# Actors You Used to Hate **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307 "2007-09-06T22:48:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/1 "2007-09-06T22:48:45Z")
Inspired by the thread about actors you hate. What actors did you hate (not necessarily for any good reason) for years until they delivered a performance that completely changed your mind? Leonardo DiCaprio was an actor I couldn’t watch at all until after I saw him in _The Aviator._. I don’t exactly love him, and I won’t be rushing out to see every movie he does now, but I do have a lot more respect for his abilities. I never liked Jim Carrey until _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_. I will at least give his films a chance now, although he is still hit and miss. ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/2 "2007-09-06T22:52:39Z")
I gotta agree with Jim Carrey in **ESOTSM**. He was great but I still won’t watch **Ace Ventura** Keanu Reaves until I saw **Devil’s Advocate**. Then he undid it in The Matrix ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/3 "2007-09-06T22:52:44Z")
I disliked Steve Martin until I saw him in _Roxanne_. I’ve liked most of the stuff I’ve seen him in since. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/4 "2007-09-06T22:58:56Z")
I couldn’t stand Bill Pullman until I saw _The Zero Effect_ a few years ago. Now I’m OK with him, though he’s still not a favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/5 "2007-09-06T23:03:08Z")
Familiarity breeds…familiarity. I’ve had a couple of actors that, on first viewing, I practically barfed. But then I saw them over and over and, well, came around mostly. Jim Carrey Michael J. Fox Adam Sandler Tom Cruise ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/6 "2007-09-06T23:20:31Z")
Mark Wahlberg and George Clooney. I’d written Wahlberg off as yet another singer with delusions of acting, and figured Clooney would disappear down the same black hole that sucks up most TV heart throbs who try to make it in movies. Then I saw them both in _Three Kings_. Fantastic movie, fantastic performances from both of them. They’re two of my favorite actors now. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/7 "2007-09-06T23:29:04Z")
Nic Cage has grown on me. I used to hate that whiny, nasally, ugly bastard. Now I can tolerate him. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/8 "2007-09-06T23:35:50Z")
Jack Nicholson used to make me cringe. He _always_ played a leering, psycho degenerate, and I don’t have any particular fondness for leering, psycho degenerates. His latest version of a LPD in _The Departed_, though, helped thaw me out a little. His portrayal of the Irish mob boss was the best performance in the film, IMO. But I still hate his writer character in _The Shining_. My fingers itched to murder that bastard at his very first appearance. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/9 "2007-09-07T03:16:48Z")
Steve Martin until "Roxanne’ Burt Lancaster until “Atlantic City” ---
**Author:** ![Eggerhaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@Eggerhaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eggerhaus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/10 "2007-09-07T03:35:58Z")
Tom Skerritt until I saw “A River Runs Through It”. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/11 "2007-09-07T04:40:00Z")
\ **MATT DAMON!!!** \ I kinda conflated him Affleck, but his movie roles grew on me, perhaps starting with Bourne Identity. ---
**Author:** ![RedRosesForMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RedRosesForMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedRosesForMe)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/12 "2007-09-07T04:46:49Z")
Matt Damon, Leo Dicaprio, and Mark Wahlberg, after watching The Departed. Mark Wahlberg in particular, he’s my favorite character in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/13 "2007-09-07T10:30:16Z")
[QUOTE=Miller] Mark Wahlberg and George Clooney. I’d written Wahlberg off as yet another singer with delusions of acting, and figured Clooney would disappear down the same black hole that sucks up most TV heart throbs who try to make it in movies. Then I saw them both in _Three Kings_. Fantastic movie, fantastic performances from both of them. They’re two of my favorite actors now. [/QUOTE] I have to agree with this movie. I have no idea why this isn’t more popular as a flick, but when it came out in the theater everyone around us was like, " Meh." We loved it. I think the opening scene to Clooney’s Really Big Leading Man debut with him screwing a reporter was brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/14 "2007-09-07T11:05:42Z")
I hated Joaquin Phoenix, due to his pantomime-evil character in Gladiator. But I thought he redeemed himself in Walk the Line - quite something to pull off given Johnny Cash’s level of cool. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/15 "2007-09-07T11:23:36Z")
Russell Crowe until _Master and Commander_. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/16 "2007-09-07T11:24:11Z")
Will Ferrell, kind of. He makes me cringe in everything he is in but I really liked him in _Stranger Than Fiction_ however since then he has reverted to plain old cringeworthy Will Ferrell. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/17 "2007-09-07T11:53:12Z")
Early in his career I disliked Bill Murray. Mostly because Chevy Chase sucks so much I just disliked all the former SNL alum. But I ended up liking Stripes, Ghost Busters, Groundhog Day, Scrooged. Heck, most of his stuff ended up being good. ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/18 "2007-09-07T14:18:22Z")
\*\*Johnny Depp \*\* until the excellent _Ed Wood_. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/19 "2007-09-07T14:36:16Z")
\*\*Adam Sandler \*\*won me over in _The Wedding Singer_. Before that, I thought he was an obnoxious goofball. After that, I thought he could do gentle and sweet and sarcastic all at once. I still don’t think he’s a great actor, but I can watch him now. **Jim Carey** in \*Liar, Liar \*almost got me, but I wrote it off as an aberrant tolerable role. Not until _The Truman Show_ was I assured that he actually can do more than rubberface his way through a role. I despised all things **Patricia Arquette** until _Medium_. 'Though I still wish she’d pony up some cash for some dental work and find an emotion other than Whine. **Julliette Lewis** made me stabby until _What’s Eating Gilbert Grape_. I still don’t LIKE\*\* Bill Murray\*\*, and I hated _Lost in Translation_, (no, “hate” is too strong a word. I was rabidly indifferent about _Lost in Translation_) but even so that movie changed the way I view him as an actor. He \*can \*act for sure. I just still don’t like him. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307/20 "2007-09-07T14:52:03Z")
Ben Affleck, until **Hollywoodland**. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-used-to-hate/418307.md?page=2)