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Even Pierce Brosnan himself admitted, "Singing is not necessarily my forte," after appearing in Mamma Mia.
by Hannah MarderBuzzFeed Staff
In an actor's career, they're bound to have good and bad performances. However, with the bad performances, it's rare that an actor themselves actually admits to faults in their own acting.
Tap to play or pause GIF Tap to play or pause GIF
Paramount Pictures
Here are 35 times actors have been critical of their past performances, cringed watching them, or were straight-up embarrassed by them.
1. Elizabeth Olsen was not a fan of her performance in the pilot of WandaVision. “We did a live audience for the first episode, and that was the first thing we shot,” Olsen said. “It was very confusing how to play to the camera."
Disney+/Marvel Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection
"Like, I was like projecting, because I’m used to stage," Olsen continued. "When I watched the first episode, I’m like, ‘Oh, goddamn it.’ I was so frustrated, because I can see my 10-year-old theater-kid self playing out to the audience instead of the camera.”
Francis Specker / CBS via Getty Images
She was nominated for an Emmy for her work on the series.
You can watch her work in the first episode here:
View this video on YouTube
Disney+ / Marvel / Via youtube.com
2. Meryl Streep was similarly critical of her Oscar-nominated performance as Sarah and Anna in The French Lieutenant's Woman. "I was young and new at this," Meryl said on The Graham Norton Show. "I wasn't as pleased as I could...I didn't feel like I was living it."
United Artists / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch a bit of her performance here:
View this video on YouTube
United Artists / Via youtube.com
3. Marilyn Monroe also reportedly hated her work on The Misfits and didn't want to advertise it — even though her performance was critically acclaimed.
United Artists / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch a bit of her performance here:
View this video on YouTube
United Artists / Via youtube.com
4. Pierce Brosnan's performance as James Bond, in contrast, was pretty poorly received. But it wasn't only fans who disliked his performance. Brosnan himself said he was "caught somewhere in between the Roger Moore and the Sean Connery of it all. And both men, I adored as James Bond. But it never felt — I don't know — real."
United Artists / courtesy Everett Collection
"I felt like I was in a period-piece sometimes," Brosnan continued. "Because I could hear echoes or sensations of Connery or of Roger, which I didn't try to censor; I'd just allow them to come in." He also told the Telegraph, "I have no desire to watch myself as James Bond. 'Cause it's just never good enough. It's a horrible feeling."
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
However, he did say he wouldn't change anything about the performances, mostly because he doesn't allow himself to "go over that terrain." He also said he thinks the first film stands up.
Watch a bit of his performance here:
View this video on YouTube
MGM/UA Distribution Co. / United International Pictures / Via youtube.com
5. Brosnan has also said he cringed when he heard his singing in Mamma Mia. "There is certainly a sense of cringe-making when it comes to singing," he said. "You're very vulnerable. ... Singing is not necessarily my forte — I enjoy singing, I'm not quite sure other people enjoy my singing, but they have good entertainment value out of my singing."
Universal / courtesy Everett Collection
However, speaking about the film's sequel, for which he reprised his role, he said, "I'm excited. I don't know if the people will be excited, but one way or the other I shall sing again, whether they like it or not. I don't care what they say! I love my voice! I think that it will grow on people. They will always just want to hear a little singing from me."
Check out his singing here:
View this video on YouTube
Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com
6. Helena Bonham Carter was also reportedly disappointed with her singing in Les Misérables. "I had lots of vocal training for Les Mis, but I didn't improve as much as I thought I would," she told the Daily Mail. "I watched it and thought... I was going to be so much better, I thought my voice was going to be so much bigger."
Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
"I practiced and practiced and practiced but the thing with Les Mis is that it was real so that's what we sounded like. In Sweeney, I had people making me sound better than I am but not for this." She went on to say, "I would do another singing (film) role if someone else was foolish enough to employ me but I wouldn't do a stage musical. I don't have a strong enough voice. Maybe for one night but with singing it's like any muscle, it doesn't last."
Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images
Listen to her singing here:
View this video on YouTube
Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com
7. Amanda Seyfried was also no fan of her work on Les Misérables. She even said that she wished she could redo the film. "I still have nightmares about it. ... I was very weak. ... From a very technical standpoint, I was very unhappy with my singing.”
Universal Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection / Via youtube.com
Listen to her singing here:
View this video on YouTube
Universal Pictures
8. Emily Blunt also said she was embarrassed by her singing in Into the Woods, even though she'd received vocal training, saying, “Oh, my God! It’s hideous watching it,” though she didn't clarify if she was ultimately unhappy with her performance.
Peter Mountain/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection
She also, notably, went on to appear in the movie musical Mary Poppins.
Listen to her sing here:
View this video on YouTube
Walt Disney StudiosMotion Pictures / Via youtube.com
9. While this wasn't necessarily a singing role, Adam Driver sang briefly in the film Inside Llewyn Davis. He reportedly hated watching the scene so much that he decided to never watch his films again.
CBS Films
Watch the scene here:
View this video on YouTube
CBS Films / StudioCanal / Via youtube.com
10. Nicole Kidman admitted to squirming in her seat at the screening of her film Australia, saying she immediately left Australia (as in the country) afterward.
20th Century Fox / Courtesy Everett Collection
Nicole said of the film, "I can't look at this movie and be proud of what I've done. I sat there and I looked at Keith [Urban] and went, 'Am I any good in this movie?' ... It's just impossible for me to connect to it emotionally at all."
James Devaney / WireImage via Getty Images
You can watch some of her performance here (there is an animal death in this clip, so be warned!):
View this video on YouTube
20th Century Fox / Via youtube.com
11. Comedian Sarah Silverman was memorably fired from Saturday Night Live after only appearing for a single season. While she said she didn't do anything wrong, she did say part of the reason she was fired was likely because she simply wasn't funny on the show: "I wrote not a single funny sketch," she told HuffPost.
NBC
When asked if she'd do things differently if she could go back, Silverman said, "Yeah! I'm funnier. I'm so much funnier. The fact that Lorne Michaels saw anything in me at that age and at that time for me where I don't think I was close to where I would become is impressive for him."
Derek Storm/Everett Collection
Watch a clip of her performance here:
View this video on YouTube
NBC / Via youtube.com
12. Zac Efron said he "didn't know how to dance" in the High School Musical films, mocking, along with the interviewer, a particular move from the number "The Boys Are Back" in High School Musical 3: Senior Year.
Tap to play or pause GIF Tap to play or pause GIF
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
While he spoke of his positive memories of the filming process, he's also said of the Zac that starred in HSM, “I step back and look at myself and I still want to kick that guy’s ass sometimes. Like, fuck that guy. He’s done some kind of cool things with some cool people — he did that one thing [Neighbors] that was funny — but, I mean, he’s still just that fucking kid from [High School Musical].”
Adam Orchon/Everett Collection
Check out Efron's dancing in "The Boys Are Back" here:
View this video on YouTube
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Via youtube.com
13. Looking back on his 1987 standup routine, Raw, Eddie Murphy also cringes. “I was a young guy processing a broken heart, you know, kind of an asshole,” he said, calling his jokes (which included homophobic jokes) "a bit much." He's also previously apologized for his homophobic jokes (particularly in his set Delirious), saying he was "misinformed."
Paramount/ Courtesy: Everett Collection
Watch a clip of his performance here:
View this video on YouTube
Paramount Pictures / Via youtube.com
14. Ewan McGregor called his film Emma, in which he starred as Frank Churchill, the worst thing he'd done workwise: "It's a good film, Emma, but I'm just...not very good in it," he admitted.
Miramax / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch a clip of his performance here:
View this video on YouTube
Miramax Films / Via youtube.com
15. During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Charlie Hunnam visibly cringed during a clip of his first acting role in Byker Grove, calling it humiliating to show before it even began.
BBC One
You can watch Hunnam reacting to the clip here:
View this video on YouTube
BBC One / Via youtube.com
16. Jake Gyllenhaal similarly covered his face as a clip from his old role in City Slickers was shown on Good Morning America.
ABC
Check out his performance here:
View this video on YouTube
Columbia Pictures / Via youtube.com
17. Kate Winslet also cringed at her performance in Titanic to CNN, calling her American accent "awful" and saying she wished she could go back and redo it — however, she still loves the film and looks back fondly on it.
20th Century Fox / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch a piece of her performance here:
View this video on YouTube
Paramount Pictures / 20th Century Fox / Via youtube.com
18. Emma Watson's first large non-Harry Potter role was starring in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, for which she had to use an American accent. Like Winslet, she was not pleased with how it turned out. "I think it sounded terrible!" she told MTV ahead of the film's release.
John Bramley / Summit Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch a piece of Watson's performance here:
View this video on YouTube
Summit Entertainment / Via youtube.com
19. Jupiter Ascending was an all-around poorly received film, and Eddie Redmayne's performance was no exception. In particular, he used a very strange accent/voice for the part.
Murray Close / Warner Bros. Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
Eddie said, “My character had had his larynx ripped out by this wolf man, and so I made the slightly bold choice — which I thought was right. I won a prize for it for the Worst Performance of the Year. So, yeah, it was a pretty bad performance on my account.”
Dee Cercone/Everett Collection
If you're wondering what we mean about the accent, check out this video of his performance:
View this video on YouTube
Warner Bros. Pictures / Roadshow Entertainment / Via youtube.com
20. Batman & Robin was another infamously bad film, and star George Clooney has taken plenty of the blame for that. Clooney has admitted that he was "terrible in it," calling it a terrible film and pointing out some of the cheesier lines.
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch a clip of his performance here:
View this video on YouTube
Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com
21. Christian Bale memorably helped turn the role of Batman around in The Dark Knight trilogy. However, he told Yahoo, “I didn’t quite manage what I hoped I would throughout the trilogy ... My own sense of self is like, ‘I didn’t quite nail it.’ ... Heath [Ledger] turned up and just kind of completely ruined all my plans. Because I went, 'He’s so much more interesting than me and what I’m doing.’“
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for his work on The Dark Knight.
Check out Bale's performance here:
View this video on YouTube
Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com
22. Shay Mitchell's first large role was on the series Pretty Little Liars. While she hasn't talked about her performance on the actual show, she decided to go back and react to her audition video on her YouTube channel, making fun of her acting throughout.
Danny Feld / ABC Family / Courtesy: Everett Collection
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Prefacing showing the video by saying she was "a little baby" and that she was a little embarrassed, she went on to say, "You hope that as the years go on, as with any job, that you get better at your craft, so looking back on this as the years go by, I get more mortified and more mortified when I watch it because I just see little me extremely nervous, this being the first big audition I'd ever done."
Shay Mitchell / YouTube / Via youtube.com
You can watch the whole video here:
View this video on YouTube
Shay Mitchell / YouTube / Via youtube.com
23. This wasn't necessarily a role, but one filmed gig Anne Hathaway now finds wildly embarrassing is co-hosting the Oscars in 2011. "The thing about me and embarrassment is you have to remember that it all happens on a scale," Hathaway pointed out to Fallon. "If you think about embarrassment on scale of 1 to 10, 1 being a person walking down the street and 10 is, for me, co-hosting the Oscars with James Franco."
Kevin Winter / Getty Images
Watch the opening of the ceremony here:
View this video on YouTube
ABC / Via youtube.com
24. Will Smith is well known for appearing in the Men in Black series, but as it turns out, he wasn't a fan of his work on the sequels. Speaking to Jimmy Fallon about Bad Boys for Life, Will said he "fumbled" a few prior sequels, in particular the Men in Black sequel. He didn't state which he was referring to, so it could've been either Men in Black II or III.
Wilson Webb / Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch a scene from the second film here:
View this video on YouTube
Sony Pictures Releasing / Via youtube.com
25. Megan Fox's first big movie break was Transformers. While she said the movie itself wasn't bad, she said she was "terrible" in it. "It’s my first real movie, and it’s not honest and not realistic. The movie wasn’t bad; I just wasn’t proud about what I did," she said.
Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch scenes with Megan here:
View this video on YouTube
Paramount Pictures / Via youtube.com
26. She also cringed while watching a scene from Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. "I'm glad you didn't make me watch the dialogue scenes," Megan said in the Entertainment Tonight interview, calling it a "shame" that her old roles "survived long enough to see the dawn of the internet ... It would be nice if it had eclipsed, like the internet was born but these things had sort of fallen away and no one could find them."
Buena Vista / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch her in the film here:
View this video on YouTube
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution / Via youtube.com
27. Katherine Heigl famously withdrew herself from Emmy consideration for Grey's Anatomy in 2008, saying, "I did not feel I was given the material this season to warrant a nomination," which sparked a lot of drama and rumors of her being ungrateful for her role on the show.
Scott Garfield / ABC / Courtesy Everett Collection
However, she later said, "I was a little defensive about my season because I thought I hadn’t had a great one. And a lot of that had to do with me and my performances," suggesting that she wasn't happy with her own performance that season.
Jon Kopaloff / FilmMagic via Getty Images
Watch some of her Season 4 scenes here:
View this video on YouTube
ABC / Via youtube.com
28. Jennifer Aniston also cringed while watching herself in Leprechaun. Describing the time Justin Theroux made her rewatch the film, Jennifer said, "It was one of those things when I tried to get that remote out of his hand, and there was just no having it. He was like, ‘No, no, no, no, this is happening.’ I just kept walking in and out, cringing.”
Trimark Pictures
Watch some of her performance here:
View this video on YouTube
Trimark Pictures / Via youtube.com
29. Daniel Radcliffe's most famous role is as Harry in the Harry Potter films. However, he's admitted that he wasn't a fan of everything he did: "Mistakes other actors get to make in rehearsal rooms or at drama school are all on film for everyone to see."
Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection
He stated that he was particularly unhappy with his acting in the sixth film: "I’m just not very good in it. I hate it. My acting is very one-note, and I can see I got complacent and what I was trying to do just didn’t come across."
Kristin Callahan/Everett Collection
Watch a scene from the film here:
View this video on YouTube
Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com
30. Back in 2010, Sam Worthington starred in Clash of the Titans. The film received a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Worthington said of his performance, "I think I can fucking act better, to be honest."
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
He promised to be better in the sequel, Wrath of the Titans — however, it was also panned and currently has a 26% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
Watch a scene from the film here:
View this video on YouTube
Warner Bros. Pictures / Via youtube.com
31. When Brad Pitt starred in12 Monkeys, he said he "nailed" the first half of the film, but felt he got the second half wrong: “That performance bothered me because there was a trap in the writing."
Phillip Caruso / Universal / Courtesy Everett Collection
"It’s not the writing’s fault, but it was something that I couldn’t figure out. I knew in the second half of the film, I was playing the gimmick of what was real in the first half — until the last scene — and it bugged the [expletive] out of me.” He ended up winning a Golden Globe for his performance.
Bob Grant/Fotos International / Getty Images
Watch some of his performance here:
View this video on YouTube
Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com
32. In the same interview, Brad described being contractually obligated to make Troy, saying it wasn't "painful" but wasn't made the way he would have liked. He admitted that he "made [his] own mistakes in it" as well, suggesting he was unhappy with his performance.
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch some of his scenes here:
View this video on YouTube
Warner Bros. Pictures / Via youtube.com
33. Colin Farrell starred in Miami Vice in 2006. Like Pitt, Colin had more of an issue with the film than his acting in it, but he still felt his acting left something to be desired: "I didn't like it so much — I thought it was style over substance, and I accept a good bit of the responsibility."
Universal / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch some of his performance here:
View this video on YouTube
Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com
34. Anya Taylor-Joy is a household name now, but she was just starting out when she appeared in The Witch. She later said she was "devastated" by the performance in the film. "I thought I'd never work again; I still get shivers thinking about it. It was just the worst feeling of, 'I have let down the people I love most in the world. I didn't do it right,'" she said.
A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch her in the film here:
View this video on YouTube
A24 / Via youtube.com
35. And finally, Josh Brolin said that he thought he could've been better in Deadpool 2 and he wants to "redeem [himself] to [himself]" in future films where he's playing the part, as he found a lot of the rhythm of the character's banter with Deadpool during the press tour after the movie was filmed.
20th Century Fox / Courtesy Everett Collection
Watch his scenes here:
View this video on YouTube
20th Century Fox / Via youtube.com
Which one surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments below!
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