The Godfather Part III and 3 Other Movies That Ruined Their Actors' Careers
The reasons for this include bullying, high-profile box office failures, and radical experiments with roles.
Movies not only bring fame to the actors who star in them, but they can also ruin their careers and lives. For their roles in these films, movie stars paid too high a price.
1. Cutthroat Island (1995) – Matthew Modine
These days, many viewers know Matthew Modine as the sinister scientist from Stranger Things or as a supporting actor in Oppenheimer.
In the '80s and early '90s, however, he was a promising actor who starred in films by some of the best directors of that period: Robert Altman, Stanley Kubrick, and John Schlesinger.
In 1995, Modine made an unfortunate foray into mainstream territory when he appeared in Cutthroat Island, one of the worst box-office failures in cinema history. This derailed Modine's nascent career, and he was forever sidelined.
2. The Godfather Part III (1990) – Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola played different roles in each part of her father's trilogy, The Godfather. In the first film, she played Michael Rizzi; in the second, she played a nameless child on a ship; and in the third, she played the main character's daughter, Mary.
Critics were merciless to the film, especially Sofia's performance, calling it flat. Coppola admitted that the reviews hurt her deeply – she felt ashamed and stopped taking on serious roles.
Nine years after the failure, however, she made her first and immediately successful film, The Virgin Suicides.
3. Showgirls (1995) – Elizabeth Berkley
Director Paul Verhoeven cast aspiring actress Elizabeth Berkley in a lead role that many Hollywood stars had dreamed of playing. Before Showgirls, she starred in the popular teen sitcom Saved by the Bell.
Her portrayal of Nomi, a stripper and sex worker, was so strikingly different from her other roles that loyal fans had a hard time accepting the change. The film received devastating criticism and failed at the box office.
Berkley recalled that, after Showgirls was released, she was hounded by the press. None of the filmmakers defended the actress. She believes that an actor's job is to embody the director's vision, yet critics blamed her alone for the film's failure.
4. Mommie Dearest (1981) – Faye Dunaway
Mommie Dearest stars Faye Dunaway, a three-time Oscar nominee best known for her role in Chinatown. Her performance was so expressive that viewers considered the film a comedy rather than the intended drama.
After Mommie Dearest, Dunaway never appeared in any other memorable films. Dunaway blamed the movie for her decline in popularity, believing that it created the wrong impression of her and her roles.