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Not all movies are created equally.
And like chess, one poor decision can lead to ruin.
But which are the greatest movies that have actually derailed careers?
The result rendered her unrecognizable to all of Hollywood, even to her own Wind co-stars.
Suddenly, a once-promising rising career was airless.
In her 2022 memoir, Grey wrote: “Overnight I [lost] my identity and career … That’s a lie.
I banished myself.”
The movie bombed hard with both audiences and critics, and Myers' career never fully recovered afterward.
In 2019, a crossover special saw Routh reprise his Superman in an acclaimed performance.
(Ben Affleck was in it too, but this was before Good Will Hunting.)
While Doherty rebounded with a leading role in the series Charmed, she never became a proper movie star.
Doherty died of breast cancer in 2024.
Steel (1997) and Shaquille O’Neal
24.
The fallout damaged Trank’s reputation, landing him in the proverbial “director’s jail” for years.
Murphy hadn’t left; he just wasn’t doing anything that was worth paying any attention.
But the biggest receiver of After Earth’s critical beatings was Jaden Smith, whose performance was widely panned.
In 2022, Caufield told TooFab that Grease 2 had an immediate chilling effect for him.
“I didn’t work for practically two years,” Caufield said.
He described a three-picture deal with Paramount that died with Grease 2.
“I was stone cold dead in Hollywood.”
Howard the Duck (1986) and Lea Thompson
18.
Gigli was a mega disaster that shaped the future of both its stars.
Unfortunately for Caruso, both pictures fumbled badly.
(He was even nominated for the Razzie for “Worst New Star"twice, thatsame year.)
Caruso made his last movie in 2001 before returning to TV with CSI: Miami.
When the show ended in 2012, so did Caruso’s life as an actor when he willingly retired.
(In the Cut has since enjoyed reappraisal as a feminist thriller.)
Her year ended with the unpopular psychological thriller I Know Who Killed Me.
Among its casualties was Cimino, the Oscar-winning director who never regained his prestige.
In 2012, Cimino oversaw a new edit of Heaven’s Gate.
But Christensen didn’t soar, as his performance was again deemed the culprit for Jumper’s unremarkable presence.
in 2016 and their final album Christmas Party in 2018.
Berkley shouldered the brunt of its beatdowns, and as a consequence never recovered career-wise.
For director Verhoeven, it was unfair.
Her performance pushed the limits and that worried them.”
Battlefield Earth (2000) and John Travolta
Few stars in Hollywood have had rollercoaster careers like John Travolta.
His is a career marked by frequent highs and discouraging lows.
His legitimate mastery of martial arts would have suited him well in an era of nonstop superhero franchises.
Though Silverstone kept acting well into the 2020s, her post-Batman & Robin work fell short of expectations.
She’s still Madonna though, and is still doing better than any of us can say.
(At least at first.)
Her co-stars saw different outcomes.
Though we can hardly call being a fixture in the Sharknado series “floundering.”
She might not be remembered as an actress anymore, but being a beloved director?
That’s an offer no one can refuse.
