# Do you let your personal feeling about an actor affect whether you watch their shows/movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 27, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552 "2010-12-27T22:26:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552/61 "2011-01-07T06:42:46Z")
At this point there are four people whose work I haven’t or won’t in the future see because of real world behaviors. Jane Fonda. I can’t get past the whole AAA photos. I’m not adamant about this - if she were in something I really wanted to watch, I probably would. It’s just her presence is enough to tip the balance on a maybe-want-to-see film. Roman Polanski. At this point I refuse to do any thing that might possibly net the raping bastard so much as a bent ha’ penny. Angelina Jolie. The whole mess with how she bought her son Maddox as what was basically a black-market baby, while claiming that _her_ adoption was on the up-and-up while all other adoptions from Thailand had to be stopped pisses me off so much I refuse to watch anything she’s in. (It later came out that the people she was doing the adoption through were the only black market baby operation that gov’t could _prove_ was in operation.) Unlike Jane Fonda, I have passed on a few movies I have been tempted by because of her presence in the film. Mel Gibson. After his most recent public melt-down he’d used up all the understanding I was willing to give him to enjoy his works. No more. There are other writers, actors, directors and producers whom I will view askance. But those are the only four that are even close to an automatic refusal. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552/62 "2011-01-07T11:32:47Z")
I don’t think it’s ever risen to the level where someone’s personal foibles kept me from enjoying a film. Plus, most of the stories about celebrities all blend together. The only reason I would avoid a movie because of a celebrity would be to try to inflict monetary damage. And then I’ve got to do a lot more than just boycotting the film myself. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552/63 "2011-01-07T11:35:04Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > What if your personal feelings toward the actor are _favorable_? Are you more likely to watch a movie or TV show if you like a particular actor or actress in it (even if it otherwise looks like a piece of crap)? Yes, very much so. The worst is when I develop a “crush” on a person, as their stuff actually seems objectively better. Unfortunately, I can’t think of any specific example right off, but I know my sister is this way with Johnny Depp, and was that way with Tom Cruise before the Matt Lauer incident. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552/64 "2011-01-07T15:09:41Z")
> [@BaneSidhe](#): > > I can’t stand Tom Cruise, but I liked “The Last Samauri” a lot. Of course, having lots of pretty horses and kickass weapons helped, but it wasn’t a bad movie on its own. No, it isn’t, if you can get past the “Somewhere a historian is crying” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552/65 "2011-01-07T16:18:10Z")
No. If I think a movie looks like something I’d enjoy, I’ll go see it. I don’t care about something one of the actors may have done outside of the film. I can’t remember that ever having any effect on something I’ve seen. I’m not going to deny \*myself \*the pleasure of seeing a good movie. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552/66 "2011-01-07T19:31:24Z")
I don’t avoid actors because of their politics but, once I’ve seen then on their soap box trying to convert me to their religion or their political view, I have a had time accepting them in an acting role. Their movies are just less entertaining because I know things about them. I can’t completely suspend my belief in them as whatever character they are playing. When I watch Mel Gibson now I see a wife beater, pretending to be a good guy. When I watch anything by Woody Allen (what was I thinking?) I see a pedophile (IMO) trying to be funny. When I watch a Tom Cruise movie I am pleasantly surprised there is no weird religious messages (or maybe they’re over my head.) ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552/67 "2011-01-07T20:18:10Z")
Right now, Natalie Portman and Gwenyth Paltrow are rubbing me the wrong way for reasons I can’t articulate, so I’m not planning to see their two latest movies. Although, honestly, I would never ever see _No Strings Attached_ anyways, but I really would be interested in something like _Country Strong_ if the picked an actress who at least a little seems like she could be a country star, instead of euro ice queen Gwenyth. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552/68 "2011-01-07T22:07:14Z")
Hanoi Jane (for her Vietnam antics) and Mel Gibson (for his anti-Britishness as well as the other stuff) are two big turnoffs for me. I tend to not like the type of film Woody Allen makes, but that’s different. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552/69 "2011-01-09T04:16:27Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Angelina Jolie. The whole mess with how she bought her son Maddox as what was basically a black-market baby, while claiming that _her_ adoption was on the up-and-up while all other adoptions from Thailand had to be stopped pisses me off so much I refuse to watch anything she’s in. I believe that adoption was from Cambodia next door. Rob Schneider generally leaves me cold. There’s nothing funny about his juvenile antics. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552/70 "2011-01-09T04:48:50Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > The actress who plays Pam on _The Office_ comes off the same way – like she’s a huge star. I once said the same thing (I saw her on a talk show and was way turned off by her attitude) and I had a dozen Dopers up in arms that I dared speak ill of poor Pam…😕 (for some reason, I think a lot of people really, REALLY like Jenna Fischer) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552/71 "2011-01-09T05:19:11Z")
I won’t have anything to do Polanski except _Chinatown_, which the masterpiece of film noir in color. I know two older men who won’t see a John Wayne movie because of his politics and supposed lack of acting skills. I won’t see a Ronald Reagan movie, but I hear I’m not missing anything. I will watch Schwarzenegger movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-your-personal-feeling-about-an-actor-affect-whether-you-watch-their-shows-movies/565552.md?page=3)