You’d think that one of the best parts about being involved in a movie is getting to watch it with your friends afterwards, point at the screen whenever you’re on it, and grin like a huge idiot. But apparently there are lots of actors who have never felt the urge to watch the very movies they were paid millions of dollars to star in, and in some cases they actively hate the characters they were asked to play with every fiber of their being.
10. Paul Bettany Has Never Watched Any Of The Iron Man Movies
Though Robert Downey Jr. is the star of the Iron Man movies, Paul Bettany, who voiced his AI companion J.A.R.V.I.S., has received praise for his on-screen chemistry with Downey. But according to Bettany, the work he did for the three Iron Man films should be considered piracy (the old kind that involved stealing money, not the modern “I’m too cheap to pay for this movie” kind). In his own words:
“I turn up, read off of a piece of paper for two hours and then they’d give me a huge bag of money.”
While it seems like Bettany and Downey had really good chemistry, they never actually read any of their lines in the same room. In fact, Bettany never even got a full copy of the script. He instead came in at the last possible moment during the production of each movie, recorded all of his lines and then went home with the aforementioned bag of money. He’s never even watched any of the movies, which he says makes him feel terrible when fans of the film tell him how much they loved his parts and he has to look them in the eye and say “I’ve got no idea about Iron Man.” Of course, if he feels so guilty we’re not sure why he doesn’t just sit down for six hours and watch them, but maybe he’s really busy spending all that money.
9. Alec Guinness Hated Star Wars and Star Wars Fans
For our younger readers, Alec Guinness was the guy who played Obi-Wan Kenobi before Ewan McGregor did, and he hated every second of it. Guinness’ hatred of Star Wars has practically become Hollywood lore. According to some sources the only reason he agreed to reprise his role was because George Lucas agreed to double his pay, while according to others it was his idea to kill off Obi-Wan because he simply couldn’t stand speaking his lines anymore.
Guinness’ dislike of the movie and the fame it brought him was so great that he absolutely refused to do any promotion for it and reportedly threw away every piece of fan mail ever sent to him. According to Guinness, he also “shriveled” at the mere mention of Star Wars and would be openly hostile to fans who approached him in the street, to the point where he once made a child cry.
But here’s the best part. Guinness was one of the few people, along with George Lucas, who thought the movie would be a success. He managed to secure a deal netting him 2% of the film’s gross box office for the rest of his life, and his son is still cashing those checks. Guinness hated the very thing that made him a guaranteed millionaire for life, which when you think about it just makes him seem ungrateful.
8. Johnny Depp Hates Looking At His Own Face
The list of movies Johnny Deep has been in is so expansive that including it would double the length of this article, so we’ll just save time and say that you’ve definitely seen one of his movies. If you haven’t, you have and just didn’t realize it.
Which means you have probably seen approximately infinity percent more Johnny Depp movies than Johnny Depp has. As noted in this article, Depp consciously avoids watching all of his own movies out of the fear that seeing them would somehow “harm” him. There are even unconfirmed stories about Depp vandalizing the posters to his own movies because he doesn’t like seeing his face staring back at him. He must loathe mirrors.
7. Jackie Chan Tells Asian Fans Not To Watch His American Movies
Jackie Chan is like the working man’s Bruce Lee. He’s starred in dozens of movies, but in the west he’s most recognized for the Rush Hour trilogy, in which he features alongside human microphone Chris Tucker.
Though Rush Hour and its sequels are arguably Chan’s most beloved films, he himself doesn’t really like them. Stating that he doesn’t understand the humor or like the action, which he described as “Americanized,” he even went as far as suggesting that Asian fans of his movies should avoid his American ones all together. Like The Forbidden Kingdom, which he openly admitted “isn’t that great” on his own website before it came out.
According to Chan, the only reason he even bothered to make a sequel is because he was offered a ton of money for it, and when the time came to film the third he only agreed to reprise his role because he felt he owed it to his fans. Which at least makes Jackie Chan a much nicer guy than Alec Guinness.
6. Bela Lugosi Wasn’t a Fan of Dracula, But Still Fought to be Him
Before vampires were sparkly weirdos who played baseball in forests and got in fistfights with werewolves, they were stone-cold bad-asses who only cared about chomping necks and wooing ladies. And Bela Lugosi is the original vampire. Throughout his career, Lugosi appeared on-screen as Dracula in dozens of movies and became so synonymous with the role that he was able to trademark his characterization of the character. People had to pay him if they wanted to dress up as the “real” Count Dracula, so if you’ve ever put on a cape and tie Lugosi’s estate has probably been paid somewhere along the line.
That said, Lugosi was deeply frustrated by how typecast the role of Dracula made him. You know, the same character he fought for the rights to pretend to be in court. Lugosi came to resent the role and the movies it involved, which didn’t stop him from being buried in his trademark cape at the bequest of his family, who felt that it was definitely what he would have wanted. Either they were very ignorant or they just wanted to screw him over one last time.
5. Danny Trejo Isn’t Even Aware of the Movies He’s Been In
Danny Trejo is so scary he can print his own money by sending selfies to the US Mint, and as an actor he’s known primarily for two things — dying like a champ in practically every movie he appears in, and his huge chest tattoo.
As we’ve discussed before, Trejo is a terrifying man who’s led an incredible life involving prison, drugs and punching death row inmates for fun. During his long and bloody acting career he’s appeared in more B-movies than the second letter of the alphabet. In fact, Trejo has appeared in so many movies that he literally can’t keep track of them. According to the Guardian, it’s not uncommon for Trejo to watch a film and be surprised when he realizes he’s in it. Johnny Depp would kill to reach the same level of indifference.
4. Tim Curry Never Used to Talk About Rocky Horror
Tim Curry is mostly known for his roles as Pennywise the evil clown (It), Dr. Frank-N-Furter (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) and Nigel Thornberry (The Wild Thornberrys). While he’s happy to talk about the first and last role, his time as Dr Frank-N-Furter is something Curry seriously despises discussing.
Out of fear the role would lead to type-casting, Curry never openly discussed the movie in any interview (save for one promotional appearance the week before the film was released) and he avoided going to fan conventions or appearing in any media related to the franchise, even once famously retorting “not with me in it” when asked if there would ever be a sequel. However in recent years, probably due to the sheer amount of times people ask him about it, his attitude towards the role has mellowed and he now fondly refers to it as a “rite of passage” for teens. That said, he’s still very thankful when people don’t mention it in interviews.
3. Joseph Gordon Levitt Thinks His Character In 500 Days of Summer Was An Ass
If you’ve never seen 500 Days of Summer, go ask the nearest girl or guy with a girlfriend for a copy (trust us, they’ll have a spare). It’s a pretty good movie, but one thing that’s proven irksome for Joseph Gordon Levitt, who played Tom, is that everyone he speaks to seems to think his character was a nice guy who didn’t deserve to be dumped by Zoey Deschanel’s eponymous Summer.
According to Levitt, he personally thinks that Tom was a bit of an ass who selfishly and unfairly projected a fantasy onto a girl, then reacted poorly when she didn’t seem to fit with his inflated expectations of her. Though Levitt has mentioned that he likes the movie in past interviews, he’s said that he’s troubled by the reactions to his character from fans, especially the ones who seem to think that his character was some sort of romantic role model — an idea Levitt was quick to quash, because he’s the real role model.
2. The Phantom Menace Turned Jake Lloyd Off of Acting
Yes, Star Wars is such a massive and apparently hateful franchise that it gets two spots on this list. Before any of you fire up Google to see who Jack Lloyd is, we’ll save you the eight seconds and remind you that he’s he kid who played the young Anakin Skywalker.
We’re not going to mince words here. After the role Lloyd’s life became, in his own words, “a living hell.” He was teased constantly by kids at school, was forced into doing upwards of 60 interviews a day, and to this day faces harassment from fans who didn’t like the way he played the role. Because screw him for not being able to act perfectly as a 10-year-old in a movie that had far, far bigger problems than Lloyd’s perfectly fine performance.
Llyod has only appeared in one movie since (an obscure, semi-fictional film about hydroplane racing in 1970s small town Indiana, which other than the racing is about as far from Star Wars as you can get) and has no intention to get back in the game. Although he’s appeared at a few sci-fi conventions, he refuses to watch the movie that made him famous because of all the bad memories it brings up.
1. Peter Dinklage Doesn’t Watch Game of Thrones For A Very Silly Reason
Peter Dinklage is mostly known for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones, although he also featured as the villain in X-Men: Days of Future Past, where half of the audience probably saw the guy as an evil, alternate universe Tyrion. However, Dinklage has admitted that he doesn’t watch himself on-screen in his most famous role. What possible reason could he have for not wishing to watch himself in Game of Thrones? He doesn’t have HBO.
Yes, Dinklage doesn’t watch his acclaimed and beloved breakout role because he doesn’t want to pay 15 dollars a month for the channel that plays it. Come on HBO, the guy’s helping you rake in buckets of money. Throw a free subscription into his contact.