The one Sean Connery role that ruined his career
Sean Connery has certainly been no stranger to the Hollywood blockbuster. After making his iconic version of James Bond, Connery’s knack for the charming action movie protagonist has taken him through some of the wildest turns in Hollywood, from Indiana Jones’ bumbling father in The Last Crusade to assisting Nicolas Cage in Michael Bay’s film The Rock. All good careers must end, but Connery might not have planned to have his career go out on such a low note.
After more late-career renaissances like The Hunt for Red October, Connery was looking to make a picture based around the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in which different figures of fiction come together. The graphic novel by Alan Moore seemed like an excellent premise to draw from, and Connery served as executive producer on the feature. By the time the movie theatres, fans were tragically underwhelmed by what they were given.
While the thought of a former Bond actor playing Allan Quatermain from King Solomon’s Mines sounds like a decent idea on paper, the rest of the cast didn’t fare much better. Despite casting some respected celebrities for the film, like Richard Roxburgh and Peta Wilson, the chemistry is borderline non-existent between some of the cast. And while it’s easy for Connery to sprinkle in some of the signature Bond charms into the picture, it’s hard to look at some of these action scenes and see them as anything but a knock-off of his past glory.
Despite the action not coming across onscreen, the production was equally hellish. Since the last thing director Stephen Norrington directed was Wesley Snipes’ Blade, he professed to be unequipped for the demands of the set, which reportedly suffered up to $7million in damages. The lack of chemistry behind the scenes also became hostile when the press tour started. During production, Connery talked about how difficult it was to work with Norrington on the picture, even alluding to him possibly being arrested for insanity.
Connery also was inserting him into various positions, wanting to be involved in the editing as much as possible so it would come out exactly how he saw it in his head. Granted, this could be because he wanted to make something worthy of the roles he turned down, initially passing on future iconic roles in films like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
Despite Connery’s meddling, the movie didn’t click with him or audiences, with some claiming it was boring while others found the story hard to follow. For as much care Connery put into the film, it would become the unintended swan song for him, officially retiring from acting in 2003 shortly after the film was released.
After Connery’s tragic passing in 2020, this is the final film he will ever be involved in. Connery may have had his fair share of iconic roles, but this last film marks the moment where his acting magic seemed to finally run out. Many actors have made their fair share of movie bombs, but there aren’t many there were so much of a pain in the ass that it made someone quit forever.
