Anyone else think Whoopi’s best role was as Guinan? I think that role showed her talents to very good effect. [And yes I know about the Color Purple…]
Avoiding bankruptcy is a remarkably motivating thing.
There is the fact that sometimes things that sound really stupid (“see, your a private detective and will solve a murder involving a rabbit and his drop-dead gorgeous,but human, wife; so Bob Hoskins, do you do it or jump off a bridge”) turn out to be fine.
Sometimes you can only prove something was a horrible idea by going out and doing it.
Yeah, that Oscar she won for L.A. Confidential wasn’t… oh, never mind…
This. What is the classic line from Michael Caine? “I have never seen Jaws 4, I hear it is awful. But I have seen the house it paid for, and it is lovely.”
Jaws 4 got a bad rap because the absurdity of a shark somehow knowing where you were going on vacation, and following you thousands of miles there. If you can suspend your disbelief for that, it’s honestly not a bad movie. Better than Jaws 2 or 3 (though not in the same league as 1.)
And Point Break is my favorite action movie (not saying much since I don’t really like action movies, but still . . . :D)
One is never really sure in Hollywood just how good or how bad a movie ends up being. Sometimes you need to take the money and hope for the best.
There’s been a couple of cases where actors have claimed that the movie they signed on to make was not the movie which came out, and that the script was changed against their objections. Samuel L. Jackson tends to be rather blunt in his discussions about the Hollywood “suits.” 
To me, making a bad movie is pretty far down on the list of horrible sins one should die before committing. Actually, now that I double check, it’s not even on the list.
But then again, there’s the flip side of the coin: “See, you’re a plumber from Brookyln who gets transported into an alternate universe where humans evolved from dinosaurs; so Bob Hoskins, do you do it or jump off a bridge?” (Hoskins himself has said working on Super Mario Bros. was “a fuckin’ nightmare.”)
Even making bad movies has to be more fun than working a regular job. If I could pay my bills by starring in craptacular films, I’d jump at the chance.
You’re right, I’d do the same. Which is why I don’t wonder why Carrot Top didn’t kill himself rather than do Chairman of the Board:while that movie is even worse than Theodore Rex, it was surely the highpoint of his career. Whoopi started at the top and has been sliding–plummeting–ever since.
To be fair, while Battlefield Earth was a (not the) bomb, it was made because Travolta was in a powerful enough position to launch what was essentially a vanity project. HIS rock bottom was probably Look Who’s Talking 8, or whatever.
Hey, according to IMDB, Whoopi made a cool seven MILLION for SA2!
That’s the only one I could find. Theodore Rex’s budget was an estimated $33,000,000, so we can assume that Whoopi got a few million of that for a couple/few weeks’ work.
Geez, suicide, or lots of money…suicide, or lots of money. Tough decision, there.
:rolleyes:
Here’s another tough decision: reactionary literal-mindedness, or easily recognized hyperbole.
It’s easy for us to be all moral on this issue. Nobody ever offered me a million dollars to star in a really stupid movie so I can’t claim I turned them down.
What I don’t understand is why anyone would be willing to watch a movie like Theodore Rex.
Lots of famous actors have been in crappy movies, or done movies they didn’t want to because of contract obligations. Occasionally this involves playing a cyborg cop partnered with a dinosaur cop. Does the OP have an actual point to make?
It’s called taking one for the team. I watched it so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.
Whoopi Goldberg’s philosophy has always been that she’ll take any role she’s offered with a reasonable paycheck. With one exception, she’s never been a bankable movie star who can demand huge salaries for each role. She’s mostly a character actor who only occasionally gets a lead role. The one exception was her demand for Sister Act 2. Sister Act made a huge amount of money and she wasn’t well paid for it. She told the producers that she would only do the sequel if she was paid the largest salary of any actress up to that time for the role.
Well, there’s your answer then. Whoopi Goldberg starred in Theodore Rex so that nobody else would have to.
Otherwise it could have been you, or a loved one. Think about THAT scenario. Where’s your damned gratitude?