Any job has its pros and cons; for Hollywood actors, it seems that one downside of their profession is having to play characters that they might not like very much. While many celebrities refrain from commenting about their most hated characters, others have openly revealed the projects they regret doing.
1. Ryan Reynolds
For his fans, Ryan Reynolds was the perfect choice to bring Deadpool to life, but before these films, he had to play a different version of the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
The actor confessed that his participation in that franchise was “a frustrating experience” because it was almost obligatory: “It was sort of like, ‘Play Deadpool in this movie, or we’ll get someone else to.’”
2. Jennifer Garner
Another actress who regrets playing a superhero in a movie is Jennifer Garner. In 2003, she was Elektra in Daredevil and then returned to give life to the character in a sequel, but it did not turn out to be what she expected. In an interview for The Hollywood Reporter, she said that she would have liked Kevin Feige to take on the Elektra project, as he could have made it more “elevated.”
3. Sandra Bullock
Sequels of blockbuster movies seem to be loved by many, except the actors themselves. Another celebrity to join our list today is Sandra Bullock, who has spoken openly about how much she didn’t like being a part of Speed 2: Cruise Control. “I’ve been very vocal about it. Makes no sense. Slow boat. Slowly going towards an island,” said the actress.
4. Gwyneth Paltrow
In an interview for Netflix, Gwyneth Paltrow opened up about how humiliating it was for her to participate in the comedy Shallow Hal. “The first day I put on the ’fat’ suit, I was at Tribeca Grand and decided to walk through the lobby. It was so sad. No one would make eye contact with me because I was obese,” Paltrow confessed.
She further described her decision to do that movie as a “disaster” and added that “for some reason, clothes made for overweight women are horrible.”
5. Halle Berry
Halle Berry took it upon herself to bring Catwoman to the screen, but the motivation behind the heroine was not something the celebrity considered important, as it was only about stopping a cosmetics company. She remembers having a discussion about, “Why can’t Catwoman save the world as Batman and Superman do? Why is she just saving women from a face cream that cracks their face off?”
6. Robert Pattinson
If there is someone who has reminded us over and over again that he did not like playing a character, that is Robert Pattinson. When asked if he would have been a fan of the Twilight saga if he had not acted in the movies, he answered no and said that he would have hated them.
And about the character of Edward, Pattinson confessed that he doesn’t like the vampire: “He is the most ridiculous person.”
7. Blake Lively
Blake Lively is among those celebrities who consider themselves a complete opposite of a character they’ve played. In this case, we’re referring to the spoiled Serena van der Woodsen, one of the main characters in Gossip Girl. Lively said that while audiences loved Serena, for her “it always felt compromising on a personal level, I wanted to give a better message.”
8. Evangeline Lilly
For Evangeline Lilly, her character Kate Austen in Lost loses her autonomy and is the opposite of women empowerment. When talking about the series, she mentioned, “I felt like my character went from being autonomous—really having her own story and her own journey and her own agendas—to chasing men around the island.”
9. Andrew Lincoln
For most Love Actually fans, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without seeing Andrew Lincoln on their screens. But this character had the actor a bit worried, as he thought he might be perceived as a bit of a stalker. In the end, the film’s director reassured him by saying, “No, no. Not with you playing it, darling.”
10. Viola Davis
Viola Davis captivated audiences with her performance in The Help. But she feels that the film did not focus on what really mattered: the maids.
In an interview for The New York Times, she said, “I just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard. They’re my grandma. They’re my mom. And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is, I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963, I want to hear how you really feel about it. I never heard that in the course of the movie.”
11. Shailene Woodley
Shailene Woodley only had to read three episodes of The Secret Life of the American Teenager to sign a 6-year contract. Unfortunately, as the TV series progressed, the actress began to feel uncomfortable with her character. She explained, “There were a lot of things that were written into the scripts that not just me, but a lot of the cast, disagreed with. There were belief systems that were pushed that were different than my own. Yet, legally, I was stuck there.”
12. Michelle Pfeiffer
When we are young, we can be exposed to making bad decisions, and that’s just what happened to Michelle Pfeiffer. When talking about her role in Grease 2, she has openly said, “I hated that film with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was. At the time, I was young and didn’t know any better.”
13. Jamie Dornan
Christian Grey was the fantasy of thousands of readers around the world, but after his story was brought to the big screen, Jamie Dornan stated that it was not a pleasant process. He said he felt uncomfortable while playing the character and that he felt like Christian was so far away from him that he struggled with it.
14. Sean Connery
Last on our list is none other than the very famous James Bond, played by Sean Connery. His disdain for the character was not disguised one bit, as he constantly declared, “I have always hated that James Bond guy.”
