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Matt Damon knew The Great Wall was a big ol' dud while he was filming it.
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00:00It's easy to forget that acting is a job first and foremost, and few actors are blessed
00:05with the luxury of only appearing in movies which speak to them on a personally and creatively
00:09fulfilling level.
00:11Given the many variables that go into a movie's creation, actors aren't always aware of quite
00:15the calibre project they're starring in, whether good or bad.
00:19But sometimes a script hits one of the two extremes so ferociously that they know precisely
00:24what they're in for from the jump.
00:26And while it's hardly news if an actor says they knew a great movie would be great from
00:30the moment they read the script, it's far more interesting to hear actors admit they
00:34knew movies would suck from day one.
00:36And so with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture here with 10 actors who knew the
00:41movie was doomed on day one.
00:44Number 10.
00:45Channing Tatum in Jupiter Ascending The Wachowskis' 2015 sci-fi blockbuster Jupiter Ascending was
00:51certainly an ambitious attempt at kickstarting a major new tentpole universe, albeit one that
00:57failed to strike much of a chord with critics or general audiences.
01:01Despite praise for the visual effects and the memorable Chicago chase sequence, the script
01:06and Eddie Redmayne's Razzie-winning performance were largely panned, and it failed to recoup
01:11its $210 million at the box office.
01:13Co-star Channing Tatum, who has never been one to mince words about his career disappointments,
01:19spoke out recently about the exhausting experience of shooting the film, which he knew wasn't
01:24coming together as soon as he started working on it.
01:27He said in an interview with Variety, Jupiter Ascending was a nightmare from the jump.
01:31It was a sideways movie.
01:33All of us were there for seven months, bursting our hump.
01:36It was just tough.
01:37Tatum also went on to criticise his own performance in the film, feeling that his work suffered
01:43from a lack of energy due to shooting four movies back-to-back without any time off.
01:48That said, Tatum's performance in Jupiter Ascending is far from the worst thing about
01:52it.
01:539.
01:54Emily Blunt in Gulliver's Travels
01:56It's not much of a secret that Emily Blunt was actually the first choice to play Black Widow
02:02in Iron Man 2, but she was forced to turn down the role due to a standing contractual
02:07agreement with Fox, who demanded that she appear in the Jack Black-led Gulliver's Travels
02:11instead.
02:12Gulliver's Travels went on to score largely negative reviews from critics and failed to
02:17turn a profit on its monstrously over-egged $112 million budget.
02:22During a recent interview with Howard Stern, Blunt called missing out on Black Widow a bit
02:26of a heartbreak, and went on to rather diplomatically explain that she knew Gulliver's Travels was a
02:31dud project from the get-go.
02:33Blunt added, however, that she has no ill will against anyone who worked on the film and
02:37had fun shooting it regardless of her own lack of desire to appear in it.
02:41She went on to say,
02:42There were a lot of really lovely people who were heaven to work with.
02:46I actually had a good time, a laugh with all of them, but it irked my heart for it
02:49to have happened in the first place.
02:518.
02:52Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, and Dennis Hopper in Super Mario Bros.
02:571993's Super Mario Bros. may endure almost 30 years later as a bewildering cult classic,
03:03but make no mistake, it was a major failure upon release.
03:07Demolished by critics and fans alike for its script and deviations from the video game source
03:12material, it was a critical flop and abysmal box office disaster.
03:16It won't surprise anyone who's seen the film to learn that the movie's production was abject chaos.
03:21In his 2007 autobiography, co-star John Leguizamo, who plays Luigi in the film, revealed that
03:28he and Bob Hoskins, who played Mario, were fully aware they were in a train wreck and
03:32would regularly get drunk on set just to make it through the day's shoot.
03:367.
03:37Sean William Scott in Mr. Woodcock
03:40Don't feel bad if you don't remember Mr. Woodcock, a comedy starring Sean William Scott,
03:45Billy Bob Thornton, and Susan Sarandon that came and went in a blip in the summer of 2007,
03:50amid negative reviews while doing little box office business.
03:54In a 2009 interview, the ever chill Scott talked openly about the movie's failure, straight
03:59up admitting that he and co-star Thornton knew it sucked while they were filming it.
04:03He said,
04:04Thankfully for Scott, Mr. Woodcock was enough of a non-entity that it was quickly forgotten,
04:18and basically caused his career no harm at all.
04:216.
04:22Edward Norton in The Italian Job
04:24F. Gary Gray's 2003 remake of The Italian Job saw Edward Norton playing the role of villain
04:30Steve Frazzelli, but Norton made no bones about the fact that he wanted nothing to do with
04:35the movie.
04:36In a similar situation to Emily Blunt, Norton only appeared in the film due to a contractual
04:40requirement from Paramount, who had signed him to a multi-picture deal.
04:44Norton had turned down numerous proposed projects from the studio and balked at the idea of starring
04:49in The Italian Job, until Paramount tied Norton up in litigation and forced him to appear
04:54in the film for $1 million, a mere fraction of his usual $10 million fee at the time.
05:00Watching the film, it's clear that Norton isn't thrilled about the experience, though
05:03ironically, his performance ended up receiving the bulk of the film's critical praise.
05:08While The Italian Job wasn't an outright disaster like most of the films on this list, it settled
05:13for broadly positive reviews and turning a modest profit, albeit failing to launch the
05:18wider franchise, namely a planned sequel, The Brazilian Job, Paramount was clearly hoping
05:23for.
05:245.
05:25Jamie Lee Curtis in Virus
05:27Jamie Lee Curtis is one of the straightest shooters you'll ever find in Hollywood, and
05:32has never been scared to speak her mind about her past projects, success or failure.
05:36But there's one movie in her filmography that she regards as a unique brand of misfire,
05:41and that's 1999's sci-fi horror film Virus.
05:45Beyond praise for its visual effects, the film was near universally panned by critics,
05:50and despite Universal splashing out on action figures and video game tie-ins, it failed to
05:55recoup even half of its $75 million price tag.
06:00In an interview with When back in 2010, Curtis singled out Virus as the only film in her career
06:06where she went into it knowing it was a dud and was unable to do anything to change that
06:10fact.
06:11She said,
06:12It's an unbelievably bad movie, just bad from the bottom.
06:16It was maybe the only time I've known something was just bad and there was nothing I could
06:20do about it.
06:21Curtis seems to have a sense of humour about its failure though, telling IGN in 2003 that
06:26it's fun to compare terrible movies with her friends in the business.
06:29She said,
06:30That's the only good reason to be in bad movies.
06:33Then, when your friends have bad movies, you can say,
06:35Ah, I've got the best one.
06:36I'm bringing Virus.
06:38Never change, Jamie Lee.
06:404.
06:41Bruce Willis in Cop Out
06:43The production of Kevin Smith's 2010 buddy cop movie Cop Out sounds utterly miserable,
06:49with Smith going on the record to say that star Bruce Willis was a miserable, uncooperative
06:53presence throughout shooting and wouldn't even participate in promotional duties, ultimately calling the
06:59experience soul-crushing.
07:01This was, of course, a long time before Willis' unfortunate recent medical diagnosis, which
07:06prompted Smith to call his prior comments petty.
07:08Yet, it doesn't take much reading between the lines to see that Bruce knew he was in
07:12a dud and just couldn't muster the effort to turn it on, so to speak.
07:16Given that Willis turned in solid performances in Red, Lay the Favourite, Moonrise Kingdom and
07:21Looper in the two years that followed Cop Out, it clearly wasn't a case of him being
07:25generally disinterested in actually acting, but simply knowing the project was no good.
07:313.
07:32Whoopi Goldberg in Theodore Rex
07:34Granted, a comatose person could probably have realised that Theodore Rex was going to
07:38be a terrible movie, let alone star Whoopi Goldberg, who verbally agreed to star in the
07:43buddy sci-fi comedy in 1992 and was then litigated into holding up her end of the bargain after
07:49attempting to back out.
07:51Goldberg evidently knew the project was a disaster then, which went on to receive Universal
07:56Critical Scorn and also net Goldberg a Razzie nomination for Worst Actress.
08:01Worse still, New Line Cinema ultimately decided to release Theodore Rex straight to video, which
08:07with its $33.5 million budget made it the most expensive direct-to-video movie ever at the time.
08:14Goldberg was however paid $7 million for the role, and while she clearly knew it was a dreadful
08:19movie from the outset, there are certainly worse outcomes than being paid more money
08:23than most people will ever see in several lifetimes to make a terrible film.
08:272.
08:28Matt Damon in The Great Wall
08:302016's The Great Wall was a sci-fi monster movie co-produced by American and Chinese movie
08:36studios, starring Matt Damon as a European mercenary who joins forces with Chinese warriors to help
08:42battle an alien threat emerging by The Great Wall of China. Despite being directed by the
08:47great Zhang Yimou and boasting a stellar supporting cast including Willem Dafoe and Pedro Pascal,
08:54The Great Wall received largely negative reviews for both its weirdly boring execution and accusations
08:59that it was perpetuating yet another white saviour narrative. Though the film went on to grow
09:04$334.9 million globally, its $150 million budget and large marketing spend meant it ultimately failed
09:13to turn a profit. While star Damon has largely kept quiet about the film in the years since,
09:18last summer he did break his silence and confirmed that he knew the project wasn't working when he saw
09:23how director Yimou was being pressured by financiers to change his vision for the film. He said in an
09:29interview with Mark Moran, I was like this is exactly how disasters happen, it doesn't cohere,
09:35it doesn't work as a movie. I came to consider that the definition of a professional actor,
09:40knowing you're in a turkey and going okay I've got four more months, it's the up at dawn siege on
09:45Hamburger Hill, I'm definitely going to die here but I'm doing it. Number one, Matthew Broderick
09:50in Deck the Halls. Christmas comedy Deck the Halls was released in late 2006 to near universal critical
09:57disdain while failing to lure in even the most undemanding of audiences, hopped up on eggnog and
10:03turkey. It was unable to recoup its oddly hefty $51 million budget. According to a 2013 episode of
10:11How Did This Get Made, which featured one of the film's cast members, Gillian Vickman,
10:15the three leads weren't thrilled about being on set. Christian Chenoweth was still reeling from
10:20breaking up with Aaron Sorkin and spent much of the shoot in tears. Danny DeVito flew in to do the
10:25bare minimum required of him and then there's Matthew Broderick. Broderick, who reportedly spent
10:31months training with a real speed skater for the film's speed skating sequence, was spotted on set
10:36shaking his head and saying to himself, I've hit rock bottom. Evidently Broderick knew he was starring
10:41in A Christmas Turkey, but unlike Chenoweth and DeVito, he managed to avoid scoring a Razzie nomination.
10:48Silver linings though, right? And that concludes our list, if you can think of any we missed then do let us
10:54know in the comments below and while you're there don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that
10:57notification bell. Also head over to Twitter and follow us there and I can be found across various
11:02social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild. I've been Ellie with WhatCulture, I hope you have
11:07a magical day and I'll see you real soon.
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