Transformers)

Say what you will about Michael Bay’s Transformers movies, but the fact of the matter is that they continue to make boatloads of money at the global box office and offer wall-to-wall action spectacles for the adrenaline junkies out there. The first film starred Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox in the roles of Sam Witwicky and Mikaela Banes, respectively.

Megan Fox absolutely despised the way her character was depicted. In true Bay fashion, most of her characterization involved her bending over cars in scantily-clad outfits and running in slow-mo; Shia admitted that he knew Fox felt “uncomfortable” being associated with Bay’s portrayal of woman. Looking back, she also claims that her acting was “terrible” in the first two Transformers movies. Then there were her comments comparing Michael Bay’s actions on the set to Hitler…

11 Miley Cyrus – Hannah Montana

The daughter of ’90s country star Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley famously got her start on the Disney Channel as Hannah Montana, a mega pop star who struggled to keep her real identity secret from her friends and fans. In the years since, the starlet has been through a lot; Cyrus tried to straightforward music career before “going off the deep end” and then returning to stardom.

When she was asked to reflect on her time as Montana on the 10th anniversary of the show’s premiere, she didn’t have much good to say about the role. She claimed that playing the ideal pop star at such a young age gave her “body image issues” and that it caused her to have an identity crisis when it was all over. The actress is also on record about the mental problems the show gave her, such as anxiety attacks and hot flashes.

10 Will Smith – …Will Smith? (Fresh Prince)

Say it with us now: “In West Philadelphia, born and raised…” The catchy theme song of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air still echoes in the heads of ’90s kids all across the country to this day, and for good reason; the show was a huge hit and showed us that Will Smith had some acting chops on top of his rapping ability. The show ran for six seasons and is still considered by many to be one of the era’s best shows.

Throughout the show, Will Smith played a version of himself. Nowadays, Will Smith looks back on his role in the sitcom and cringes. In a recent interview on the Graham Norton Show Smith admitted that he “can’t bear to watch” the show because of how bad he was at acting and how hard he was trying to do it well at the time.

9 Angus T. Jones – Jake Harper (Two and a Half Men)

Remember Two and a Half Men? It was a major hit sitcom for CBS until lead actor Charlie Sheen had a public falling out with the show and its creator Chuck Lorre. Then, not too long after the show returned to the air, there was another controversy with one of the actors.

Angus T. Jones, who got famous playing the “half” part of the show’s title, publicly spoke out about how much he hated his character and Two and a Half Men in general. In a video statement he made for his church, Jones called the show “filth” and said that he regretted staring in the show, claiming “I’m on Two and a Half Men and I don’t want to be on it. Please stop watching.” Though he apologized, Jones was granted his wish and was written off the show.

8 Zac Efron – Troy Bolton (High Schol Musical)

The Disney Channel in the 2000s was apparently where it was at. Shows like Hannah Montana, Lizzie McGuire, and That’s So Raven were talked about in school hallways all over the nation. Then there was High School Musical, a corny musical that became a smash-hit success and launched the career of Zac Efron.

According to an article by The Independent, nobody hates High School Musical as much as Efron himself. “I step back and look at myself and I still want to kick that guy’s [butt] sometimes,” he says of his teenage self. He even says that the fame he got from the show was “not a real thing” and that when he looks in the mirror he still sees “that [explitive] kid from High School Musical” looking back at himself.

7 Adam – Seth (The O.C.)

The O.C. is seen by many to be the successor to other famous prime-time “soap operas” like Dallas and Melrose Place. Set in The Orange County of California, it followed four main characters as they went about their lives in the bustle of the Golden State. Seth Cohen was a somewhat nerdy outcast who ended up marrying the love of his life, Summer, in the finale.

Although Adam Brody (the actor who played Seth) doesn’t harbor any ill-will toward his time on The O.C., over the years he has grown tired of constantly getting asked about his character. He even says he sympathizes with Harrison Ford about Han Solo because, “the only way it bothers me [getting asked about his character’s future]… it’s that I’ve exhausted the conversations about it, in my mind.” At one point he even told an interviewer that he thinks Seth would be dead today.

6 Shailene Woodley – Amy (The Secret Life of the American Teenager)

She may be a big star and activist today, but people often forget that Shailene Woodley got her start on ABC’s TV show The Secret Life of the American Teenager. In this series, Woodley played Amy, a high schooler who gets pregnant and has to deal with the consequences throughout the rest of the show. It was never a huge hit, but it was able to dethrone Gossip Girl in ratings once or twice.

Like Adam Brody, Shailene Woodley didn’t necessarily hate her job. But by the end of the show’s run, she claimed that she didn’t enjoy coming into work any more because “morally, the things that we were preaching on that show weren’t aligned with my own integrity.” She felt that Amy had made some really bad choices and was becoming a poor role model for young women who were watching the show.

5 George Reeves – Superman

Before the legendary Christopher Reeve/Richard Donner movies, the Superman that everybody knew and loved was George Reeves (no relation to Christopher). Star of the 1950s show The Adventures of Superman, the actor took his job very seriously. He knew he was a role model to children and refused to smoke or drink when any kids were present.

However, Reeves always felt that playing the Man of Steel was “beneath his dignity” and constantly referred to the costume as a “monkey suit.” To make things worse, the actor blamed this role for killing his career. Any time he appeared in a non-Superman movie, audiences would get so distracted that producers sometimes cut entire roles played by Reeves from their films.

4 Andrew Lincoln – Mark (Love Actually)

Love, Actually is one of those Christmas movies that tends to fly under the radar.  The romantic comedy has gained a cult following in recent years thanks to its charm and ensemble of A-list actors. One of the many plots of the film revolves around the unrequited love between Mark and his best friend’s wife. This was the first big role that future The Walking Dead star Andrew Lincoln had.

Lincoln felt like he drew the short end of the straw. In an interview he says: “The story is set up like a prism looking at all the different qualities of love. Mine was unrequited. So I got to be this weird stalker guy.” He also apparently had to keep getting reassurance from the director that his character wasn’t coming across as “creepy.” Nowadays he laughs it off as just a “weird” role.

3 Christopher Plummer – Captain von Trapp (The Sound of Music)

Say it ain’t so! To many, The Sound of Music is the greatest musical ever made. It’s got memorable songs, it has wholesome characters, and it’s based off of a real-life inspirational story of a family escaping tyranny in Nazi Germany. It introduced the world to Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. What’s there not to love about it?

Apparently, Christopher Plummer hated his character of Captain von Trapp. He claimed that the character was boring and that trying to inject the role with any semblance of fun was like “flogging a dead horse.” For the longest time, Plummer would only refer to The Sound of Music as “that movie.” Even when he was coerced into attending a cast reunion in 2010, the actor spend the majority of the time ragging on how terrible Captain von Trapp was.

2 Marlon Brando – Stanley Kowalski (A Streetcar Named Desire)

Based on a play by the legendary writer Tennessee Williams, the film adaptation ofA Streetcar Named Desire was Marlon Brando’s first big role and arguably his second most famous one next to The Godfather. To this day, the climactic scene is considered one of the best bits of acting ever given on the silver screen.

Brando, however, hated Stanley Kowalski with a passion. He felt that the character was played up too much as a sex symbol (which lessened the impact of his performance) and that Stanley was nothing like himself. In Brando’s autobiography, he talks about how he hated being compared to the character and that he based his performance on the different guys he knew who were “muscled, inarticulate, aggressive animals who go through life responding to nothing but their urges and never doubting them.”

1 Sean Connery – James Bond

There are those out there who think that Sean Connery’s performance as 007 in the James Bond franchise will never be topped. The Scottish-born actor played Bond in seven of the films, and always oozed a charisma and smooth demeanor that made the character so iconic. Connery has been retired for fifteen years now, but it felt like just yesterday that he was swanning his way through the silver screen.

But Connery grew to hate James Bond. In one interview he was quoted as saying “I hate that [expletive] James Bond. I’d like to kill him.” A major reason for the actors hatred for the character stems from the fact that he only made $3 million for his entire career as 007. Meanwhile, the franchise as a whole is worth billions of dollars! Connery wouldn’t even promote the 50th Anniversary of the character when asked.

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Were these actors right to hate their famous characters? Let us know in the comments!

About The Author

Austin Carroll Baker
(84 Articles Published)

Austin C. Baker is a writer and critic from Plymouth, Indiana. Currently residing in Indianapolis, Austin has had a fascination with the film and TV industry since he was a young; as a teen he was writing, directing, editing, and starring in movies made in the backyard of his house with his little brother. A graduate of the University of Indianapolis’ Experience Design and History programs, Austin is currently using his storytelling, writing, and research skills to create online content about the entertainment industry while he is finishing his Masters Degree in Strategic Leadership and Design in hopes of working in the local entertainment and tourism industry. In his spare time, Austin is currently working on multiple book projects as well as several academic articles and public presentations/projects for school. Austin is currently a member of Mens et Mensa Society for the Study of Medieval Food and his local chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, as well as holds membership in the Academy of Leisure Studies.

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