Actors Who Blamed Co-Stars For Their Movie Bombs

While the movie industry can be a big money spinner, with blockbusters like "Avengers: Endgame" making billions at the box office, there are also plenty of less successful releases as well. Some films can be a huge financial drain, costing studios hundreds of millions of dollars as they fail to inspire critics or audiences. The reasons for a movie becoming a flop can be varied — there might be problems with a script, a lack of confidence from executives leading to a reduced marketing budget, or a tense working environment between the cast and crew.

It is usually difficult to know exactly what the main problems were, but sometimes actors will speak out and provide some clarity. In these cases, the cast member might reveal how one of their fellow actors was a complete jerk or caused issues with their wild behavior, leading to a film that simply wasn't as good as it could have been.

Of course, it's rare for an actor to blame another member of the cast so publicly for a film's failure. That makes the occasions when it does happen all the more juicier, as we get an insight into just how entitled and unpleasant some people in Hollywood actually are.

Lindsay Lohan has had one of the strangest career paths of any actor in the last two decades. From child star to almost complete obscurity, she has been through her fair share of controversies and has seen her personal troubles spill over into her professional work. When she was cast in a lead role in Paul Schrader's film "The Canyons," it may have seemed like a good opportunity to turn her career around. After all, Schrader had been responsible for writing a number of critically acclaimed movies, such as "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull."

Lohan starred alongside adult film actor James Deen in the movie, which sees a rich filmmaker react violently when he discovers his girlfriend had a previous relationship with one of his actors. Box Office Mojo reports that it only just made back its tiny $250,000 budget, while the movie has a Rotten Tomatoes approval score of 21%.

A New York Times story suggested that Deen found it tough working with Lohan. She seemingly turned up late to almost every shoot and proved difficult on set, making the production harder than it needed to be for everyone. This prompted fights between Deen and Schrader, as they vented their frustrations about Lohan on each other.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Dan Aykroyd was one of the biggest names in the world of comedy. Having written and starred in films such as "The Blues Brothers," "Ghostbusters," "Dragnet" and "Spies Like Us," he was able to secure a deal to create the bizarre comedy-horror film "Nothing But Trouble" in 1991. It ended up being the comedian's debut as a director and remains the only time in his career that he took on those duties for a film. Although it features plenty of impressive acting talent, including John Candy, Demi Moore, and Chevy Chase, it failed to make much of an impression, grossing just over $8 million (via Box Office Mojo).

One of those talented people has blamed Aykroyd himself for "Nothing But Trouble" turning out to be a flop. In a 1993 profile story for New York magazine, Chase explained that the movie was the kind of project that could end someone's career, although he made a point of saying that it was also entirely Aykroyd's concept. Not only did Aykroyd write and direct the film, but he also portrayed two different characters. While Chase put the blame for its failure on his friend's shoulders, there have also been questions raised about his own antics on the set.

In 2006's "Annapolis," a young man named Jake Huard (James Franco) is accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. Struggling academically and causing frustration among the other recruits, Huard eventually wins back their loyalty and support by impressively performing against 2nd Lieutenant Matthew Cole (Tyrese Gibson) in a boxing tournament, earning the respect of everyone at the academy.

The movie, directed by Justin Lin, currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 10%. Roger Ebert said in his review that "Annapolis" was the "kind of film that has no visible reason for existing." Meanwhile, Box Office Mojo states that it earned less than $18 million in total when released in theaters.

If Gibson is to be believed, much of the failure of the film can be put down to his co-star. In numerous interviews since the film was released, Gibson has stated that the Method acting used by Franco caused problems on set and even led to heated arguments, especially when Franco genuinely punched his opposite number during filming. Uproxx later reported that Gibson said in a Playboy interview, "I never want to work with [Franco] again, and I'm sure he feels the same way. It felt very personal."

To outsiders, "The Bonfire of the Vanities" may have seemed like a guaranteed success. Director Brian De Palma, who had previously helmed "Carrie," "Dressed to Kill," and "Scarface," was at the helm of the movie, which was based on Tom Wolfe's successful 1987 novel of the same name. On top of that, it starred bankable stars such as Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, and Morgan Freeman. Things didn't turn out quite so well, though, with the movie making back just $15 million of its $47 million budget and inspiring a book and podcast series about the troubled production.

According to IMDb, the film went on to be nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards. These included nods for Melanie Griffith and Kim Cattrall for Worst Actress and Worst Supporting Actress respectively. Speaking about the movie years later, Hanks admitted that part of the reason for its failure was that everyone in the film, including him, was miscast in their roles. While not singling out anyone except himself, Hanks made it clear that he believed this was not the right cast to portray those characters and that translating the book itself to the screen was too challenging.

Although Mike Myers may not be the comedy superstar that he was in the late 1990s and early 2000s, few would think of him as a jerk. But that may not be the case if certain reports are to be believed. The star, who had a string of hits with movies such as "Wayne's World," the "Austin Powers" films, and "Shrek," was cast in the movie adaptation of Dr. Seuss' "The Cat in the Hat" to replace the initial choice of Tim Allen, who Entertainment Weekly says was busy working on "The Santa Clause 2."

In the film, Amy Hill played the children's original babysitter, Mrs. Kwan. Speaking after the release of the film in an interview with AV Club, Hill claimed that Myers was a huge diva who would make the cast and crew wait for a long time before showing up to film scenes. The actor also said that the cast was made to do more takes than necessary as he would constantly tell director Bo Welch that he wanted to reshoot parts of the script. This seemingly caused frustration on set and altered the director's vision. Hill even claimed, "There was a guy who held [Myers'] chocolates in a little Tupperware," who would provide Myers with chocolate on demand. 

Starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, "Gigli" is a mix of crime drama and romantic comedy that was released in 2003 to widespread ridicule. Telling the story of two mobsters who are involved in a botched kidnapping, the two protagonists eventually end up becoming romantically involved and escape together. Widely regarded to be one of the worst films ever made (via GQ), it was panned by critics and ended up being a huge box office failure. In fact, Reuters claimed that the production lost $70 million for the studio behind it as it grossed just $7 million at the box office.

Affleck has since spoken about how he believes Lopez and himself carry some of the blame for the movie's terrible performance. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor revealed that his real-life relationship with Lopez brought too much attention to the project and led to the studio deciding to add rom-com elements that were not part of the film, initially to take advantage of the press coverage that the actors were receiving.

The implication here is that if Lopez was not part of the production, things might have gone differently. What makes matters worse is that Lopez only got the role after Halle Berry dropped out, with Variety reporting that her filming "X-Men 2" clashed with the proposed shooting schedule of "Gigli."