15 Movies That Made Actors Want To Quit Hollywood

As with any job, no one signs up for a film expecting the worst. However, there have been projects that made actors want to downright quit Hollywood altogether. Sometimes, it's about the immense shame they feel starring in dud productions; other times, it's about everything else around the movies that leaves a bitter taste in their mouths. Then, there are also the films where the actors expected their careers to skyrocket to superstardom, but the stars simply did not align.

Whichever way, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows in showbiz, because the entertainment industry knows how to shatter hearts and leave a boulevard of broken dreams in its bloody wake. The good news is that even though the likes of Christian Bale and Margot Robbie thought about calling it a day at a point in their careers, they didn't. They stuck around, and Hollywood is better off because of their perseverance.

"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" didn't exactly light the superhero world on fire in 2007. Even though the design for the Silver Surfer looks incredible, what the film does in turning the mighty Galactus into a cosmic-traveling fart cloud should be classified as a crime.

Jessica Alba, who stars as Susan Storm in the film, didn't appear to have the best time with it either, as she shared with Elle in 2010 (via Access). The actor recalled an emotional scene where her character dies on screen and director Tim Story's reaction to her performance. She said, "The director was like, 'It looks too real. It looks too painful. Can you be prettier when you cry?... Don't do that thing with your face. Just make it flat. We can CGI the tears in.'"

Alba admitted that Story's comments on the "Fantastic Four" set made her question her career. She decided that she didn't "care about this business anymore," since it had her doubting her own talents. Alba credited motherhood for helping her change her perspective and to deal with the doubters.

Nowadays, Christian Bale is known for a litany of major movies and memorable roles. Yet, his breakthrough in the industry happened at the tender age of 13 when he starred as Jamie in Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" in 1987. For Bale, though, becoming a child star wasn't something that he wanted — in fact, he despised it.

"Anonymity is so essential to your growth as a child because it's a time for putting it all to the test, pushing boundaries, seeing how far you can take things," Bale told NJ.com in 2007. "And I lost that."

While Bale said he coped with the pressure of his newfound fame, it soured his passion for acting — and he considered throwing in the towel there and then. Fortunately, all he needed was a break to get away from the limelight, so he took a two-year hiatus and returned to the big screen in Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V."

The late '90s turned Freddie Prinze Jr. into a teen icon, but his breakout role in 1997 nearly made him quit the industry altogether. Yip, "I Know What You Did Last Summer" pushed Prinze to his breaking point.

Speaking to TooFab in 2023, Prinze opened up about how Jeremy Sisto had been director Jim Gillespie's first pick for the role of Ray Bronson in the movie. However, Gillespie was overridden by the studio and writer Kevin Williamson who wanted Prinze. Gillespie didn't hide the fact that Prinze was unwanted, telling the actor to his face.

Prinze explained how he would get rude notes from the director, resulting in him wanting to fight the filmmaker on a few occasions. After a stunt scene went wrong, Prinze decided to quit the movie — and showbiz — altogether. "I'll go be a chef, that's what my mom wanted me to be anyways," he said, referring to his thoughts at the time. "I packed my bags that night. I was just gonna quit the business." A producer managed to change Prinze's mind, urging him to stay on, and the rest is history.

So, 2010's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" isn't fondly remembered by anyone. In fact, the reboot is often ranked the worst of all the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies. In the film, Rooney Mara stars as Nancy Holbrook and proves to be one of the only shining lights. However, the actor revealed on the "LaunchLeft" podcast that this experience nearly made her quit Hollywood.

Juxtaposing her experience working on "A Nightmare on Elm Street" with "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," Mara referred to the former as "not a good experience." Mara was hesitant about divulging too much information, so she stated that the movie made her realize she doesn't want to act unless it's in something she's passionate about. "I kind of got to this place, that I still live in, that I don't want to act unless I'm doing stuff that I feel like I have to do," she said. Mara's fans owe David Fincher a debt of gratitude for restoring her faith in cinema after living through Freddy's nightmare.

Think of 2004's "Alexander" for a moment. Directed and co-written by Oliver Stone, while fueled by the star power of Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, and Anthony Hopkins, it should have been a hit by every stretch of the imagination — but it wasn't, as "Alexander" turned out to be a financial and critical flop.

For Farrell, it was the movie that made him rethink his entire career. As he explained to The Hollywood Reporter, everyone had big expectations for "Alexander," Farrell included. He even said that they had their tuxedos picked out for the awards ceremonies, so when the film bombed, it caught everyone by surprise. Farrell disappeared to Lake Tahoe for a few days and questioned if he was even a good actor.

"'Alexander' really made me go, 'I don't know,'" Farrell said. "And what I had to do was plug back into the Colin that went into an acting class when he was 17. And not only the fellow that went in the first time, but more importantly the fellow that went back for the second workshop."

Before Mjolnir deemed him worthy to be Thor, Chris Hemsworth was better known for his soap opera work in his native Australia. A major opportunity arrived in 2009 when he was cast as George Kirk in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" reboot. The film did business at the box office and received high critical praise, so Hemsworth expected his agent's phone to be ringing day and night with big offers for him.

It didn't happen that way, as Hemsworth told Men's Health. Instead, it was crickets. "I was about to quit," he said. "I got more and more anxious to the point where I couldn't harness or use that energy. It was all to my detriment."

Believing his brief stint in Hollywood was up, Hemsworth considered heading back to Australia to see if he could return as Kim Hyde in "Home and Away." Then, his fortune changed after he landed a part in "The Cabin in the Woods," which kicked off a hot streak that culminated with him being cast as the God of Thunder in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In the early stages of her career, Anya Taylor-Joy cemented herself as a horror movie darling, appearing in films like "The Witch" and "Split." In 2020, she was cast as Emma Woodhouse in the Autumn de Wilde-directed period piece "Emma," based on the Jane Austen novel. The film offered Taylor-Joy the chance to flex more dramatic acting muscles and showcase her range as a performer. Yet, it almost convinced her to leave the film business. 

"So I got Jane Austen's 'Emma' as a job, and that really panicked me, because it was a role that was supposed to be beautiful from the offset, and I hadn't done that — I'd played creatures, outsiders, whatever," Taylor-Joy told The Hollywood Reporter. "For some reason I guess that triggered some childhood trauma and I was like, 'I can't do it. There's no way, I'm going to really let people down.'"

Taylor-Joy acknowledged that this crisis of confidence was also compounded by not taking a breather from all the acting work she had done in the lead-up to "Emma," as well as personal issues. That said, she rediscovered her passion for acting through this turbulence.

Michael Cera experienced a bumper year in 2007 after the back-to-back success of "Superbad" and "Juno" brought him mainstream recognition. However, Cera didn't like the level of attention surrounding him at the time, citing how "overwhelming" it felt and that he "was not equipped to handle" it.

In an interview with The Guardian, Cera discussed how he went to a bar with his friends on the weekend in which "Superbad" was released. He emphasized how uncomfortable he was being noticed by other patrons, especially the drunk people who didn't respect personal boundaries and wanted to touch him (honestly, who can blame him for being freaked out by that? Stop touching strangers, weirdos).

Soon, he found himself at loggerheads with his representatives, since he actively avoided roles that could make him "more famous." Cera admitted that he was unsure if he should continue acting after "Superbad" and "Juno," but he had already committed to "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," so he stuck with it.

In the 2000s, Matthew McConaughey became the go-to rom-com guy — to the point that he turned into an archetype of the genre. Behind the scenes, though, McConaughey wanted more from his craft. It wasn't that he was unappreciative of the success, but he also wanted to star in other genres.

There was one problem, though: Hollywood saw him as a rom-com specialist, so those were the only roles being offered. As McConaughey told Glen Powell during a conversation for Interview, he intentionally stepped away from the business for two years after playing Connor Mead in "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past."

"I had long talks with my wife about needing to find a new vocation," McConaughey said, considering careers as a high school teacher, conductor, or wildlife guide. He thought that Hollywood would forget about him, and that would be that. McConaughey returned to Tinsel Town and won an Oscar for his dramatic role as Ron Woodroof in 2013's "Dallas Buyers Club," proving his gamble paid off in the end.

Hayden Christensen was a rising star in Hollywood when he was cast as Anakin Skywalker in the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy. Of course, these films prove to be divisive, with debate raging that George Lucas was enabled by yes men on the "Star Wars" prequels, but is it really "Star Wars" if fans aren't mad about something?

Regardless, the role brought Christensen a new level of fame and fortune that he couldn't have ever imagined. Once he wrapped up "Revenge of the Sith," he moved away from Hollywood, only taking the odd role here and there, as many wondered if he had quit the business.

The reason for his low profile was because he didn't believe he had earned his career and remained unsure of his next step. "I guess I felt like I had this great thing in 'Star Wars' that provided all these opportunities and gave me a career, but it all kind of felt a little too handed to me," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I didn't want to go through life feeling like I was just riding a wave."

The "Twilight" films might not feature one of Robert Pattinson's most Pattinsoniest performances, but they played a pivotal role in turning him into a global superstar. Nonetheless, Pattinson hasn't always had the fondest memories of the franchise, as even he recognizes the utter ridiculousness of the melodramatic vampire franchise.

As it turns out, the audition process for the first "Twilight" had him feeling embarrassed to the point in which he wanted to pack it all in on his acting career. Appearing on the "HFPA in Conversation" podcast, Pattinson told the story of how his agent told him to take a guitar into his audition, because he would be reading the scene in which Edward Cullen played guitar. Once Pattinson arrived, the casting crew asked him if he would be playing a song for them. Pattinson declined, and they began to question why he would bring a guitar into an audition in the first place.

"The audition was one of the worst auditions I did in my whole life," Pattinson said. "I remember calling my parents and saying, 'I'm done, I can't torture myself anymore.'" Pattinson got the role, so he obviously did something right.

To say Margot Robbie's turn as Naomi Lapaglia in "The Wolf of Wall Street" changed her career would be putting it lightly. The Martin Scorsese-directed picture, which was based on the true life story of Jordan Belfort, took her from promising young actor to A-lister in a split second.

This sudden transformation came too fast and too soon, according to Robbie. "Something was happening in those early stages and it was all pretty awful, and I remember saying to my mom, 'I don't think I want to do this,'" Robbie told Vanity Fair in 2022. "And she just looked at me, completely straight-faced, and was like, 'Darling, I think it's too late not to.'" At that point, Robbie embraced her meteoric rise to fame and strapped herself in for the ride, understanding that her rocket had already taken off so she should roll with it.

Asa Butterfield came to the wider public's attention after playing Bruno in 2008's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." Since the story is set in Poland at the time in which it was occupied by the Nazi Germany, it's a heavy film that stirs up many emotions about one of humanity's darkest eras.

While Butterfield received praise for his performance, the experience wasn't easy for the then-10-year-old child actor. In an interview with The Guardian in 2019, Butterfield explained how he was fully aware of the subject matter covered in the film and efforts were made to make him at ease, but it proved to be overwhelming at points. In fact, the actor explained there were times when shooting certain scenes became too much for him.

"When we were finished on 'Boy in the Striped Pajamas' — I don't remember this, but my mum told me after I finished that job — I said I didn't want to be an actor any more," Butterfield said. So, why did the actor return to acting? Because it got him out of school.

Not only did the "Harry Potter" films take its young cast from relative unknowns to headliners, but it also let the viewers see the actors grow up in front of them from movie to movie. For Emma Watson, she discovered the price of fame, having played Hermione Granger all those years.

In a 2017 interview with Vanity Fair, Watson opened up about how she struggled during the last few "Harry Potter" films, because she couldn't recognize who she was anymore. The celebrity aspect weighed heavily on her, so she considered quitting the business when she enrolled at Brown University in 2009. "I was finding this fame thing was getting to a point of no return," Watson said. "I sensed if this was something I was ever going to step away from it was now or never." 

Eventually, Watson came to understand that fame is part and parcel of becoming a successful actor, so she learned how to deal with it and set personal boundaries too. As it turns out, the "Harry Potter" trio all thought about quitting the franchise at some point.

Netflix's "The Kissing Booth" franchise isn't what anyone would term classic cinema, but it's a harmless teen rom-com series that passes the time and looks like "Casablanca" next to 2021's "He's All That." The films also helped to launch the careers of several of its stars, including Jacob Elordi who plays Noah Flynn in the trilogy.

Speaking to GQ in 2022, Elordi admitted that he wasn't ready for how 2018's "The Kissing Booth" would change his life from one day to the next. Quite literally. After the film's release at midnight, Elordi received four million Instagram followers by the morning. With that came newfound celebrity and media attention for Elordi, something that he struggled with and considered quitting Hollywood over. "I hated being a character to the public," he said. "I felt so far from myself." Elordi continued acting, though he still doesn't like the media attention.