Movies where you FELT SORRY for the actors?

[AnthonyO'Brien]

Harrison Ford in Return of the Jedi and Bradley Cooper in Hangover III. They both look unhappy and had to fulfil contractual obligations.

Wesley Snipes - Blade III. They had a cooler idea for III involving waking up in the future and finding vampires rule the world, farming the remaining humans like cattle but they went with this film instead.

Donald Pleasance - Halloween 6. He looks very unwell and died shortly after.

William Hurt in Avengers Infinity. He looks like he'd rather be elsewhere. (He was an abusive prick to Marlee Martin so screw him.)

Gene Kelly in Viva Kenieval. With no musicals for him to dance in during the 70s he plays a drunken, absent dad in a dumb Evel Kenieval flick.

WHO else is worthy of pity?

[Gray Lensman]

Considering how much of a diva Snipes was on the set of Blade 3, I can't feel sorry for him.

[Cyke]

Well, since Gene Kelly's already been mentioned, I really wouldn't recommend anyone watch Xanadu, but he just looked completely confuddled with a whole look of "What the hell am I doing here?" among all the 70s madness.

[wjowski]

The entire cast of Twilight.

[Starter Set]

Can't say i ever felt pity for an actor simply doing his job.

Liam Neeson was kinda fun to watch in star wars though, you can almost hear him thinking "what am i doing here?".

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It's damn hard to feel sorry for people who get paid millions and millions of dollars to act in films, regardless of how bad those films are or if it appears they look like they didn't want to be in them. Now, when they suffer personal tragedies, like the loss of loved ones or when their homes burn down, like in the recent California wildfires, THEN I feel empathy.

[Jokerz79]

Harrison Ford in Return of the Jedi and Bradley Cooper in Hangover III. They both look unhappy and had to fulfil contractual obligations.

Wesley Snipes - Blade III. They had a cooler idea for III involving waking up in the future and finding vampires rule the world, farming the remaining humans like cattle but they went with this film instead.

Donald Pleasance - Halloween 6. He looks very unwell and died shortly after.

William Hurt in Avengers Infinity. He looks like he'd rather be elsewhere. (He was an abusive prick to Marlee Martin so screw him.)

Gene Kelly in Viva Kenieval. With no musicals for him to dance in during the 70s he plays a drunken, absent dad in a dumb Evel Kenieval flick.

WHO else is worthy of pity?

Blade Trinity originally sounds like Daybreakers which is a really good vampire movie with Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, and Willem Dafoe.

[Jokerz79]

Emily Blunt in Gulliver's Travels she was contractually obligated to 20th Century Fox to do another film and they picked that and it cost her Black Widow.

[Gray Lensman]

It's damn hard to feel sorry for people who get paid millions and millions of dollars to act in films, regardless of how bad those films are or if it appears they look like they didn't want to be in them. Now, when they suffer personal tragedies, like the loss of loved ones or when their homes burn down, like in the recent California wildfires, THEN I feel empathy.

That depends - I can feel for Shelly Duvall for what she went through on the set of The Shining. In order to make her performance 'more real' Kubrick harried her mercilessly, and ordered the crew to pretty much be abusive as well. And earlier in the 'Golden Age of Film' actors were under studio contract, if you stood up for yourself your career was normally over.

[Michael Watkins]

I remember when Toby Kebbell was an up-and-comer. and I remember thinking throughout Fantastic Four that I was watching him walk down cinema death row.

[DianaWw]

The entire cast of Twilight.

Hahah even the makeup artist?

[AnakinFlair]

Harrison Ford in Return of the Jedi and Bradley Cooper in Hangover III. They both look unhappy and had to fulfil contractual obligations.

Wesley Snipes - Blade III. They had a cooler idea for III involving waking up in the future and finding vampires rule the world, farming the remaining humans like cattle but they went with this film instead.

Donald Pleasance - Halloween 6. He looks very unwell and died shortly after.

William Hurt in Avengers Infinity. He looks like he'd rather be elsewhere. (He was an abusive prick to Marlee Martin so screw him.)

Gene Kelly in Viva Kenieval. With no musicals for him to dance in during the 70s he plays a drunken, absent dad in a dumb Evel Kenieval flick.

WHO else is worthy of pity?

Actually, as I recall Harrison was only signed for the first two Star Wars. They had to convince him to come back for Return of the Jedi.

[Cyke]

It's damn hard to feel sorry for people who get paid millions and millions of dollars to act in films, regardless of how bad those films are or if it appears they look like they didn't want to be in them. Now, when they suffer personal tragedies, like the loss of loved ones or when their homes burn down, like in the recent California wildfires, THEN I feel empathy.

I don't know, I flashback to the Lord of the Rings movies, first with John Rhys-Davies in the LoTR trilogy and then Ian McKellan in the Hobbit movies. They were both already wealthy (McKellan enormously so) but Rhys-Davies was abundantly clear about how much he disliked filming because of the prosthetics and his severe allergies to them. He was a consummate professional and did his job exceedingly well, but at great physical pain. McKellan famously had a breakdown in the Hobbit movies because he was acting to green screen, and not to the co-stars (one of the reasons why he agreed to an expanded part). Yes, the Hobbit movies were a money grab, but for McKellan was aiming to get a more personal experience than the one he got, and while it usually feels good to be in demand, he felt cheated by it.

I'm not to argue that some actors are overpaid or overrated, but generally speaking, if it's being a hollywood actor, professional athlete, teacher, office worker, garbage pick up, there still has to be some personal incentive into the work. You could double an office worker's salary tomorrow, but if all you're doing is just increasing that worker's responsibilities in the things they hate in work they don't find fulfilling, they're still going to resign sooner rather than later. On the flip side, there are garbage workers who take joy in their jobs because of the people or the chance to be outside or whatever. And, on top of that, actors and athletes that make that much money tend to be in the 1% (if even that) of all the paid actors and athletes in the world. But moreso, that added value is the reason why some excellent actors aren't bigger names -- because they eschew what would be trade-ins for more fame and money -- the next time there's a thread on here asking why so-and-so actor isn't bigger or an A-lister, 9 times out of 10 is because their work-life balance looks different than others.

I don't feel sorry for Nicholas Cage, who's in a ton of b-movies every year to pay off his debts, or Wesley Snipes or Johnny Depp or others who mismanaged their money or are under investigation for tax fraud. I also wouldn't say that I feel sorry for Robert Downey Jr, who got himself into a position where he could negotiate a payday of hundreds of millions of dollars through shrewd dealing (I would, however, feel sorry for him 10 or 20 years prior, when he fell victim to the seedier side of Hollywood). I would have sympathy, though, for actors who genuinely care about their craft and worked decades at honing their art but find themselves in situations where they have to suffer physically and mentally to deliver a product. No matter the job, no matter the paycheck, burnout is real and very detrimental to the quality of life and work.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Christopher Eccleston aka The 9th Doctor deserved better than the Dark World's bland take on Malekith.