- 2 months ago
Sometimes the biggest stars need to step away from the spotlight to find their true artistic calling. Join us as we explore Hollywood A-listers who traded blockbuster paychecks for creative freedom in independent cinema. From franchise stars seeking artistic credibility to established actors reinventing their careers, these performers chose passion projects over profit.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00He has been missing for two months, and I have not had a chance to communicate with him before he testified.
00:09Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Hollywood actors who left the glitz and money of the mainstream movie industry to star in independent films.
00:20What? What are you? What is this? What do you want?
00:27Number 10, Matthew McConaughey.
00:30I get older, they stay the same age.
00:34In the 2000s, if you were a casting director for a romantic comedy, McConaughey was your go-to selection.
00:41Yet, once 2009's Ghosts of Girlfriends Past came out, something clicked in the actor as he'd lost his passion for the genre and the industry.
00:51McConaughey took a couple of years away from the business to recalibrate,
00:54even as one studio offered him $14.5 million to return to rom-coms.
01:01He stayed firm.
01:02Instead, he reinvented his career in the indie scene with more dramatic roles,
01:07such as 2011's The Lincoln Lawyer and 2012's Magic Mike.
01:12I think you might want to check it yourself, old friend.
01:16Nobody walks on water on my team.
01:18However, it was 2013's Dallas Buyers Club that sealed McConaughey's new path,
01:24as the film earned him his first Oscar for Best Actor.
01:27I mean, goddamn people are dying.
01:30And y'all are all up there afraid that we're going to find an alternative without you.
01:34Number 9, Richard Gere.
01:36I refuse to spend the next three days fighting with you.
01:38I said I was sorry. I meant it. That's the end of it.
01:41One of Hollywood's most reliable leading men,
01:43Gere appeared in many classic films since beginning his cinematic career in 1975.
01:49After all, he had 1982's An Officer and a Gentleman,
01:531990's Pretty Woman, and 2002's Chicago Under His Belt.
01:58However, it wasn't long after the latter film that Gere stepped away from Hollywood.
02:02I object!
02:03My client has never kept a diary.
02:05And even if she did, this would be an invasion of privacy
02:08and violation of the Fourth Amendment and illegal search without a warrant.
02:11According to some reports, his criticism of China over their occupation of Tibet
02:15led to studios being skeptical in casting him.
02:19Yet, according to the actor, he was fed up with all the attention of being famous.
02:23So Gere lent his skills and name to several indie productions,
02:27such as 2012's Arbitrage and 2017's Three Christs,
02:33earning him praise for it being some of his best acting work.
02:45Number 8. Robert Pattinson.
02:48I feel very protective of you.
02:54Usually, actors from franchise films don't speak ill of the project publicly.
02:59But for Pattinson, it was a different story.
03:02In fact, it's likely no actor hated being in a franchise as much as he did.
03:07After making his name in the Twilight franchise,
03:09and once it concluded with 2012's The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 2,
03:14Pattinson dived headfirst into independent productions,
03:18testing himself as a performer.
03:19How would you like it if I made you cry, huh? Would you like that?
03:22No, I would not.
03:23Get up.
03:24They told me I had to do this stuff.
03:25Let's go. Let's go.
03:26Pattinson wanted to move away from mainstream movies.
03:29He's even spoken about his belief that working in indies
03:32is less of a gamble for an actor's career than a Hollywood blockbuster.
03:37After critical success in 2014's The Rover,
03:40the Brit boosted his reputation further with 2019's The Lighthouse,
03:44with occasional returns to Hollywood sprinkled in.
03:47You ain't no general, you ain't no copper,
03:50you ain't the president, you ain't my father,
03:53and I'm sick of you acting like you is.
03:55Number 7. Elijah Wood
03:57After being in one of the greatest film franchises of all time,
04:11you don't get much better than your next job
04:13being one of the most celebrated indie flicks ever.
04:16Yet that's what happened when Wood went from The Lord of the Rings
04:19to 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
04:22Still a pair of her panties as well.
04:28Jesus.
04:29What?
04:30It's not like, I mean, they were clean and all.
04:32With Wood focusing on the quality of a script
04:34rather than the cash of big productions,
04:36he continued his independent streak with 2005's Green Street
04:40and hasn't looked back since.
04:42His passion for the industry led to him
04:44supporting Scottish independence in 2014
04:47before he realized he was asked about the country's
04:50possible departure from Great Britain,
04:52not its indie market.
04:54I need backup.
04:55Okay.
04:56You got those ninja sticks?
04:57Nunchaku is an Okinawan weapon.
04:59Fine, fine, great.
05:00Ninjas as you call them or Japanese.
05:02I've got a better idea.
05:03Are you familiar with the Morning Star?
05:04No, I just...
05:05Light up.
05:06Number 6. Peter Fonda
05:07You won't know what it is, man.
05:09You won't know what it is.
05:10Don't worry, Billy.
05:12Everything's all right.
05:13All right, man.
05:14All right.
05:14I don't know, man.
05:15Fun fact.
05:16The iconic 1969 film Easy Rider,
05:19filled with several stars such as Jack Nicholson,
05:22Dennis Hopper, and Fonda himself,
05:24has the feel of a big-budget production,
05:26but was actually an indie.
05:28Fonda got his acting start in Hollywood.
05:30After all, he was from an acting dynasty
05:32with his father Henry and sister Jane
05:35being big names of their own.
05:36Well, sure I can.
05:38I get tired of being one.
05:40Then I move on to the rest.
05:42But he never fit in with that lifestyle
05:44and soon began drifting towards counterculture.
05:47Yet what really turned Fonda away from Hollywood
05:50was starring and directing in 1971's The Hired Hand.
05:54The experience with big studios
05:56made him move towards independent productions,
05:58something which he spent the majority of his career exploring
06:01before passing away in 2019.
06:03You go to the coast, Dan,
06:06and when in three or four years
06:07you find yourself sitting here drinking this rad lotion,
06:11you remember how you thought it was going to be.
06:14Number five, Kristen Stewart.
06:16I know what you are.
06:20See it.
06:24Vampire.
06:25Another actor to find their name reached the A-list
06:28after appearing in The Twilight Saga.
06:31Stewart continued on big-budget productions,
06:33such as with 2012's Snow White and The Huntsman.
06:36Death favors no man.
06:39We must ride like thundering waves
06:42under the tempted battle flag of my father.
06:44However, when the film negatively impacted
06:46her professional and personal life
06:48after an affair with the director,
06:49she began exploring independent work enthusiastically.
06:53Stewart also spoke publicly of her dislike of Hollywood
06:56not giving women directors enough of a chance.
06:59Stewart's indie reign took off with films
07:01such as 2014's Camp X-Ray
07:03and 2015's Anesthesia.
07:06Yet her biggest success came with the 2021
07:08Princess Diana biopic, Spencer,
07:11receiving Golden Globe and Oscar nominations
07:13for her performance.
07:14This outstanding transition to indie films
07:17gave Stewart the moniker of being one of the faces
07:19of the entire industry.
07:20I'm not moving from this spot
07:23until they come to me.
07:28You just have to shoot me.
07:32Number four, Nicolas Cage.
07:44From the mid-2000s into the early 2010s,
07:47Cage seemed to be the most in-demand performer
07:50in Hollywood as he appeared
07:51in one big production after another.
07:54However, the actor later stated
07:55he did this due to financial problems.
07:58Once that was sorted,
07:59he could get into his love of creative indie work.
08:02Spurred on by a drive of creative freedom,
08:04Cage has received rave reviews
08:06for his work in 2021's Pig
08:08and 2024's Long Legs.
08:11My house number eight was so white,
08:13whiter than a fish's throat.
08:15However, while not every independent project
08:18has been a hit for him,
08:19he seems to thrive in that realm.
08:21Cage's success in the indie market
08:23has also helped him in the mainstream industry,
08:25as his work has allowed him to command millions
08:28for even supporting roles,
08:29such as with 2023's Renfield.
08:32When I'm finished,
08:33the entire human race,
08:35everyone you care about will suffer.
08:41You betrayed me.
08:44Number three, Brendan Fraser.
08:46There goes that we again.
08:48Listen to me, we have to do something.
08:51Once this creature has been reborn,
08:52this curse is going to spread
08:53until the whole of the earth is destroyed.
08:55Yeah? And is that my problem?
08:56With appearances in The Mummy and its sequels,
08:591997's George of the Jungle
09:01and 2000's Bedazzled,
09:03Fraser was one of Hollywood's rising leading men.
09:06It was expected he'd be
09:07in big-budget productions for a while,
09:09but then he vanished from mainstream productions.
09:12Instead, Fraser went to the indies,
09:14such as 2006's Journey to the End of the Night
09:17and 2013's Gimme Shelter,
09:20before moving into TV work.
09:22No, Dusty, she wasn't in jail.
09:24It's just a misunderstanding.
09:25We figured it out.
09:26What kind of misunderstanding?
09:28Alex, it's not a problem.
09:30It's all better now.
09:32In 2018, we discovered why,
09:34as Fraser publicly stated
09:36that he was blacklisted from Hollywood
09:38after accusing industry executive
09:40Philip Burke of assault in 2003.
09:43While big productions started to come calling again
09:45following that revelation,
09:46Fraser stuck with indie work,
09:48earning himself a deserved Oscar
09:50for Best Actor in 2022's The Whale.
09:53Do you ever get a feeling
09:56that people are incapable of not caring?
10:03Number two, Emma Watson.
10:05If you two don't mind, I'm going to bed
10:07before either of you come up with another clever idea
10:10to get us killed, or worse, expelled.
10:12Not many performers make their cinematic debut
10:16as one of the main characters
10:17in a generation-defining film franchise.
10:19But Watson isn't like typical performers.
10:22After debuting in 2001's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,
10:26when she put Hermione Granger to bed in 2011,
10:29she wanted to test her theatrical muscles in the indie scene.
10:33Firstly, with 2011's My Week with Marilyn,
10:36Watson then appeared in 2013's The Bling Ring.
10:39She balanced this with occasional appearances in big-budget films,
10:43such as 2017's Beauty and the Beast.
10:45He's not a monster, Gaston.
10:47You are.
10:49The Beast wouldn't hurt anyone.
10:52However, after another Hollywood film,
10:54this time in 2019's Little Women,
10:57Watson took a complete hiatus from the acting business,
10:59stating that she was unhappy with a lack of control over projects
11:03and being caged.
11:04I want to thank everyone here and around the world
11:06for the support you've given me since we lost Mercer.
11:09Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
11:12and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
11:15You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
11:19If you're on your phone,
11:20make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
11:25Number 1. Daniel Radcliffe
11:27He was that friend.
11:29And he betrayed them.
11:33He was that friend!
11:35Even when he was leading the Harry Potter franchise for 10 years,
11:39the signs were there that Radcliffe was eager to test the acting waters.
11:43After all, he drew a lot of media attention
11:46for appearing nude in the stage play Equus in the late 2000s.
11:50Yet, once Potter was done in 2011,
11:53as well as enjoying further stage roles,
11:55Radcliffe carved out a reputation for taking unusual indie roles.
11:59For example, 2013's Horns and 2016's Swiss Army Man.
12:04Sarah Johnson.
12:06Sarah Johnson.
12:07Yeah, Sarah Johnson.
12:10Man of your face!
12:12Oh, this is what I look like when I'm happy!
12:14We have to get home, Hank.
12:16This passion for favoring indies over paychecks
12:18led Radcliffe to also be considered one of the faces of the small budget industry.
12:23The actor has spoken about taking these unusual roles,
12:27saying that after making his cash in Potter,
12:29he finds these roles, quote,
12:31incredibly liberating.
12:32I am only going to do completely original music.
12:38Oh, Al, you can't smoke in here.
12:44What other actor left mainstream filmmaking behind
12:47to develop a solid indie career?
12:49Let us know in the comments.
12:51You know, if there's one thing I could teach you,
12:54it's how to find your best self.
12:56And when you do,
12:57how to hold on to it for dear life.
12:59And this is your best self.
13:01I'm trying.
Be the first to comment