# Worst unknown actor to be given a starring role in a big budget movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135 "2005-04-07T00:44:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/1 "2005-04-07T00:44:49Z")
Unknown is a relative term- it can apply to somebody who has film credits, but isn’t exactly a name everybody would know. Two of my pics: Hayden Christensen in _STAR WARS_ 2 & 3 (I actually thought of this thread while watching the Star Wars trailer). He is pretty but painful to watch, though I don’t think acting talent has ever been a major consideration of Lucas’s (why he signed Alec Guinness rather than Tom Bosley, who I’m sure would have been cheaper, is beyond me). Diana Scarwid in _Mommie Dearest_- were ostracism still practiced I’m pretty sure she’d have had to learn Greek and take up residence on a tiny Aegean island. Admittedly it’s probably difficult to give a dramatic performance when you’re alongside CAMP DUNAWAY and you’re dressed like Dainty June from _Gypsy_, but even so her underacting would have been enough evidence to get a feeding tube pulled in 32 states. Who are your pics? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/2 "2005-04-07T01:03:55Z")
Diana Scarwid already had an Oscar nomination in her belt by the time _Mommie Dearest_ was released, so I wouldn’t necessarily call her unknown. Maybe not a household name, but few movie actors generally are (and _MD_ wasn’t a particularly Big movie either, just notorious). Instead of choosing a famous (or even semi-famous) American actress like the studio wanted, Michael Cimino drew a line in the sand over Isabelle Huppert (who was virtually unknown outside of France) when casting _Heaven’s Gate_. She’s genuinely talented, but all-wrong for a film that had plenty wrong already going against it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/3 "2005-04-07T01:07:26Z")
Doesn’t the all-time champ in this department have to be Klinton Spilsbury in 1981’s _The Legend of the Lone Ranger_? He never acted before, and he never acted again! ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/4 "2005-04-07T01:37:32Z")
Sofia Coppola in _The Godfather III_ was unknown and horrible. And the little kid who played the young Anakin in _Star Wars Episode I: The Erotic Adventures of Jar-Jar_ was also dreadful, although I think Lucas can make any actor seem dreadful so I feel bad for the kid. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/5 "2005-04-07T01:42:14Z")
Caspar Van Diem in **Starship Troopers**. Elizabeth Berkeley in **Showgirls**. And I agree with Hayden Christensen. He’s absolutely painful to watch. And Sophia Coppola, although I hear she’s a great director. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/6 "2005-04-07T01:45:25Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > And I agree with Hayden Christensen. He’s absolutely painful to watch. No one should be judged solely by their acting while directed by George Lucas. He’s excellent in Shattered Glass, and received a GG nomination for Life as a House. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/7 "2005-04-07T01:45:49Z")
Sofia Coppola in Godfather III ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/8 "2005-04-07T01:46:51Z")
Oh, and my vote goes to Paul Walker in The Fast and the Furious. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/9 "2005-04-07T01:47:57Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > No one should be judged solely by their acting while directed by George Lucas. He’s excellent in Shattered Glass, and received a GG nomination for Life as a House. Fair enough. I haven’t seen the others. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/10 "2005-04-07T01:55:05Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Hayden Christensen in _STAR WARS_ 2 & 3 (I actually thought of this thread while watching the Star Wars trailer). He is pretty but painful to watch, though I don’t think acting talent has ever been a major consideration of Lucas’s (why he signed Alec Guinness rather than Tom Bosley, who I’m sure would have been cheaper, is beyond me). I’m surprised you brought up Star Wars without mentioning Mark Hamill. So I’m mentioning him. Consider him mentioned :). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/11 "2005-04-07T01:57:14Z")
He got third biling, but can we count Chritopsher Reeve in _Superman: The Movie_? ---
**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:** [April 7, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/12 "2005-04-07T02:17:54Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Doesn’t the all-time champ in this department have to be Klinton Spilsbury in 1981’s _The Legend of the Lone Ranger_? He never acted before, and he never acted again! Not only that, but all his lines had to be redubbed by Stacy Keach. Definitely the champ. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/13 "2005-04-07T02:18:57Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Doesn’t the all-time champ in this department have to be Klinton Spilsbury in 1981’s _The Legend of the Lone Ranger_? He never acted before, and he never acted again! Maybe it’s the DNA, but this was my first thought as well when I read the OP. Even Ms. Coppola had a few credits before **The Godfather III** , even when you don’t count her father’s works. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/14 "2005-04-07T02:22:37Z")
I thought that Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin Skywalker in “Star Wars: Episode I,” was a charmless, wooden, infuriatingly dull actor. Surely George Lucas could have found a better child actor for this important role. If someone of the caliber of Haley Joel Osment had been cast as Anakin, this would have been a much better movie. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/15 "2005-04-07T02:22:37Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Not only that, but all his lines had to be redubbed by Stacy Keach. Definitely the champ. Which to me has always begged the question, why the hell did they cast him? How can you _not_ know that somebody has a voice so wrong for the part it will have to be redubbed, or that he can’t act for beans, during the audition process? The main thing I remember about the time that movie came out was that Clayton Moore was ordered in court to stop wearing his Lone Ranger mask at public appearances (which I would imagine was his primary source of income at the time- I don’t know that). He made lemonade by becoming the celebrity spokesmodel for a line of designer sunglasses that he substituted, but eventually (once the movie tanked) resumed wearing the mask. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/16 "2005-04-07T02:32:35Z")
Sly in **Rocky** Not entirely unknown then, but pretty painful to watch now. Although I must admit I was mesmerised by his portrayal at the time it came out. But, I was also starting into body building at the time and was just a dumb teenager. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/17 "2005-04-07T03:37:47Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > Elizabeth Berkeley in **Showgirls**. Berkeley was reasonably famous; I knew who she was, and I’d never seen a single minute of “Saved by the Bell.” Bryan, Christopher Reeve was GREAT in Superman. My choice would have to be Sofia Coppola. Look, I’ve seen both “Godfather III” and “Attack of the Clones,” and compared to Sofia, Hayden Christensen looked like Sir Alec Guinness. Her performance was as bad as any I’ve ever seen in an honest-to-God theatrical release. The only worse actors I’ve ever seen are either people who got movie roles by being good at something else (Steven Seagal, Ice-T) or, in one individual case, the worst actress who ever lived: Rebecca Pidgeon. ---
**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:** [April 7, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/18 "2005-04-07T04:03:47Z")
James Toback who has claims as the worst director to make movies regularly came out with **Black & White** in 1999. Toback brilliantly had the non-actors in his cast improvise many of their scenes. There are too many duds to list them all but you haven’t seen bad acting until you see improvised bad acting. Admittedly only $10,000,000 was wasted making it. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/19 "2005-04-07T04:10:38Z")
Jessica Lange in the 1976 version of **King Kong**. She got better. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135/20 "2005-04-07T04:15:29Z")
No mention of George Lazenby? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-unknown-actor-to-be-given-a-starring-role-in-a-big-budget-movie/298135.md?page=2)