The actor faced criticism for wearing a fat suit to portray Linda Tripp in Impeachment: American Crime Story. “It’s very hard for me to talk about this without feeling like I’m making excuses,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “There’s a lot of controversy around actors and fat suits, and I think that controversy is a legitimate one. I think fatphobia is real. I think to pretend otherwise causes further harm.”
In a GQ interview, John reflected on his role as Finn in Star Wars and called out Disney for giving nuance and proper storylines only to the white characters. “What I would say to Disney is do not bring out a Black character, market them to be much more important in the franchise than they are, and then have them pushed to the side. It’s not good. I’ll say it straight up.”
After portraying Four/Tobias in the Divergent franchise, the actor told Vanity Fair that he struggled with typecasting. “You do a certain type of film and you sign contracts where you are beholden to those roles for a certain period of time and people see you in a certain light that you have to wrestle your way out of. That is 100% the case with actors — and it was definitely the case with me.”
She’s long been vocal about her issues with Amy in The Secret Life of the American Teenager. “There were a lot of things that were written into the scripts that not just me, but a lot of the cast, disagreed with,” she told Bustle. “There were belief systems that were pushed that were different than my own. Yet legally, I was stuck there. To this day, it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”
Over the years, George has been brutally honest about wishing he hadn’t played Batman. When the Guardian asked him which aspects of his youth he’d approach differently, he replied, “Now, the obvious answer to your question would be to joke, ‘Batman & Robin.’ And I wouldn’t do it at all.” According to Deadline, he even kept a picture of himself as Batman in his office “as a cautionary reminder of what can happen when you make movies solely for commercial reasons.”
The actor said she never should have played Nina Simone in the controversial biopic Nina. For the movie, she wore a prosthetic nose and darkened her skin. “I thought back then that I had the permission because I was a Black woman, and I am. But it was Nina Simone, and Nina had a life, and she had a journey that should’ve been honored to the most specific detail. … And she was so honest. She deserved better,” Zoe said.
After playing Susan Storm in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Jessica nearly quit acting altogether. She said the director criticized her while she cried during an emotional scene. “‘It looks too real. It looks too painful. Can you be prettier when you cry? Cry pretty, Jessica.’ He was like, ‘Don’t do that thing with your face. Just make it flat. We can CGI the tears in.'”
Eddie’s portrayal of Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl drew wide criticism for not starring a trans actor. During an interview with the Times, he said he wouldn’t take the role if it were offered to him today. “I made that film with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake.”
She told Vanity Fair that she deeply regrets playing Aibileen Clark in The Help. “There’s a part of me that feels like I betrayed myself, and my people, because I was in a movie that wasn’t ready to [tell the whole truth].”
In 2013, the actor told Playboy, “The only movie I actually regret is Daredevil. It just kills me. I love that story, that character, and the fact that it got fucked up the way it did stays with me. Maybe that’s part of the motivation to do Batman.“
He told Esquire that After Earth — a box office flop — was “the most painful failure” in his career. “Wild Wild West was less painful than After Earth because my son was involved in After Earth, and I led him into it. That was excruciating.”
In 2008, the actor stirred up some controversy when she told Vanity Fair that Knocked Up is “a little sexist.” She said it “paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys. It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it on some days. I’m playing such a bitch; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you’re portraying women?”
On Instagram, she apologized for voicing a Vietnamese character in BoJack Horseman. “In hindsight, I wish that I didn’t voice the character of Diane Nguyen,” she wrote. “I now understand that people of color should always voice people of color. We missed a great opportunity to represent the Vietnamese American community accurately and respectfully, and for that I am truly sorry.”
The actor played Don Shirley in Green Book, a film inspired by a true story. However, Don’s relatives called the movie “jarring” and “a symphony of lies.” They said they were never consulted during development and found elements of Don’s portrayal “deeply hurtful.” Mahershala called the family directly and apologized.
15.
And finally, Rooney Mara
When she played Tiger Lily in Pan, the backlash was swift and severe. “I really hate, hate, hate that I am on that side of the whitewashing conversation,” Mara told the Telegraph. “I really do. I don’t ever want to be on that side of it again. I can understand why people were upset and frustrated.”
Any other actors who regret previous roles? LMK in the comments below!
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