Controversial film roles that neither hurt or helped an actor's career

[toddly6666]

Some controversial roles hurt: Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls
Some controversial roles helped: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain


But what roles seemed pretty controversial but ended up meaning nothing - neither helping or hurting?

For example, Amanda Seyfried in Lovelace or John Travolta in Hairspray.

[jamesdevil]

Willem Dafoe as Jesus

[Themyscira]

Ben Affleck in Daredevil and Halle Berry in Catwoman.

[slimdude]

Faye Dunaway as the late Joan Crawford in: Mommie Dearest.
Al Pacino in: Cruising.
Westley Snipes, the late Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo in: To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.
Lisa Bonet in: Angel Heart.
Malcolm McDowell in: Caligula.
Melvin Van Peebles and young Mario Van Peebles in: Sweet Sweetback, Badasssss Song.

[DanTheMan]

Originally Posted by slimdude

Westley Snipes, the late Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo in: To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.

^^This.^^ Talk about getting a free pass for life.

[cinemaphile]

Jim Caviezel in The Passion of the Christ

[cinemaphile]

I don't think Showgirls hurt Berkley's career. It stayed exactly where it was... pretty much non-existent.

Originally Posted by Themyscira

Ben Affleck in Daredevil and Halle Berry in Catwoman.

bad movie roles? sure. controversial? no

[esteban²]

I don't know if controversial is the right word for the role, but everything about the so-called documentary was big stuff. Talking about Joaquin Phoenix and his hoax-thing about not being an actor anymore and wanting to be a rapper. I didn't believe those "I quit acting!" messages for one second. By the time this came out everyone knew it was an act.

"I'm Still Here" it was called, nobody cared. The whole set-up was a huge fail, nobody went to see it and before we could say "Told ya s..", he already was attached to another project. Didn't help his carreer, didn't hurt it either. It's like this whole thing never happened.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by cinemaphile

Jim Caviezel in The Passion of the Christ

Really? It didn't help his career, that's for sure.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by esteban²

"I'm Still Here" it was called, nobody cared. The whole set-up was a huge fail, nobody went to see it and before we could say "Told ya s..", he already was attached to another project. Didn't help his carreer, didn't hurt it either. It's like this whole thing never happened.

Wouldn't say it "Didn't hurt his career"--
Once we knew for sure Phoenix WAS faking it for the Sasha Cohen thrill, he got packed off on his official new exile-for-life to the Crispin Glover Memorial Home for Actors Who Go Self-Indulgently Art-Looney. (Where Sean Young is now happily arranging flower baskets, and Jim Carrey has been spotted house-hunting.)
So, when he showed up later in Spike Jonze's next film, everyone passed it off with "Yeah, he would. "

(And I liked Signs, thank you very much.)

[thrillmygorilla]

Brandon Routh as Superman in Superman Returns.

[JavaJulien]

Yeah guys, if your listing Superhero roles, you're king of missing the point. Playing Superman or Batman is not "controversial."

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by cinemaphile

Jim Caviezel in The Passion of the Christ

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Really? It didn't help his career, that's for sure.

and didn't hurt it either. That's the whole point of this thread.

[thrillmygorilla]

Originally Posted by JavaJulien

Yeah guys, if your listing Superhero roles, you're king of missing the point. Playing Superman or Batman is not "controversial."

Well, the casting was considered controversial.

[toddly6666]

I guess the superhero roles are brought up as being controversial because the "who's going to be cast as the hero or villain?" is so highly anticipated to the same level as Jesus castings?

Sort of interesting that Jesus castings are more controversial/anticipated than other biblical characters that get put in movies.

[Jasonic]

Originally Posted by cinemaphile

and didn't hurt it either. That's the whole point of this thread.

I'm not so sure. He looked like he could have turned into quite the star with the more mainstream films and decently successful Frequency and Count of Monte Cristo. After Passion, I haven't even seen a film of his, save for Deja Vu which he is hardly the star of.

[Jasonic]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Sort of interesting that Jesus castings are more controversial/anticipated than other biblical characters that get put in movies.

Why? Jesus is by far the most central character to the bible and the most important figure in Christianity. He is known as "thee" son of God. Everyone else in the bible are just prophets or apostles.

[Buscemi]

Chloe Sevigny in The Brown Bunny.

[tylerdurden10]

Originally Posted by Buscemi

Chloe Sevigny in The Brown Bunny.

Yeah...I don't think anyone is topping this one! Seriously, the fact that she still is acting in "Hollywood" movies is astounding after that film!

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Sort of interesting that Jesus castings are more controversial/anticipated than other biblical characters that get put in movies.

it's not that the role of Jesus is controversial. It's taking on the role of Jesus when it is being portrayed like that. Last Temptation for obvious reasons, and Passion because of the brutality as well as the controversy with Gibson's anti-semitism and such.