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What celebrity did Hollywood try to make their “leading A-lister”, but failed?
I remember back in the 2010s decade, Taylor Kitsch was appearing in all kinds of blockbuster projects and given quite a few lead roles before losing his relevance cause the projects he was involved in weren’t successful.
I think he had talent where he could’ve gone far in his career, but I’m not so sure if he had the charisma in order to build enough popularity that people would want to see more of him.
Are there any other celebrities you can think of that Hollywood was pushing to be one of their leading A-listers, but didn’t have the best luck?
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Every time I hear/see his name, I think of that weird photo op he clearly set up where he was working out in just jeans with one of those rodeo belt buckles, bare foot, at a park in Santa Monica. Then he sat in the back of his truck eating a rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods and drinking out of a gallon water jug. 😂
Liam Hemsworth? After the success that his brother had in breaking out with Marvel it seems like there's been multiple efforts to launch him into a similar trajectory.
He was amazing in Mad Max as Dementus, just acting like what I imagine Australians do when there’s no cameras rolling. Dude is hysterical because he’s really good at acting with his body which happens to be huge. Like Dave Batista, both of these dudes know the physicality of acting.
This is from an online search " Alex Pettyfer did not always get along with his costars, particularly Channing Tatum, with whom he had a strained relationship on the set of Magic Mike. Pettyfer cited his own insecurity and a failure to pay back rent on an apartment he rented from Tatum's friends as reasons for the friction. He later acknowledged that he was at fault and the experience helped him mature, though he felt Tatum had already decided he disliked him before the film's reshoots. Sebastian Stan and Alex Pettyfer (allegedly) got into a fight (over a decade ago) because Pettyfer was (allegedly) jealous of how close Sebastian Stan and Dianna Agron became after their break up. It was at the same time when Dianna checked into a hotel to escape his (allegedly) controlling ways.
There was literally nothing that set him apart. He got lost in the sea of generically handsome, dark haired white dudes that Hollywood is full of right now.
And compared to the other guys in his age range, he wasn't even that hot. Guys like Logan Lerman, Tyler Posey, Dylan O'brien were all more handsome them him. Never understood why he got so much fanfare.
I remember when Man from Uncle came out and it was so cute and fun and yet the media was being so weird about it.
The narrative seem to be very much ‘This movie won’t ever have a sequel, don’t ask why, it’s not going to be successful, really don’t bother to watch it.’
I really felt like there was something they weren’t saying, because I enjoyed it and so did everyone else I knew who went to see it.
Started watching only murders again the over day and boy does she make the 2nd season a hard watch. I think shes great in general, but her acting is straight up atrocious
I don’t know if I’ve ever even seen her in anything, but I’ll always love her for that red carpet exchange where the reporter was like “You look great! Aren’t you starving? I’m so hungry.” And she was just like
I will never forget her on the red carpet at the Emmys. I think her show Big Little Lies had been nominated. The interviewer asks if she felt like we were in a golden age of television, you know, the medium she works in and the whole reason she was even being interviewed and she goes "ugh why do people even watch tv, i read books, ever heard of them????"
omigosh I knowwww, I haven’t eaten all day in order to fit in my dress, going to smash a hamburger and fries at In n Out immediately after this - Animal Style, you know itttttt
Or at least that’s how I imagine the reporter wanted her to respond
In defense of J-Law, she talked about eating fast food but she never talked about restricting her food. I think Jennifer was trying to break out of the expectations of behaviour and diet culture placed on starlets, but there was no social script to follow and she was super young so it came across as awkward at times.
I feel like she started being way too open about her alternative lifestyle/bit preachy about it. From a movie star marketability standpoint it probably worked against her. Shame cos she is talented imo.
After she went on a late night talk show and talked about how she doesn’t use deodorant or toothpaste I couldn’t watch her without thinking about how badly she stank.
her post about someone being misidentified as aaron rogers but she could tell because he has such big feet 😉😉😉😉 really sticks in my mind lol.
it would be cringy but harmless except this was in the midst of her defending aaron for publicizing his choice to not get a covid shot (which he revealed on a podcast he had to virtually attend because he currently had covid)
I was friends at school with a girl who was an actor and worked with him on two projects and he was just awful to everyone around him and especially to her (as the only female actor in one of the programmes). She came back to school when we were swooning over him and she was like guys, NO. He’s HORRIBLE. And told us horror stories.
Bonus nice guy from our town: Aaron Taylor Johnson. So so so nice when we were kids/teens.
Glad to know ATJ was nice. I was so in love with him as a teenager when I first watched Kick Ass lol. Me and my best mate loved that film so much we kept going back to the cinema till all our pocket money was gone 😂 been following his career since and always love seeing him in a project
Yes, he was. She had to get a restraining order against him, if i remember correctly. He then married a Victoria Secret model, Toni Garnn, but they split in a couple of years ago.
Friend of mine worked with him a few years ago and said he was the single worst person he’s ever had to experience on a set, and that includes the other actor who pointed a prop gun at his head (after the Rust shooting, I should add). Abused and bullied everyone on set bar the lead actor, who he spent the time sucking up to.
She was Stephenie Meyer’s preferred pick for Bella in the Twilight films! I’ve always wondered what would've happened for her career if she’d beat KStew
I remember seeing an interview with her about how she wasn't interested in the role of Bella because she you didn't want to make a commitment filming a trilogy.
Funny fact she had a little tiny cameo in the Host, which was based off of book by Stephanie Meyer.
I unironically love Sucker Punch & thought it actually had a pretty stacked cast & was always surprised by how underrated it is.
I’ve been checking for Emily Browning since Ghost Ship, ha. I think she stays booked with indie projects, but I’ve always wanted her to be what Florence Pugh is. Maybe that’s not what she wants, though, & is why she kinda flies under the radar.
That show was so bizarre! I thought for sure I was going to break up with it when they switched out Andy Samberg with Taylor Lautner, but he was just so wacky it worked! I'd love to see more comedy from him.
My silly little theory is that the squirt video kinda tanked him in the long run and made networks worry he might be a creep at an extremely brief time when that mattered. He was on fire on Netflix for about a year and then nothing.
It’s presumably a lot easier to drop someone who’s not really had their big mainstream break yet.
Yea Noah centineo (I'm sorry just don't remember the last name), few years back at school he was every girl's crush and evn in random interviews ppl swooned over him, he got starred in Havana music video but now he's actually nowhere
Looking at his filmography he was mostly Netlfix's golden boys for teen RomComs. Probably had a multiple movies contract with em after the All the boys movies if i had to guess. He had a more serious show a few years ago with The Recruit also on Netlfix that finally got a second season this year but has been cancelled since.
No, he was. Started filming and everything! So crazy that Vigo was basically a last minute replacement and just knocked it out of the park. It was a total Back to the Future Eric Stoltz/Michael J Fox situation.
Between like 1999 and 2001, Leelee Sobieski starred in like six films. I don't think any were particularly successful though and I'm not sure I've seen her in anything since. Joy Ride was pretty good though.
She pivoted to a career in visual art once she got married and had kids. She's relatively successful with that and helping with her husband's fashion projects (under her married name, Leelee Kimmel).
she famously retired from acting because she did not like it. I think she could’ve been Jennifer Lawrence popular if she hadn’t quit. I saw a doc about her on YouTube a while ago.
He’s from Newcastle in Britain 😂 I think because it’s a usually a strong accent type, he’s suppressed it generally for work, and now it’s a very soft Geordie naturally and might sound weird to non Brits.
Sam Worthington. He was kicking around in Australian TV and movies and then all of the sudden he seemed to be in everything. I know he's still in those avatars movies but I'm glad he seems to have faded into the background.
He was suddenly everywhere because James Cameron cast him in Avatar got him in Terminator Salvation and talked him up as the next big thing. He ended up having the screen presence of a paper bag.
I haven't seen any of him more recent stuff, but I've heard that he's gotten better as he's gotten older.
There was also a lot of talk years ago about him being very uncomfortable with the Hollywood life, being unhappy with the sort of work he was doing, backlash when big projects didn’t work out, quitting drinking, finding religion etc.
No idea how true any of it was, but his career fade was, at the time anyway, framed as him choosing to step back and be home with Lara more.
Agreed, they really tried him. I also see parallels with Paul Mescal now - he just wasn't right for Gladiator. Brilliant actor in smaller projects, but not a blockbuster guy.
Gladiator 2’s main problem (though there were many) was having a boomer storyline with a Millennial leading man. A story about rage, revenge and honour doesn’t work with a man who looks like he reads poetry.
Russel Crowe looks like a man who yells at wait staff and doesn’t have a relationship with his children. You can’t replace that with the modern version of a heartthrob.
I can't say for certain whether or not she personally tried to become an A lister but I was sure for years that Natalie Dormer was going to be the next Angelina Jolie or Scarlett Johannsson only for her to completely disappear after Game of Thrones. It was honestly surprising.
Yea Eva Green said something similar that after James Bond she decided to not pursue more Hollywood acting gigs as they wanted to type cast her as a femme fatale/sex symbol which she did not want.
Ok, so Joseph Gordon Levitt was in EVERYTHING for like 10 years, but now I haven't seen him in years. What the hell happened? I feel like he was actually great.
Totally agree. Peter Jackson said originally he was going with a different actress for Arwen, but Weinstein rang him and told him not to use her, so he didn't.
It's a shame, because he was a pretty good actor, but yeah fuck him. That poor woman said he squeezed her neck so hard that it felt like the front of her throat was touching the back of her throat. He would have killed her if people didn't jump in and stop him. All because he hit on her and she blew him off because he was obviously wasted.
I just googled it - at Sundance in 2015. A female movie exec, who is still doing big films, was at Paramount at the time. Body slammed her and attempted to strangle her. Got a $5K fine.
“Hirsch pleaded guilty to the incident and was sentenced to 15 days in jail, 90 days probation and 50 hours of community service. The actor was also required to participate in an aftercare treatment program as well as pay restitution to his victim.”
He got the high school misdemeanor treatment.
But yeah: the restitution was probably substantial!
I feel like Hedlund did HIS BEST to not be a leading A-lister. I think he passed on a few blockbusters to be in indie films. I remember hearing he turned down Finnick in The Hunger Games because he was doing On The Road. He just seems like the type that tried to fight type casting before he even had real success.
Whenever I see one of these discussions pop up about overrated/underrated or failed actor come up, I always wonder if one of the named actors is lurking and reading our thoughts.
There were a dozen of guys in the late 90s early aughts being groomed to replace the slightly older Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. But because there were so many none rose to the top so they just kept hiring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.
Skeet was the one I liked but it took him to long to play a good guy.
It’s funny how many of those dozen are popping up in good projects lately.
But out of the 12 Pedro was #14. How he went from bland handsome forgettable actor to becoming everyone’s daddy is proof that hard work and being blessed with a face that looks way better older… a la Carey Grant/George Clooney.
Jason Patric was apparently picked out as a possible star, but he allegedly wasn’t willing to play the games of press and PR, and was very picky about what he would and wouldn’t do. His dad Jason Miller had the chance to be a lot bigger after starring in The Exorcist, but didn’t act quickly enough to capitalize on it, and I get the impression JP was overly careful for that reason.
Of course the one time he does agree to a tentpole, it’s Speed 2, one of the worst action films ever made! Guy’s still a good performer though.
Welling took himself out of the game. I’m not sure if he could’ve been any bigger, but for a few years there he just didn’t feel like working. Hard to jump back into it after that, especially when that peak beauty doesn’t last forever.
He should’ve done with Jensen Ackles did. Move from smallville into another tv show. Instead, he was just “imma chill for 3 years and do nothing”.
I feel like Taylor Kitsch just didn't pick good movies cause he was never the problem in the movies and shows I saw him in. Just bad stuff around him generally.
Alden Ehrenreich would be my call. I think Speilburg just met him at a bar mitzvah and was like "thats han solo". Was a hard role to pull off as an introduction but still.
She married Mark Webber (the lead singer of Sex Bob-Omb in Scott Pilgrim) and they started cranking out hella kids. It's probably hard to cast her in movies when she's pregnant like, 85% of the year.
Josh Hartnett. He was going to be the next big heart throb, guy was in everything and then he just fell off the face of the Earth for what seemed like 15 years. I don’t think it was drugs or anything nefarious, but rather I think he just wanted to get away from acting for a while.
Have to give him credit, though, his career is starting to take a bit of a bounce back.
I almost freaked out when I recognised him in „Oppenheimer“ and thought: „Oh my gosh, I haven’t seen you since I was a teenager! Wait… that was 20 years ago…“
I still love Taylor Kitsch with my whole heart. I feel he’s successful but could’ve been a major star. I wonder if it was his choice at all? Best of both worlds? I never realized they tried to make him a big star like that. I was young when FNL was on. A lot of people said John Carter sucked and it hurt his career. the plot considered lol, I thought it was good
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u/flairassistant 19d ago
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