19 Times Actors Hated Playing A Character But Did It Anyway
1.Nick, Kevin, and Joe Jonas as themselves in JONAS
Nick called the series' second season the band's biggest regret: “We shouldn’t have done that. It really stunted our growth, you know? I feel like it was just a bad move. ... It was just not the time. Literally, we couldn’t evolve because of it.” Joe also called the show "not good" and that it felt too young for them, and Kevin agreed that the second season especially was not a fit for them, saying it fed into people seeing them as a joke.
2.Emma Stone as Allison in Aloha
Stone didn't seem to have an issue with playing the half-Asian character during filming, but pretty quickly afterward talked about becoming the butt of many jokes and learning about the issue of whitewashing. She also shouted, "I'm sorry!" during the Golden Globes when Sandra Oh called out Aloha for whitewashing.
3.Penn Badgley as Dan on Gossip Girl
Penn hasn't explicitly stated that he hates Dan or Gossip Girl in general, but he's shaded the show and Dan quite a few times (and in particular, the *SPOILER ALERT* choice to make Dan Gossip Girl). He also called Dan a "judgmental douchebag" (although he did seem to suggest this was justified) and said while promoting a later project that it was nice to actually be proud of something he worked on, calling it a "new feeling."
4.Viola Davis as Aibileen in The Help
While it's unclear if Davis disliked playing Aibileen during filming (though it seems likely based on her comments), she has since said she regrets taking the role. Criticizing the movie for its white savior narrative and not putting the maids at the forefront of the film, Davis said, "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]." She also said the movie was made "in the filter and the cesspool of systemic racism.”
5.Anya Taylor-Joy as Thomasin in The Witch
Anya has said she was "devastated" by her acting in the role, feeling like she let everyone down. She also seemed to suggest she didn't feel confident in her acting even while filming, saying she never thought she'd even be cast and was perhaps not the best fit.
6.Ian McKellen as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films
McKellan certainly didn't hate Gandalf, but he has admitted that neither he nor Peter Jackson were fans of Gandalf the White. He spoke highly of acting in the Lord of the Rings films, but called the experience of filming The Hobbit films "miserable" due to the green screens instead of on-location shooting that was used.
7.Tyler Perry as Madea in the Madea films
When asked last year if he missed playing Madea, Perry said no, saying he was done, and revealing, “It was never something I enjoyed doing. ... My hand to God. I hated the costume, the wig, all of it.”
8.Stephen Dillane as Stannis in Game of Thrones
Stephen discussed his difficulty understanding the show's storylines, saying he was dependent on Liam Cunningham (who played Davos) to tell him what scenes were about: "I didn’t know what I was doing until we’d finished filming and it was too late. The damage had been done. I thought no one would believe in me and I was rather disheartened by the end." He also said the main thing he got out of the series was money, and that while he has no regrets about playing Stannis, it wasn't really a role he was interested in.
9.Josh Brolin as Cable in Deadpool 2
Comparing playing MCU villain Thanos to Deadpool 2 villain Cable, Brolin called playing the latter more of a "business transaction," saying there was less freedom with his character and that it was hard.
10.Meryl Streep as Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada
Streep, who attempted method acting for the role, said this made the experience miserable for her: "It was horrible! I was [miserable] in my trailer. I could hear them all rocking and laughing ... I was so depressed!" Streep said this was the last time she attempted method acting.
11.Brad Pitt as Louis de Pointe du Lac in Interview with the Vampire...
Pitt said he was "miserable" filming the movie due to spending six months "in the f***ing dark." He said it broke him and that he actually called producer David Geffen to ask how much it would cost to get him out of the movie — Geffen answered "$40 million." Pitt said this actually made him less anxious, and he decided to "man up and ride this through." He also didn't see the screenplay until two months before filming and felt the movie version of his character wasn't interesting.
12....And as Achilles in Troy
Pitt, who was forced to do the film due to pulling out of another movie with the studio, said the plot drove him crazy and that he didn't love the direction of the film: "I realized that the way the movie was being told was not how I wanted it to be." However, he also admitted making his own mistakes in the film. After starring in Troy, Pitt resolved to be more selective about his projects.
13.Sean Connery, Daniel Craig, and Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in the James Bond films
When asked if he'd do another Bond movie, Daniel Craig said, "I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists. No, not at the moment. Not at all. That’s fine. I’m over it at the moment. We’re done. All I want to do is move on. ... If I did another Bond movie, it would only be for the money.” Sean Connery also disliked the character, saying, "I have always hated that damned James Bond, I'd like to kill him." Pierce Brosnan also seemed to suggest he didn't like playing the character, talking about the pressure to get it right and his issues with his own performance.
14.Halle Berry in Catwoman...
Berry criticized the story of the film, asking why Catwoman couldn't save the world like other superheroes, as she instead fought a villain who ran a cosmetics line. "But I was just the actor for hire," she said. "I wasn’t the director. I had very little say over that.”
15....And The Rich Man's Wife
“I’m sorry everybody who worked on this movie, but I kind of knew it wasn’t going to be the greatest cinematic experience for the people," Berry said on The Late Late Show with James Corden. "You go into these movies always with the best intention, but then sometimes you get on the set and then you realize ‘What, was I high when I agreed to do this?’”
16.Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique in the X-Men films
Lawrence apparently loves the movies, but absolutely hates the body paint she had to get into to play the role of Mystique, vowing not to return to the role after X-Men: Apocalypse (though she later was "roped in" to appearing as Mystique again). In X-Men: First Class, she said her makeup took up to eight hours to apply, and that she couldn't even sit down to pee once she was in costume.
17.Kathleen Turner as Chandler's dad on Friends
Turner did not have a good experience playing Chandler's dad. First of all, she found the Friends cast cliquey: "I didn’t feel very welcomed by the cast," she revealed. "I remember I was wearing this difficult sequined gown — and my high heels were absolutely killing me. I found it odd that none of the actors thought to offer me a seat." She also said that she wouldn't play the character — who was a drag queen and seemed to identify as a woman — now, suggesting real drag queens or transgender actors would be better suited for the role.
18.Constance Wu as Jessica on Fresh Off the Boat
Wu seemed to enjoy her role on the show in earlier seasons, but when the show was renewed for Season 6, she took to Twitter to share her disappointment: "So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh. Fuck," she tweeted, responding to another fan congratulating her by saying that the renewal wasn't good news. She later explained that her disappointment was more over the fact that the show being renewed meant she wouldn't be able to do another project she was passionate about, and not a problem she had with the show itself.
19.And finally...Eddie Murphy in basically everything he did from the 2000s.
Murphy has since admitted he was making "shitty" movies in the 2000s — he even won the Razzie for Worst Actor of the Decade. In fact, it was acting in these films that caused him to take an extended hiatus from acting. "I was like, 'This shit ain't fun. They're giving me Razzies.' ... Motherfuckers gave me the 'Worst actor ever' Razzie. Maybe it's time to take a break," he said. Luckily, he's come back with a vengeance, winning the Razzies' comeback award for Dolemite Is My Name.
