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While some actors hold the roles that made them famous dear to their hearts, other actors have more complicated relationships with them. Whether it’s because they don’t like the character they played, the film or TV series that they starred in, or simply the effects of playing that role in their real lives, some actors are left with resentment after taking on roles that are seen as iconic. This shows us that nothing is what it seems, and being lucky enough to score the role of a lifetime isn’t always a blessing.
Check out these 10 actors who hated the iconic roles they played.
Carrie Fisher: Star Wars
Playing Princess Leia Organa in the Star Wars franchise made Carrie Fisher an international star, but that doesn’t mean she loved the role. In fact, in an interview in 2008, the late actress revealed that she didn’t enjoy the experience. She certainly doesn’t look back at her time playing Princess Leia fondly. That’s mostly because she didn’t like being a global icon.
In the interview with Today, Fisher admitted that she actually would have said no to taking the role if she’d known how much it would change her life.
Blake Lively: Serena Van Der Woodsen
Now she’s an A-lister movie star with roles in major films like A Simple Favour and Age of Adeline. But Blake Lively first rose to fame portraying rich Manhattan schoolgirl Serena van der Woodsen on the hit show Gossip Girl. While millions of fans loved Serena, Lively herself did not. Serena’s character was so different from her own that she found the role difficult to play at times.
According to People, Lively described portraying Serena as “personally compromising” because of the message she was putting out there. “I would not be proud to be [Serena].”
Jack Gleeson: Game of Thrones
To be perfectly honest, it would be a little worrying if Jack Gleeson did enjoy the role that launched him to fame. The Irish actor is now a household name after playing Joffrey Baratheon on Game of Thrones, one of the complex fantasy show’s only truly evil characters. When the sadistic character was finally killed off the show, fans around the world rejoiced.
After portraying the cruel adolescent king, Gleeson revealed that he no longer wanted to act at all. In an interview with People, Gleeson admitted that acting is “just not what I want to do.”
Robert Pattinson: Twilight
Robert Pattinson wasn’t prepared for the way his life changed after portraying literary heartthrob Edward Cullen, the vampire from Twilight who falls in love with a human girl. He instantly became a teen idol and object of obsession for fans all around the world.
Pattinson was not only uncomfortable with the amount of fame the role brought him, but also the character himself. In an interview with Empire (via People), Pattinson said he hated Edward more as he continued to read the script, calling him “ridiculous” and “manic-depressive.”
Katherine Heigl: Knocked Up
After playing the female lead in the 2008 comedy Knocked Up, Katherine Heigl received a little backlash after talking openly about how much she disliked her character and thought that the film was sexist. Later, she clarified that she did actually like the film, which was written and directed by Judd Apatow. She just didn’t like the role she played.
“She was kind of like, she was so judgmental and kind of uptight and controlling and all these things and I really went with it while we were doing it,” she told Howard Stern on his radio show.
Jamie Dornan: Fifty Shades Of Grey
When it was first released, Fifty Shades of Grey made headlines around the world for its graphic and risqué content. One person who was less than pleased with the film’s love interest, Christian Grey, is Jamie Dornan, the Northern Irish actor who portrayed him. In an interview with GQ Australia, Dornan admitted that the character is “not the sort of bloke I’d get along with,” adding that his bedroom preferences don’t “float my boat.”
Women’s rights activists and other critics have slammed Grey and the film itself for being problematic and negatively influencing young audiences.
Sean Connery: James Bond
Of all the actors that have portrayed James Bond in the past, Sean Connery stands out as the one who didn’t empathize much with the role at all. In 1964, he sat down with The New York Times and confessed that he didn’t really admire the character he was playing, stating, “He’s not my kind of chap at all.”
Later, in an interview with Playboy, Connery elaborated on his earlier comments, revealing that he was frustrated with playing the role. “Bond’s been good to me, so I shouldn’t knock him,” he said in the 1965 interview. “But I’m fed up to here with the whole Bond bit.”
Johnny Depp: 21 Jump Street
As he’s advanced through his career, Johnny Depp has become known for passing on the roles that are seen as “cool” and instead opting for characters that are quirky and offbeat. This passion for exploring characters that actually resonate with him stemmed from the experience of playing Tom Hanson on the TV series 21 Jump Street. According to Today, Depp disliked playing the role so much that he even tried to get fired.
After four seasons and finishing his contract, Depp abandoned the role and went on to play characters that were more meaningful to him.
Christopher Plummer: The Sound Of Music
The Sound of Music has enchanted viewers for generations. For over half a century, fans have fallen in love with the iconic film starring Julie Andrews and have fallen in love with its characters. But Christopher Plummer, who played Captain von Trapp, was one person who wasn’t captivated by the film’s magic. Years later in 2011, he confessed that it definitely wasn’t one of his favorite roles to play.
He said that the film was “so awful and sentimental and gooey” which made it hard to “try and infuse some minuscule bit of humor into it.”
Zac Efron: High School Musical
There seems to be a pattern with actors rising to fame playing teen heartthrobs and later coming to resent those very roles. Zac Efron, who portrayed Troy Bolton in High School Musical, is one such actor who’s less than impressed with the role as he looks back on it. Efron went so far as to say that he still wants to kick Troy’s behind sometimes.
Efron has explored different types of roles since finishing up with High School Musical, going on to play Ted Bundy in 2019’s Extremely Wicked, Shocking, and Vile.