Hollywood can make dreams a reality, but also destroy them in record time. Occasionally, it isn’t burnout or scandal that brings a promising career to a halt, but rather one misguided role that sets everything awry. Here’s a countdown of 10 performances that sent once-rising stars right off the A-list map.
10. Greta Garbo – Two-Faced Woman
Greta Garbo was inviolable at one time, the height of silver screen stardom. But Two-Faced Woman (1941) was the film that dethroned her. The movie attempted to remake her as a sassy comedienne, but reviewers savaged it as tasteless and badly constructed. Viewers didn’t accept the new Garbo either. She ceased appearing in films altogether after the negative reaction.
9. Eddie Murphy – The Adventures of Pluto Nash & Norbit
Eddie Murphy dominated the ’80s and ’90s but came close to seeing his career ruined in the early 2000s. The $100 million sci-fi bomb The Adventures of Pluto Nash, which grossed less than $7 million, was just the start. Then there was Norbit, which critics deemed wince-inducingly unfunny and offensive. Murphy himself now acknowledges that the time was ripe with “shitty movies,” leading him to take a break from the limelight for a couple of years.
8. Mariah Carey – Glitter
Pop icon Mariah Carey believed Glitter (2001) would make her a movie star. Instead, it was a pop culture punchline. The film tanked at the box office and with critics, grossing only $5 million and a paltry 6% on Rotten Tomatoes. Carey did not take the panning well, but she rebounded by heading back to her rightful home: the recording studio. Hollywood, though, did not dial back.
7. Shaquille O’Neal – Steel
Basketball great Shaquille O’Neal attempted to extend his winning streak to the big screen, but Steel (1997) was a complete airball. The superhero movie was awkward, campy, and box office poison, scoring an atrocious 12% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even the director admitted after the fact that Shaq simply lacked the acting skills. Following that, his acting career was benched forever.
6. Paris Hilton – The Hottie and the Nottie & House of Wax
Paris Hilton’s transition from reality TV stardom to the big screen didn’t exactly work out. House of Wax brought her lots of ridicule, and The Hottie and the Nottie put the finishing touches on it, scoring just 6% on Rotten Tomatoes and a Razzie for Worst Actress. Critics were merciless, and Hilton’s film career never got back on track. She went back to the community that adored her most, celebrity culture.
5. Taylor Kitsch – John Carter
Arriving on the heels of Friday Night Lights, Taylor Kitsch seemed to be the next big leading man. Then, of course, there was John Carter (2012), one of the most costly and catastrophic box office flops in film history. Even Kitsch’s decent work couldn’t save the film from its haphazard marketing and ballooning budget. Kitsch has worked steadily since, but the A-list moment that John Carter was going to provide never materialized.
4. Rachael Leigh Cook – Josie and the Pussycats
Rachael Leigh Cook was Hollywood’s new darling after She’s All That. But when Josie and the Pussycats tanked, she reports that she was essentially sent to “movie jail.” The box office failure put the brakes on her big-screen career, and she gravitated to the smaller films and TV movies. She is still adored, but her chance at movie superstardom passed her by.
3. Taylor Lautner – Abduction
Fresh from Twilight, Taylor Lautner had the potential to be a blockbuster leading man, until Abduction (2011). Abduction was ripped apart by critics, with The New York Times poking fun at his abs doing most of the work. The film had a paltry 5% on Rotten Tomatoes, and since then, Lautner’s film career dwindled nearly to nothing.
2. Alicia Silverstone – Batman & Robin
Following Clueless, Alicia Silverstone was Hollywood royalty. Then there was Batman & Robin (1997), roundly regarded as one of the worst superhero films ever created. Her performance as Batgirl won her a Razzie, and the bad publicity, particularly nasty jokes about her weight, encouraged her to retreat from acting completely. Many years on, Silverstone confessed the experience made her disillusioned with the industry.
1. Elizabeth Berkley – Showgirls
Leading the pack is Elizabeth Berkley, who transitioned from Saved by the Bell sweetheart to overnight scandal magnet. Showgirls (1995) was supposed to be her transition into adult Hollywood stardom, ended up ruining her career. The critics ridiculed the film’s explicit eroticism and stilted acting, and Berkley carried the worst of the criticism. While Showgirls later became a cult classic, it came too late for Berkley’s Hollywood life.
Hollywood loves a comeback, but these stories prove that sometimes one wrong role can change everything. In a town built on image and timing, even one bad decision can turn a rising star into a footnote.