Random Actors Who Aren't Ashamed Of Their Flops (14 items)

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  (#7) Tim Robbins

  • 60

  Hot off the heels of the massive successes of both Star Wars and Indiana Jones, George Lucas decided one of the projects he would like to executive produce was 1986's Howard the Duck. The oddball comedy, based on the Marvel comic of the same name, signed a death warrant for Marvel in Hollywood until Blade, X-Men, and Spider-Man brought the company back into the limelight. The movie struggled to make back half of its budget and was destroyed by critics upon release, but not everyone reflects on the project negatively.

  Tim Robbins had a supporting part, and while he knows it isn't a great movie, he did manage to make a pretty penny for his role as Phil Blumburtt. In a 2016 interview with Mandatory, Robbins talked about the movie:

  [I]t wound up going over its shooting schedule and I wound up getting paid twice for that movie because of all the overtime. So I think more about that than about the quality of the movie. I think more about that allowing me [the] opportunity to do a movie like Five Corners and to produce great plays with The Actor’s Gang, because of the money I was able to take in on that movie.
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  (#9) Ben Affleck

  • 46

  2003's Gigli was released at the height of the Ben Affleck-Jennifer Lopez tabloid frenzy. During their year-and-a-half relationship, "Bennifer" became a staple of gossip magazines, and starring together in films like Gigli and Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl did nothing but fuel the fire. Gigli is notable for how its poor reception was at the time, and it certainly came nowhere close to recouping its $50+ million budget, but Affleck believes it's gotten undue flack over the years.

  While talking with The New York Times in 2016, Affleck mentioned that the film's director Martin Brest (Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run) was one of the best directors he'd ever worked with, and that the picture was unfairly targeted at the time. "It would have been a bad movie no one cared about but because I was dating Jennifer Lopez that made it a big f**king deal, you know," Affleck explained. "And not only is it a bad movie, they're dating each other in the bad movie! It got unfairly maligned."
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  (#5) Laurence Olivier

  • Dec. at 82 (1907-1989)

  Famously described by The New York Times' Vincent Canby as looking "like the most expensive B-movie ever made," 1981's Inchon is not a beloved film, nor was it financially successful in the least. In the four decades since its release, it has never been made available on home video. It's a film almost forgotten to history, but Hollywood legend Laurence Olivier wasn't embarrassed by his involvement.

  In an interview during the film's production, he made his reasons for starring in Inchon abundantly clear: "People ask me why I'm playing in this picture. The answer is simple. Money, dear boy... I'm almost used up now and I can feel the end coming... Nothing is beneath me if it pays well. I've earned the right to damn well grab whatever I can get in the time I've got left."
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  (#1) John Travolta

  • 65

  If you're looking for a big-budget, sci-fi epic that's utterly reviled by critics and audiences alike, then look no further than 2000's Battlefield Earth. This action film adaptation of the L. Ron Hubbard novel of the same name managed an abysmal critics' score of 3% and an audience score of 12% on Rotten Tomatoes. This is backed up by its dreadful box office performance and the fact that it swept the Golden Raspberry Awards that year.

  One of the few who seem to dig Battlefield Earth is its star/producer John Travolta. During a 2017 interview with the Daily Beast's Marlow Stern, Travolta was asked if he regretted making the movie. "No way," he replied. "Are you kidding? Why would I ever regret that? I had the power to do whatever I wanted, and I chose to do a book that I thought was worthy of making into a movie. It's a beautiful film."
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  (#3) Jeremy Irons

  • 70

  If starring in a film helps you renovate a decaying castle in Ireland, it's hard to entirely regret that decision. 2000's Dungeons & Dragons, based on the popular role-playing game of the same name, may have been a box office bomb, condemned by critics and audiences alike, but Jeremy Irons - who played the evil Mage Profion - got paid a hefty sum to be in it, so it's all gravy to him.

  When reflecting on Dungeons & Dragons, Irons has mentioned that "once in a while you have to risk a bit" - and even though he called shooting the film "a nightmare of a production," he is quick to remind those who ask him about the project that he got paid. Considering Irons has appeared in over 30 movies since Dungeons & Dragons was unleashed upon the world, it's clear he's laughing all the way to the bank.
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  (#8) Cybill Shepherd

  • 65

  At Long Last Love is a 1975 musical comedy that was nearly lost to time. It was lambasted by critics at the time of its release and barely made a blip at the box office. Written and directed by Peter Bogdanovich, the wunderkind director behind The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon, At Long Last Love only had one home video release (in 1981) until it was finally released again in 2013 on Blu-ray in an alternate cut, prompting reappraisal from critics like The New Yorker's Richard Brody, who claims the film is a "masterwork."

  Cybill Shepherd, who was in a relationship with Bogdanovich at the time of filming, reflects on the production with nothing but positive memories. In an interview with RogerEbert.com, Shepherd called her time working on the film "a complete joy and one of my happiest experiences."

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