Most movie stars can survive a flop or two. But there are roles that completely upend an actor’s career, leaving them out of work or forever changed in the public eye. From Faye Dunaway’s notorious performance in Mommie Dearest to Brandon Routh’s post-Superman Returns obscurity, certain films have single-handedly derailed fortunes.
Often this is unfair – women historically bear the brunt of career-shaking backlash, and many reasons explain why stardom hits a wall. But whenever an actor drops off the radar, a specific film is usually to blame. Here are 17 films that ruined their stars’ careers.
Released in 1981, the Joan Crawford biopic Mommie Dearest – starring Faye Dunaway – painted the star as an unhinged tyrant. Dunaway drew the worst reviews of her career, winning a Worst Actress Razzie. She rarely spoke about it again, saying in 2016: “It turned my career in a direction where people would irretrievably have the wrong impression of me.”
Expectations were high for Showgirls (1995), reuniting the Basic Instinct team. Star Elizabeth Berkley was expected to become a star, but the film’s dismal response cratered her movie career overnight. “I was bullied,” she said in 2020. “No one associated with the film spoke up on my behalf to protect me. I was left out in the cold.”
Shannen Doherty left Beverly Hills 90210 in 1994 to launch a film career, but her choice of Kevin Smith’s Mallrats flopped. “It died and so did my film career,” she said in 2024. “People thought it was completely on me.”
David Caruso left NYPD Blue in 1994 for film stardom, but his 1995 vehicles Kiss of Death and Jade crashed. After Jade made $4m at the box office, Caruso said: “The town went silent. I could have thrown my telephone in the dumpster.”
