" Biggest genius that never became a star ? I ’d say Aaron Eckhart . The guy wire has it all , just never became a big headliner . "
Recently, Reddit userCreepyYogurtcloset39posed the question, “Who was supposed to be Hollywood’s next big star but faded away?” to the people ofr/moviecritic. Here are their top responses:
1.“Carl Weathers should have been what Sly and Arnold were. He oozed charisma and had an amazing presence on the big screen.”
2.“Michael Biehn. To be fair, not many actors have such an iconic resume —Aliens,The Terminator,The Abyss,Tombstone,Navy Seals,The Rock. Not only are they all great films, he’s great in them.”
3.“Stuart Townsend. He was replaced byViggo MortenseninTheLord of the Ringstrilogy.”
4.“Biggest star that never became a star? I’d say Aaron Eckhart. The guy has it all, just never became a big headliner.”
5.“Hayden Christensen. He co-starred inLife is a Housewith Kevin Kline years ago, but that’s kind of it (other than playing Anakin again in theObi-Wan Kenobishow). He actually can act, but he was just never going to escape that role.”
6.“Mickey Rourke had immense talent, but his off-screen antics overshadowed his performances.”
7.“Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Bro was rolling offThe Tudorsand an acclaimed performance inMatch Point. Then addiction got him, and now he’s doing B-movies with Bruce Willis and John Travolta.”
8.“Casper van Dien. He didn’t need to do anything else. He peaked withStarship Troopersand has never come off that throne.”
9.“Chris O’Donnell. I remember he didScent of a Woman,The Three Musketeers, andBatman Forever, and thinking he was going to be huge.”
10.“Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, he’s got it all but never really launched into stardom afterGame of Thrones.”
11.“Taylor Kitsch. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he has a very respectable career and is a talented actor. I just mean that his career hasn’t lived up to the early trade hype about him, blame for which I don’t attribute to the actors themselves.”
12.“Skeet Ulrich. He was so good inScream. Like hybrid Johnny Depp/Jack Nicolson, that is good. Then nothing…”
13.“I like Anna Farris, and I feel like she never got a big-time shot at her moments because of her involvement with theScary Movieseries. She’s in a lot of B movies, and they’re okay, but the writing is bad in most of them since she’s cast as the ditzy blonde in 99% of things she was in.”
14.“Shia LaBeouf. I mean, he didDisturbiaand then theTransformersmovie, which I absolutely loved — that movie made me feel like a kid again for a few hours. Then Spielberg made him Indy’s son and hinted at a future with him in that role. And then he faded away, I know he had issues, but so many were able to come back. Wonder what was different about him.”
15.“Sam Worthington. He’s set for life with hisAvatargigs. But back in 2009, people, especially people in Australia, were expecting him to become the next Heath Ledger.”
16.“Rutger Hauer. He’s my fave; I love his movies, even the cheesiest of them, but afterBlade Runner, it seemed like he’d be one to watch out for but ended up fading into cult status.”
17.“Deep cut from the women’s side: Alison Lohman.Big FishandMatchstick Menin the same year. She was so good in both.”
18.“Nick Stahl comes to mind. I’m still salty aboutCarnivale’s cancellation.”
19.“Jason Patric. Although, let’s be honest,Speed 2was never going to launch him… I mean, it’s kind of hard to follow Keanu in a franchise, and even more so when the movie is just plain awful.”
20.“Bruce Campbell.Ash vs Evil Deadis hands down a hidden gem of a show and Bruce gets to go full ham in it as Ash. I wish it had been more popular.”
21.“Ron Livingston had such a great shot afterOffice Space, but he kinda faded back into obscurity.”
22.“Dougray Scott. Was originally cast as Wolverine, but he was filmingMission: Impossible 2,and filming ran long. So he had to back out ofX-Men.”
23.“Gretchen Mol. She had a ‘New IT Girl’ Vanity Fair cover and did a few things here and there, but she didn’t want to play the game. Apparently, she refused to travel away from NYC because of her young kids, etc. She said in Cookie Magazine, ‘I told my agent I didn’t want to work in L.A., even if it was the greatest job in the world. I didn’t want to compromise.’ You gotta strike while the iron is hot. I was happy to see her inBroadwalk EmpireandYellowstone, though.”
24.“Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I am 100% still waiting for a Robin movie!”
25.“David Duchovny. He didn’t fade away after leaving theX-Files, but every industry rag predicted he’d be the next Hollywood leading man following his departure. He obviously found success in TV again, and he’s had a few film roles, includingReturn to Mewith Minnie Driver, which I really liked. His career isn’t a failure, but he’s not the ‘George Clooney Version 2’ many were expecting.”
26.“Edward Furlong. Typical child actor story. I think Cameron had more to do with Furlong’s success inT2than Eddie himself did, and he probably wasn’t playing a role that was deeply different from himself, so he didn’t need to do a lot of real character work.”
27.Finally, “Djimon Hounsou. LOVE HIM! I definitely think this is a case of Hollywood not writing interesting and compelling roles for an actor like him. Hollywood has a very narrow view of Black actors (which is stupid and shameful and hopefully something audiences can change), and he’s not a Will Smith or Denzel Washington-type.”
mark : Some responses have been edited for length and/or clearness .
