# Great actors who've whored themselves out in bad movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690 "2009-12-10T03:40:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RockJonny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ea924/32.png) [@RockJonny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RockJonny)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/21 "2009-12-10T07:13:09Z")
Joan Plowright in Bringing Down the House - that was such an awful movie, I was so surprised when I saw her there. And she was the best part of the whole thing. I mean, Global Heresy wasn’t great, but at least it was entertaining. Bringing Down the House was just plain old bad. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/22 "2009-12-10T07:24:00Z")
I don’t think “whoring” is the appropriate term here. “Working” would be a better one. They have chosen acting as their profession, and they are doing it. How many of us fully endorse the long range plans of our employers every day of our working lives? Yet we show up, day after day, and do what they pay us to do in order to bring home our bacon. That’s life, folks. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/23 "2009-12-10T07:26:24Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > The absolute king of this phenomenon is **Jon Voight.** Seriously…_Karate Dog?_ Actually, this [fight scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hywK7SsqE8Y) is pretty good entertainment and I’m sure Voight laughed all the way to the bank. I’ve often wondered if he is deeply in debt or something. “I want justice.” (1:36) lole The more I watch this, the more unbelievable it is to me that it’s a _real_ full length movie, and not some parody of an archetypical “bad movie” like the fake clips of fake movies from _Funny People_ or _Tropic Thunder._ ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/24 "2009-12-10T07:30:25Z")
To be honest, they are actors, and their job is to appear in movies or television … it really isn’t whoring out. They appear and get a paycheck. It is not their problem the movie plot sucks, or the script sucks, or even the director sucking … as long as htey give a reasonable performance, they did their job. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/25 "2009-12-10T08:19:44Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I’ve heard that Donald Sutherland was once asked why he appeared in so many poor movies, to which he replied “I have a big wine cellar”. I believe Walter Matthau said he signed onto _I.Q._ because he owed his bookie money. Jeremy Irons probably has Caine beat for this question. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/26 "2009-12-10T08:51:17Z")
Frank Sinatra in **Cannonball Run 2**. ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/27 "2009-12-10T09:02:36Z")
People, please, Nic Cage _owns_ this thread. See: IMDb ---
**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:** [December 10, 2009, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/28 "2009-12-10T09:29:12Z")
We were having this very conversation at work today. Nicolas Cage seemed to be the winner. I quoted Caine’s bit mentioned in the OP. He was asked about\*\* Jaws : The Revenge \*\* and replied _I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific._ ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/29 "2009-12-10T09:36:49Z")
> [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](#): > > People, please, Nic Cage _owns_ this thread. [You can’t deny he’s big in Japan . . .](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYkw-5htPw0) ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/30 "2009-12-10T09:53:47Z")
Nic Cage? The OP specified “great actors.” Does anyone really consider Cage to be a “great actor?” ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/31 "2009-12-10T09:57:21Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Nic Cage? The OP specified “great actors.” Does anyone really consider Cage to be a “great actor?” Hey check out my link when he’s confronted with “tuh- tuh- tuh- _triplets?!_” If that isn’t the finest boggling face ever captured by the camera, I’ll eat my hat. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/32 "2009-12-10T10:01:56Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > [You can’t deny he’s big in Japan . . .](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYkw-5htPw0) Well, at least he made millions in real estate. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/33 "2009-12-10T10:04:10Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Has no one yet mentioned Robert DeNiro, one of the finest actors of his generation (seriously, watch _Raging Bull_) who has proceeded to appear in an almost unbroken string of craptastic movies in the last decade for no reason other than to pad his retirement fund and finance his TriBeCa productions and film festival? Btw, his latest, **Everbody’s Fine** , is NOT in that category. It’s a pretty good movie, I thought, and he’s very good in it. It’s a shame it’s doing so poorly. There’s much more to it than the trailers would have you believe. And I loved him in Stardust! [QUOTE=Tim R. Mortiss] I don’t think “whoring” is the appropriate term here. “Working” would be a better one. They have chosen acting as their profession, and they are doing it. [/QUOTE] This is how I feel when people complain about actors who seem to be in a lot of projects in a short time. Nicole Kidman went through that, Jude Law went through that, several others. First of all, actors have no control over when their movies are going to be released. They show up, do the work, and move on to other projects. The release schedule is out of their hands. Second, actors act, it’s what they do, it’s their chosen profession, why shouldn’t they work? Third, actors like working with a variety of people. In, say, especially Nicole Kidman’s case, she wants to work with lots of interesting people, and boy, she has! Even when the movie hasn’t turned out as good as we might have hoped, she worked with people she thought would be fascinating to work with. Her upcoming movie is [Nine](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0875034/), and no matter how the final movie turns out, the talent involved speaks for itself. Her next two movies are [Rabbit Hole](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0935075/) directed by John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), and [The Danish Girl](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0810819/), directed by Tomas Alfredson (Let The Right One In). Who in their right mind would say no? And last, but hardly least, there’s the money. How many people would turn down a bucketload of money to do what they love doing? It beats a 9 to 5 job. ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/34 "2009-12-10T11:08:19Z")
Jeremy Irons’ stint as the hammy bad guy in the Dungeons and Dragons movie takes the cake. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/35 "2009-12-10T11:24:03Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > This is how I feel when people complain about actors who seem to be in a lot of projects in a short time. Nicole Kidman went through that, Jude Law went through that, several others. First of all, actors have no control over when their movies are going to be released. They show up, do the work, and move on to other projects. The release schedule is out of their hands. Second, actors act, it’s what they do, it’s their chosen profession, why shouldn’t they work? Plus, it’s not like it is a regular position where you can count on 40 hours a week with 10 days vacation a year and a paycheck on the 15th and 30th, for as long as the company can afford you. Scripts can stop coming and producers can stop calling on any given day. Oh, sure, after you’ve had a big payday you could decide that you can live quite well on those $15 million and be selective from here on out, but then again that’s not the sort of personality that usually goes for this career path. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/36 "2009-12-10T11:29:40Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I don’t think “whoring” is the appropriate term here. “Working” would be a better one. They have chosen acting as their profession, and they are doing it. Again a quote from Michael Caine addresses this: F\*irst of all, I choose the great roles, and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don`t come, I choose the ones that pay the rent. \* ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/37 "2009-12-10T12:20:34Z")
In the Eighties and Nineties, Gene Hackman always seemed to be working, regardless of the quality of the film. However, I do not ever recall seeing him phone in a performance. He always gave the film makers a solid day’s work. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/38 "2009-12-10T13:31:34Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Christopher Walken in _Balls of Fury_. I read an article about or interview with him once where he said his view was that he’s an actor. He’s paid to act. That’s his job. If someone wants to pay him to act in a crappy movie, he’ll act in a crappy movie because he’s still getting paid to act. He’s not ashamed of any of his roles because they were all paying jobs and he worked to the best of his ability in each one with what he was given to do. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/39 "2009-12-10T14:38:14Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Anthony Hopkins in FREEJACK > > Sean Connery in half his film catalogue _L_ I was sooo thinking Sean Connery. I think Harold Ramis has whored himself out. I mean, he was once a comedic genius, with stuff like _Animal House_, \*Ghostbusters \*and _Caddy Shack_… and now? _Bedazzled_, _Year One_ and _Knocked Up_? I mean, between his acting, directing and writing, he’s done some great stuff… but that was a generation ago for a lot of it. Okay, _Groundhog Day_ was great and the _Analyze This_ and _Analyze That_ movies were ok… but seriously. He’s gone downhill. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690/40 "2009-12-10T15:29:22Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > In the Eighties and Nineties, Gene Hackman always seemed to be working, regardless of the quality of the film. However, I do not ever recall seeing him phone in a performance. He always gave the film makers a solid day’s work. Gene Hackman (and Michael Caine, Christopher Walken, and Morgan Freeman) is the guy you call when your director is half in the bag at 0700, the script is ten layers of rewrites thick and still shiite, and the supporting players are guys you pulled from the catering truck. For a modest fee, Hackman will increase the gravitas of your film; just by appearing in the credits he’ll up the caliber of your film by at least half a star, and if you put him in a headlining role, you’re at least guaranteed to break even. I’ve always wanted to see an _SNL_ skit in which the above actors met in a bar and competed to see who had been in the most bad films. “_Jaws: The Revenge_? That’s nothing. I was in _Heartbreakers_!” “Yeah, well I was in some Keanu Reeves movie that was so terrible they actually changed the name on the DVD release.” “Guys, guys, guys…I was in _Kangaroo Jack_, _Gigli_, and _The Stepford Wives_ all in the same year. You want to tell me about bad? I want more cowbell!” “Okay, you win, Walken.” Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-actors-whove-whored-themselves-out-in-bad-movies/520690.md?page=3)