A single hit movie can create a movie star, but sometimes it only takes one bad film to tank a career.
No movie star is immune to picking a terrible project from time to time. It would be more surprising if an actor was able to entirely avoid that fate.
Nevertheless, there are some films that are such epic disasters that there was no way to salvage a big-screen career.
Now, Watch With Us is taking a look back at five movies that ended the careers of their stars.
Sean Connery in ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ (2003)
Near the end of his career, Sean Connery regretted turning down The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings, which played into his decision to star in the adaptation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The original comic book gathered literary characters Mina Murray, Allan Quatermain, Edward Hyde, Captain Nemo and the Invisible Man as a proto-Justice League in Victorian England.
Connery greatly resembled Quatermain’s depiction in the comic, and it seemed like a piece of dream casting. Unfortunately, director Stephen Norrington butchered the source material, and his on-set conflict with Connery was rumored to have gotten physical. Connery was so upset by the entire experience that he retired after making the film and refused to be lured back to Hollywood before he passed away in 2020. Norrington has also avoided directing another major studio movie in the quarter century that followed.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is available for rent or purchase on Prime Video.
Madonna in ‘Swept Away’ (2002)
Between 1985 and 2002, Madonna was a true crossover star thanks to her iconic music and a string of hit movies. However, Madonna’s acting career never recovered after Swept Away flopped in such an epic fashion. There are films that have lost more money, but this one only made $1 million, and it has an abysmal 6 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Madonna was still married to director Guy Ritchie at the time this film was made, and some of the backlash may have come from that. But this is Ritchie’s worst movie, and it’s not helped by the way Madonna’s character, Amber Leighton, is so unlikable for a long stretch in the movie. She’s a millionaire’s wife who verbally abuses a deckhand, Giuseppe Esposito (Adriano Giannini), during a trip at sea. That’s also why it’s so hard to buy into the idea that they become lovers when they’re stranded on a secluded island. Aside from Madonna’s cameo in Die Another Day later in 2002, she’s avoided live-action films ever since this one.
Swept Away is available on Prime Video.
Gene Hackman in ‘Welcome to Mooseport’ (2004)
Gene Hackman had a very long run in Hollywood that made him one of the most respected actors of his generation. One bad movie would never change that, but Welcome to Mooseport definitely ended his career on a down note. Hackman played former President of the United States, Monroe “Eagle” Cole, a man who moved to a small town called Mooseport to get away from Washington, D.C. and his ex-wife, Charlotte (Christine Baranski).
Monroe is recruited to run for mayor when the incumbent dies in office. However, a local hardware store owner, Harold “Handy” Harrison (Ray Romano), dispels any notion of an easy victory for Monroe by running against him in the election. Welcome to Mooseport was meant to be a charming political comedy, but audiences and critics hated it. Hackman subsequently retired from acting, and years later cited his declining health as the primary reason.
Welcome to Mooseport is streaming on Prime Video.
Mike Myers in ‘The Love Guru’ (2008)
Among Saturday Night Live alumni, Mike Myers was one of the most successful when transitioning to movies. So I Married an Axe Murderer wasn’t very successful, but he also had Wayne’s World and the Austin Powers movies, as well as the leading role in DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek franchise. He was a legitimate movie star, right up until The Love Guru.
Myers cowrote the story and cast himself as Guru Maurice Pitka, an American raised in India who wants to be the No. 1 guru in the world. Jessica Alba costars as Jane Bullard, the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the woman who hired Pitka to help her star player, Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco), regain his championship form following his messy breakup with his wife, Prudence (Meagan Good). Myers’ brand is comedy, but the jokes in this film were relentlessly awful. Although Myers hasn’t stopped acting, he has yet to lead the cast of another live-action movie after this one.
The Love Guru can be rented or purchased on Prime Video.
David Caruso in ‘Jade’ (1995)
In the ’90s, David Caruso was the star of one of TV’s hottest dramas, NYPD Blue, when he decided to leave the show and pursue a career in the movies. This was back when it was rare for a television actor to make the transition to film. Caruso landed the lead role in Jade, an erotic thriller by Basic Instinct writer Joe Eszterhas and The Exorcist director William Friedkin. While that’s an impressive pairing on paper, critics savaged Jade, and it flopped with just over $9 million domestically against a $50 million budget.
Caruso played Assistant District Attorney David Corelli, a man who was drawn into a murder mystery involving powerful men who were blackmailed after having sex with high-end prostitutes. Jade (Linda Fiorentino) was the most prominent woman involved, and her true identity made her a suspect and widened the scandal. Caruso had a handful of leading roles in movies after Jade, all of which made even less money than this one.
But unlike the other performers on this list, Caruso got a big comeback on TV as Lieutenant Horatio Caine on CSI: Miami, a role he played for the show’s entire 10-season run. He made a lot of money and comfortably retired after the series came to a conclusion. Now, that’s a Hollywood ending.
Jade is streaming for free on Pluto TV.
