Five movies whose chances of success were torpedoed by their own controversial stars
If it’s said that making any movie is hard but making a good movie is impossible, then making a good movie that is also successful must be like trying to stop sand from slipping between your fingers. After all, there are so many moving parts that go into setting a film up to be in the best position to succeed – and quite often, a lot of them are out of the control of directors, studios, and marketing executives.
For a film to be a success, everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction, but that can be easily undercut if one spoke in the wheel breaks off. Indeed, countless movies over the years have had their legs taken out from beneath them by their stars, becoming embroiled in controversy.
While the old adage “There’s no such thing as bad press” can be trotted out from time to time in Hollywood, it’s definitely not always the case. In these five situations, for instance, the furore caused by the stars of each film – whether intentional or not – certainly cast a dark cloud over proceedings that would have been impossible to ignore.
From a superhero star who simply wouldn’t stop committing crimes to an A-lister telling an ill-advised real-life tale of revenge, these five movies’ chances of success were torpedoed by their own controversial stars.
Five movies torpedoed by their controversial stars:
‘The Flash’ (Andy Muschietti, 2023)
If there’s one overriding thing a movie studio needs from its lead actor in a tentpole blockbuster with hundreds of millions of dollars riding on it, it’s that they make themselves an asset. Whether that means charming journalists in press interviews, interacting with fans, walking red carpets, or happily taking part in advertising opportunities, it’s what these people sign up for. There have been times in the past when actors have become headaches for their studios, though, but I’d wager few have caused as much trouble as Ezra Miller in the buildup to The Flash.
Miller, who goes by they/them pronouns, wasn’t so much a headache for Warner Brothers as they were a crippling migraine. From being caught on video strangling a woman outside a bar in 2020 to being arrested several times for harassment and disorderly conduct, Miller made themselves a spectacle in the press. Worse was yet to come, though, when the parents of an 18-year-old Lakota activist filed a restraining order against them, claiming they’d groomed their daughter from the age of 12. Miller ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanour of unlawful trespass at a neighbour’s property and then announced they intended to seek mental health treatment.
Warner Bros ultimately released The Flash in June 2023 after a number of delays, with Miller nowhere near the press cycle. It struggled at the box office, making $271million on a reported $200-220million budget, and reviews were scathing. In the end, maybe the movie wasn’t good enough to overcome its bad press and be a success, but it can’t be ignored that Miller’s crimes tied a weight around its metaphorical ankle.
‘I Love You, Daddy’ (Louis CK, 2017)
In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked Louis CK fourth on its list of the 50 best standup comedians of all time. At that point, he was only two years removed from the conclusion of his highly acclaimed FX comedy Louis, and he had just directed I Love You, Daddy, a hotly tipped indie comedy that co-starred Chloe Grace Moretz, Rose Byrne, Helen Hunt, and John Malkovich. Hell, The Orchard actually paid $5 million for the distribution rights to the film. CK was seemingly on top of the world – but then it all came crashing down.
On November 9th, 2017, the New York Times published a story that featured five women accusing CK of sexual misconduct. Several female comedians were among the victims telling their stories, and CK quickly issued a statement saying, “These stories are true.” He acknowledged using the power imbalance of being a successful comedian to his advantage and stated, “I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen.”
In the wake of the allegations, FX and Netflix cut ties with CK, and his vocal performances were deleted from two upcoming animated projects. As for I Love You, Daddy, its release was completely scrapped, and CK later estimated that the fallout cost him around $35million in lost revenue. Both Moretz and Byrne stood by the decision to mothball the film they’d worked so hard on, with Moretz saying she wanted it to “just kind of go away, honestly” and Byrne insisting, “I stand with the women who came forward.”
‘Cold Pursuit’ (Hans Petter Moland, 2019)
In February 2019, the latest Liam Neeson action thriller, Cold Pursuit, was gearing up for release. Signs seemed positive that it could be one of his better late-period hardman efforts, as Laura Dern was part of the supporting cast, and it was a remake of an acclaimed Norwegian film starring Stellan Skarsgard. Neeson duly hit the campaign trail to sell his snowbound revenge opus – and somehow wound up telling an Independent reporter about the time he’d wanted to murder a Black man.
In truth, it requires a little bit of explanation to reveal why Neeson would say such a thing. To the astonishment of his interviewer and the horror of his PR team, he tried to illustrate how something primal is unleashed in a person when someone they loved is harmed – such as in the movie when his character’s son is killed. He then related a dark moment from his own life when someone he knew was sexually assaulted by a Black man. In response, he walked the streets for a week with a weapon, hoping he’d be approached by someone he could exact brutal vengeance upon.
Neeson did stress, “I’m ashamed to say that” and indicated that he was trying to make a point about the folly of revenge and how people will do crazy things to protect those they love. However, it was still an insane thing for an A-list Hollywood actor to say, and he received widespread condemnation and well-founded accusations of racism. The entire controversy undoubtedly hurt the movie, which scraped together $76million on a budget of $60million, but would surely have done better if Neeson had just kept his mouth shut.
‘Ghost in the Shell’ (Rupert Sanders, 2017)
When Scarlett Johansson was cast as Major Mira Killian/Motoko Kusanagi in Rupert Sanders’ 2017 adaptation of the classic Japanese Manga Ghost in the Shell, a whitewashing controversy was soon kicked off. A petition was launched imploring Paramount Pictures to cast an East Asian actor in the lead role instead, while Mulan star Ming-Na Wen tweeted, “Nothing against Scarlett Johansson. In fact, I’m a big fan. But everything against this whitewashing of Asian role.”
To make matters worse, ScreenCrush reported that Sanders and his team had used CGI to make Johansson look more Asian in the film. Paramount officially responded to admit that the tests may have taken place, but they didn’t involve the Black Widow star. Then, Chronicle screenwriter Max Landis – who would later find himself in his own hot water – said there were no Asian stars who had the box office power of Johansson, and this was why she was cast. This prompted the LA Times’ Marc Bernardin to write, “The only race Hollywood cares about is the box office race.”
Interestingly, the least amount of controversy came from Japan, as many fans of the Manga/anime had always assumed Hollywood wouldn’t cast an Asian actor in the lead. The creator of the Manga itself, Mamoru Oshii, also publicly threw his support behind Johansson, arguing, “I can only sense a political motive from the people opposing it, and I believe artistic expression must be free from politics.” Whatever the case, the unsavoury controversies held the movie back at the box office, and reviews were decidedly middling, with only the eye-popping visuals receiving any praise.
‘The Birth of a Nation’ (Nate Parker, 2016)
In 2016, Fox Searchlight paid a record $17.5million for the distribution rights to Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation, a slavery drama that was receiving rave reviews and significant buzz. The movie, which told the story of Nat Turner and the Southampton County, Virginia, slave rebellion of 1831, also starred Colman Domingo and Aunjanue Ellis. Its title was a conversation starter, as Parker purposely chose the same title as a notorious 1915 KKK-supporting movie that has been called “the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history.” Parker explained, “I’ve reclaimed this title and re-purposed it as a tool to challenge racism and white supremacy in America.”
A release date of October 7th, 2016, was set for the film, but in August, distressing historical allegations against Parker and his co-writer resurfaced. While students at Pennsylvania State University, Parker and Jean McGianni Celestin were accused of raping a female student. Parker was acquitted in 2001, while Celestin was convicted of sexual assault, only for the conviction to be overturned in 2005. Horrifyingly, the alleged victim accused the university of not protecting her when Parker and Celestin harassed her after her accusation became public. She subsequently committed suicide in 2012.
Though former members of Penn State’s staff and student body wrote an open letter of support for Parker and Celestin, and several celebrities endorsed him too, the damage was done. Audiences and the press couldn’t separate him from the genuinely despicable allegations, and it probably didn’t help that Harvey Weinstein and Mel Gibson were among the celebs who defended him. The movie fared poorly at the box office in the US, and Fox then cancelled its release in a host of other territories.
