Star-Derailing Role: Difference between revisions

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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] Andand [[Manga ]] ==
 
== Anime And Manga ==
* [[Aya Hirano]]'s career took a hit with the failure of ''[[Dragonaut: The Resonance]]'' and her own growing reputation as a "diva", forcing her managers to try to reel her in and limit her to supporting roles to save face. Hirano ultimately "left" the agency when she was caught in a scandal.
 
== [[Film ]] ==
 
== Film ==
* [[Halle Berry]] both subverted this trope and later played it straight. Her role in ''[[Catwoman (film)|Catwoman]]'' killed interest in the possible ''[[Die Another Day]]'' spinoff featuring her character, Jinx, and was a factor in [[Genre Killer|killing the budding sub-genre]] of female-fronted superhero films. At the same time, ''Catwoman'' [[Break the Haughty|humbled her enough]] to graciously accept the [[Golden Raspberry Award|Razzie award]] [[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|for Worst Actress]] [[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|in person]], saving her career from a complete meltdown; she almost wasn't in ''[[X-Men: The Last Stand|X Men the Last Stand]]'' movie because she was demanding a higher salary and a bigger part. However, ''Perfect Stranger'' was the death knell for Halle as a leading lady, and her subsequent filmography has been a very small series of low-profile character dramas while lending her face to a glut of cosmetics endorsements.
** Of course those paying attention might have seen the second fall coming... her "humble" acceptance of her Razzie also involved her waving around her Oscar and blaming everyone but herself for both the movie's suckage and her being in it.
* Elizabeth Berkley in ''[[Showgirls]]''. The film pretty much [[Creator Killer|derailed the career]] of director Paul Verhoeven, as well, though he would later recover somewhat with ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]''.
* [[Thora Birch]] in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons (film)||Dungeons and Dragons]]''. On top of this, [[Stage Mom|her father]] also contributed to her career's decline as he has cost her roles, and yet she refuses to dismiss him.
* [[Matthew Broderick]] in the live action adaptation of ''[[Inspector Gadget (film)|Inspector Gadget]]''. This movie, in addition to the American version of ''[[Godzilla (film)|Godzilla]]'', killed his career as a leading man in major motion pictures. He found more success in theater, most notably the stage version of ''[[The Producers]]''.
* [[Dana Carvey]] in ''[[The Master of Disguise]]'', which was actually a botched [[Career Resurrection|comeback attempt]].
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* Geena Davis in ''[[The Long Kiss Goodnight]]'' and ''[[Cutthroat Island]]''. The latter also sank [[Creator Killer|the studio, director Renny Harlin's career]], her marriage (she was married to Harlin at that time), and [[Genre Killer|the entire swashbuckling adventure genre]]. (Even now, the ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' films are the only such movies being produced.)
* Cuba Gooding, Jr. in ''Boat Trip''... and ''Snow Dogs''... and ''[[Daddy Day Camp]]''... Really, a lot of Cuba's post-''[[Jerry Maguire]]'' output has been like this. [[Never My Fault|He attributes this to the fact that the good roles stopped coming for him once Will Smith became Hollywood's new favorite black actor.]]
** Cuba's films were the most-rented from Blockbuster at one time, till the film ''Radio'', in which he played [[Inspirationally Disadvantaged]]. You could say that ''Radio'' [[PunA Worldwide Punomenon|Killed the Video Star]].
* [[Lindsay Lohan]] in ''[[I Know Who Killed Me]]''. Though her out-of-control personal life was largely responsible for the downfall of her career, this film bombed at the box-office and was ruthlessly savaged by critics and audiences alike, so it's a pretty safe bet to say that even if Lindsay's life hadn't gotten so out-of-control, it's still not too likely that her career and "it girl" status would've fared much better after the critical and box-office flop of this film.
* [[Jennifer Lopez]] and [[Ben Affleck]] in ''[[Gigli]]''. Eventually, their careers would recover (though their relationship didn't survive, even if they gave it another chance almost a couple of decades later), but director Martin Brest wasn't as lucky (he later retired from filmmaking due to this film constantly suffering from [[Executive Meddling]]).
* [[Madonna]] has had a couple of these throughout her acting career, at least one per decade. "Shanghai Surprise" killed her '80s film career, then "Body of Evidence" killed her film career in the '90s, and finally the 2002 remake of ''Swept Away'' (directed by then-husband [[Guy Ritchie]]) killed it for good. (Going ''behind'' the camera with ''W.E.'' didn't help her much either.)
* [[Demi Moore]] in ''Striptease'' and ''[[G.I. Jane]]''.
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** A twofer: ''Staying Alive'' and ''Rocky IV'' killed [[Sylvester Stallone]]'s career as a director for twenty years.
* Tom Green starred in, wrote and directed ''[[Freddy Got Fingered]]'', and hasn't been seen much in theaters since.
* Pretty much ''everyone'' involved in the ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' movie with the sole exception of [[Steve Martin]], who was so popular at the time even this stinker couldn't diminish his star. Same couldn't be said for George Burns or [[Aerosmith]]—who both suffered a brief career downturn, Aeorsmith in part thanks to drug problems, before returning to popularity in the mid-80's -- or Peter Frampton whose career took a big dip, and rumor has it that he was horrified to hear it was being released on DVD. The Bee Gees were also affected by this (in addition to [[Deader Than Disco|the decline of disco]]), but they did well as songwriters, making U.S. chart-toppers, such as "Islands in the Stream" by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers and "Heartbreaker" by Dionne Warwick.
* ''Heartbeeps'' derailed [[Andy Kaufman]]'s potential film career.
* [[Peter Sellers]] in ''[[Casino Royale 1967]]''; he was actually fired midway through the shoot when he proved too unreliable and uncooperative, and while the film was finished without him it was extremely messy. This left a black mark on his reputation (particularly with American studios), and most of his subsequent films through 1974 would turn out to be flops if they even made it to theaters. He experienced a [[Career Resurrection]] after that.
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* Nick Swardson's career as a leading man began and ended with the disastrous ''Bucky Larson: Born To Be Star''.
* Emile Hirsch and Christina Ricci's careers were damaged with the high-budgeted flop ''[[Speed Racer (film)|Speed Racer]]''. Hirsch, who had been in a number of acclaimed films before it, has mostly disappeared in supporting roles since (not doing another lead role until the 2011 flop ''[[The Darkest Hour]]'') while Ricci's been mostly appearing in low-budget indies, with the exception of the aforementioned ''Bucky Larson'', which fortunately didn't affect Ricci due to her indie cred.
** What's truly unfortunate is that neither of them were particularly ''bad'', nor was ''Speed Racer'' itself—it just hit confused viewers, who saw "Directed by [[the Wachowskis|The Wachowski Brothers]]" on it and assumed they were in for [[Mind Screw]]y philosophical ramblings but got cotton-candy exuberance instead. ''[[Ninja Assassin]]'' had the same problem to a lesser extent.
* Jon Heder's star rose with ''[[Napoleon Dynamite]]'' and fell not long after with ''[[School For Scoundrels]]'' (which also brought down co-stars Billy Bob Thornton and Jacinda Barrett and nearly killed director Todd Phillips' career). Most of his later projects have been barely released (''[[Mamas Boy]]'', ''Moving McAllister'') or bypassed theatres (''Woke Up Dead'').
* Christopher Reeve in ''[[Switching Channels]]''. In his autobiography, ''Still Me'', Reeve claims that this film's failure, along with ''[[Superman IV]]'', ''[[The Aviator]]'', and ''[[Street Smart]]'' (which he in part agreed to do ''Superman IV'' under the condition that he was allowed to star in this long time "pet project" of his), knocked him off the A-list in Hollywood and he would have to audition for major roles for the rest of his career. Reeve also expressed regret in making ''Switching Channels'' (Reeve took on the role because he felt that making a comedy would be a good distraction from the depression steaming from his split with his long time girlfriend, Gae Exton), believing that he had "made a fool of himself" (Reeve played decidedly against type as Kathleen Turner's hapless fiancé) and had to act as a referee for constantly feuding costars Turner and Burt Reynolds. Reeve during his career, also turned down the lead roles in ''[[American Gigolo]]'', ''The World According to Garp'', ''[[Splash]]'', ''[[Fatal Attraction]]'', ''[[Pretty Woman]]'', ''[[Romancing the Stone]]'', ''[[Lethal Weapon]]'' and ''Body Heat''. Reeve even turned down the lead role in a remake of ''[[Mutiny on the Bounty]]'' titled ''The Bounty'' after [[Katharine Hepburn]] recommended him to the director, Roger Donaldson, who ultimately went with his second choice, [[Mel Gibson]].
* [[Meg Ryan]] had a brief moment where her career was derailed after making ''[[Against the Ropes]]'' in 2004, having not appeared in a theatrically released film until 2007's ''In the Land of Women''.
* ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' was notable for not only being the final film [[Sean Connery]] starred in before retiring, but bombing hard enough to kill the careers of most of the starring cast. The film also killed Stephen Norrington's directing career - to date, he hasn't helmed another film.
* [[Prince]]'s acting career was derailed by his second film, the critical and box-office flop ''[[Under the Cherry Moon]]''.
* Although not a box office failure, there's an apocryphal account [https://web.archive.org/web/20140429065501/http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/film/4170549/Star-Wars-Anakin-Skywalker-star-Jake-Lloyd-I-will-never-act-again.html here] that the mockery [[Jake Lloyd]] received for his performance as the young Anakin Skywalker in ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' caused him to retire from acting at the age of ten.
* Broadway actress (and Tony award nominee) Alyson Reed was set to become a major Hollywood star with the release of the film adaptation of ''[[A Chorus Line]]'' in 1985, in which she played the lead woman Cassie. When the movie tanked with only lukewarm critical reception, she found herself abruptly ''un''booked for talk shows and ignored by studios and casting directors.
* ''[[The Exorcist]]'' is proof that a movie doesn’t have to be bad to fit this Trope, as it certainly was to [[Linda Blair]]. While that role got Blair a nomination for an Academy Award and two Golden Globes (winning one of the latter), the well-known horror film made her a victim of typecasting, and she found it hard to find serious work as an actress afterwards, staring in a lot of B-movies and horror parodies since then, most of them pretty bad; she was nominated for Worst Actress by the Golden Raspberry Awards for three of them. Worse, she has, to this day, gotten a lot of hate mail from fans [[Fan Dumb|who actually think she ''is'' some demon who has possessed an innocent girl]]. Despite this, Blair has ''never'' had any regrets.
* Another example of a great movie that killed the star's career was the 1931 ''[[Dracula (1931 film)|Dracula]]'' film. While [[Bela Lugosi]] became famous for the iconic role, he was also sadly typecast and became unable to find work playing any other role. He spent the rest of his career staring in B-movies, and worse, was often paired with [[Boris Karloff]], always getting second billing. After portraying Dracula for the final time in ''[[Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein]]'', the rest of his career was spent making low-budget trash like ''[[Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla]]''. Whether he ever regretted doing ''Dracula'' is hard to say; while he was eventually buried wearing one of the "Dracula" cape costumes, it was not by his own request, contrary to popular belief, but rather that of his wife and son.
* The 1997 adaptation of ''[[The Island of Doctor Moreau]]'' was this for [[Marlon Brando]], and it was mostly his fault. Despite acclaim for classics like ''[[Guys and Dolls]]'', ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'', and ''[[The Godfather]]'', Brando was notorious for being ''horrible'' to work with on a project, and this film was him at his worst. His bad attitude and endless complaining made the film a colossal mess and a flop, leading to director/writer Richard Stanley being fired by the studio and absolutely ''nobody'' wanting to work with Brando again. The few starring roles he had after that until his death were obscure next to his previous ones.
 
== [[Live -Action TV ]] ==
* [[Emeril Lagasse]] in ''[[Emeril]]''. After this sitcom tanked, he went from being one of the hottest chefs in the country to being just another face in the TV chef crowd. (It also has the misfortune of being [[Robert Urich]]'s last series.)
* [[Bette Midler]] in ''Bette'', the spectacular failure of which effectively ended her acting career. She now usually gets work performing her hits on various shows.
* [[Michael Richards]] in ''The Michael Richards Show'', the first post-''[[Seinfeld]]'' project that established the "''Seinfeld'' curse". Since it flopped in 2000, he's only done voice-over work (including in his old co-star's ''[[Bee Movie]]'') and played himself in ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]''. Then his career got buried in 2006 when he decided to deal with a heckler at one of his stand-up comedy shows by [[N-Word Privileges|using the n-word]].
* Although Geena Davis was still stinging from her film disasters above, her ''[[The Geena Davis Show]]'' didn't help matters. One telling clue: usually when a show is named after its star, [[The Danza|they keep that name in the show]] (Emeril played "Emeril" in ''Emeril'' and Bette played "Bette" in ''[[Bette]],'' for example.) Despite being ''The GEENA'''Geena DAVISDavis''' Show,'' Geena Davis's character was named "Teddie".
** Then his career got buried in 2006 by deciding to deal with a heckler at one of his stand-up comedy shows by [[N-Word Privileges|using the n-word]].
* ''[[The Paul Reiser Show]]'' promptly bombed as soon as it aired, and NBC cancelled it after two episodes. Considering he has done nothing noteworthy since ''[[Mad About You]]'' came to an end over a decade ago, this likely signals the end of Paul Reiser's on-screen career.
* Although Geena Davis was still stinging from her film disasters above, her ''The Geena Davis Show'' didn't help matters. One telling clue: usually when a show is named after its star, [[The Danza|they keep that name in the show]] (Emeril played "Emeril" in ''Emeril'' and Bette played "Bette" in ''Bette,'' for example.) Despite being ''The GEENA DAVIS Show,'' Geena Davis's character was named "Teddie".
* [[Lucille Ball]], the star of ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', conceived of the idea for, produced and acted in another primetime comedy series, ''Life With Lucy'' (no relation to Ball's [[Star-Making Role]]) on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] in the 80's. Ball was given complete creative control over the series - which meant that she tried to replicate ''[[I Love Lucy]]'''s success in the 50's for an 80's crowd. Suffice to say, the attempt didn't work, and the resulting series (about a widow who goes to work at a hardware store) was painfully unfunny and cringe-inducing to watch (at least partially because Lucy was trying to duplicate her famous slapstick comedy, which didn't work nearly as well for her as it did when she was younger). The show flopped on arrival, and its failure made Ball stop working on any more projects.
* ''The Paul Reiser Show'' promptly bombed as soon as it aired, and NBC cancelled it after two episodes. Considering he has done nothing noteworthy since ''[[Mad About You]]'' came to an end over a decade ago, this likely signals the end of Paul Reiser's on-screen career.
* Dan Fogler's attempt to jump into TV after his film career died was the maligned [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] "men in trouble" "comedy" ''[[Man Up!]]'' It lasted for eight episodes, and there was no word of Fogler landing on a new pilot in the subsequent development season.
* [[Lucille Ball]], the star of ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', conceived of the idea for, produced and acted in another primetime comedy series, ''Life With Lucy'' (no relation to Ball's [[Star-Making Role]]) on [[ABC]] in the 80's. Ball was given complete creative control over the series - which meant that she tried to replicate ''[[I Love Lucy]]'''s success in the 50's for an 80's crowd. Suffice to say, the attempt didn't work, and the resulting series (about a widow who goes to work at a hardware store) was painfully unfunny and cringe-inducing to watch (at least partially because Lucy was trying to duplicate her famous slapstick comedy, which didn't work nearly as well for her as it did when she was younger). The show flopped on arrival, and its failure made Ball stop working on any more projects.
* [[Wanda Sykes]]'s once-strong career as a comedienne and actress fell apart after the failure of her talk show ''[[The Wanda Sykes Show]]''. It was said that her openness about her lesbianism and her inability to appeal to Middle America blackballed her from ever heading a major production again. Her post-cancellation work has been mostly in smaller theatrical projects in recent years.
* Dan Fogler's attempt to jump into TV after his film career died was the maligned [[ABC]] "men in trouble" "comedy" ''Man Up!'' It lasted for eight episodes, and there was no word of Fogler landing on a new pilot in the subsequent development season.
* Wanda Sykes's once-strong career as a comedienne and actress fell apart after the failure of her talk show ''The Wanda Sykes Show''. It was said that her openness about her lesbianism and her inability to appeal to Middle America blackballed her from ever heading a major production again. Her post-cancellation work has been mostly in smaller theatrical projects in recent years.
 
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