Once towering celebrity statuses of fans can be ruined easily in the world of showbiz. They are equally likely to fall out of the public graces as they are likely to rise to stardom on immense public demand. A couple of flops at the box office, some personal problems or just deciding to take some time off the screen- together this sums up the formula for life in the cold shadow for the once-celebrities. This list carries 10 names that Hollywood won’t cast anymore, along with the reasons.
10. Hayden Christensen
For Hayden Christensen not being cast anymore, all the reasons can just be put down into two words: the prequels. He owes much of his fame to Star Wars Trilogy: Episodes 1 to 3 even though the series has been panned all over the world for many things. Christensen had been doing some of the best work that his career offered between shooting for the trilogy but nobody bothered about that. People around the world were too overwhelmed about the Star Wars and his performance in that.
Even Christensen himself said that he owed much of his fame to the series. He took some time off, although he was aware of the potential risks, bought a farm and got married. He also has a kid that could learn from his father about trying to “claw his way back into the field” which Christensen tried to do through 90 Minutes in Heaven in 2015.
See also; Top 10 Most Disliked Celebrities in Hollywood.
9. Seann William Scott
Scott is famous for the role he played in the American Pie movie series: Steven Stifler (he could also be famous for his astonishing resemblance with First Lady Melania Trump, because honestly as I looked through my research on the web, he looked so familiar that I just had to write it down here). The character he played could be vilified by all means but he turned out to be the beloved because of being Stifler. The series spanned around 13 years so every time he tried to do something else- people couldn’t figure why he wasn’t just being Stifler. Being a perfect example of type-casting, Scott decided to do what most actors would do- voice over acting. He has four Ice Age movies on his resume and that too with one of the main protagonists: Crash.
8. Tobey Maguire
When I read somewhere that Tobey Maguire was paid 22 million dollars for only one of the Spider Man movies (just the movie), I couldn’t sleep. I dreamed of my husband being Spider Man and my brother accompanying him as Harry perhaps (coincidently my brother’s name is Harry), for the betterment of both their wives. Many people would say that his performance in Spider Man 3, truly awkward to say, was the thing that flopped his career- but there is more to the story.
Sam Raimi, the director, wanted to redeem Mcguire but it took him too long to finalize the script for the 4th movie. The delay combined with Mcguire turning 35 caused Sony to reboot the character altogether with Andrew Garfield starring as the Amazing Spider-Man in 2012. As of now, he only has one TV movie production in process on his imdb page (yes, he went into production and became one of the actors that Hollywood won’t cast anymore).
7. Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn repeated the same character time and again since that is where his appeal came from: Old School and Wedding Crashers both released in 2003 and 2005 respectively.
Unfortunately, his persona was overestimated to be adaptive for any kind of genre and hence came dismal productions like Four Christmases and Couples Retreat in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Even is his performance was good, the badly written romantic comedies couldn’t survive the box office critiques. Applying the dual bro formula, he appeared in The Internship in 2013 and Delivery Man in the same year and then in Unfinished Business in 2015. His shine was already rubbing off before the disastrous True Detective Season 2 was released in 2015. The series careening off the rails is not Vaughn’s fault alone although he did fail to take a 180 degree turn in career. Today, Vaughn is too old to rebrand but if they come up with a remake of him and Owen Wilson even when they are 70, that we would definitely watch.
6. Jay Mohr
Jay Mohr attempted to become a sitcom star but his first attempt in the Fox comedy Action in 1999 failed as the ratings dipped. Gary Unmarried that lasted two seasons 2008-10, also received parasitic reviews that feed on a TV actor’s career. As a host, Mohr was relatively successful as in Last Comic Standing (2003-06) and Jay Mohr Sports from a more recent time. His career has had quite a few bumps including a cancelled deal with Disney. Besides this, there is a lot of personal mess that comes with hiring him. He filed for divorce in 2016 petitioning urgent and full custody only to withdraw the petition six days later- only to file for divorce again the same year. This brought him to the list of actors Hollywood won’t cast anymore.
5. Dane Cook
During the last decade, any gathering wouldn’t miss mentioning that Dane Cook was the best thing that ever happened to humorous showbiz. But what happened to those days? He is now one of the 10 actors that Hollywood doesn’t bother with anymore. He took a start as an actor is comedies that were critically badgered like Employee of the Month (2006) and Good Luck Chuck (2007). At one time he also claimed that he was auditioning for Captain America (2011) but like other dramatic projects, this idea was innately faulty too. NBC cancelled his show before it even aired and he had to face accusations of joke theft and controversial jokes that got him into trouble. Now he is one of the actors that Hollywood won’t cast anymore.
4. Jim Carrey
Yes, his name on the list even surprises me as I write but it is true. Back in his days, Jim Carrey was on the top of the box office with hits like The Mask (1994), Dumb and Dumber (1994) and Liar Liar (1997). By 2000, he had landed the biggest hit of Hollywood that year. My sister practically spent her weekends watching Bruce Almighty and made sure that she had a movie night with all her friends individually, watching Dumb and Dumber. After some low-key comedies like The Incredible Burt in 2013 and Mr.Popper’s Penguins in 2011, his hold on the box-office slackened. Following the suicide of his girlfriend, his personal life has also taken a hit since he plunged into a legal battle that won’t seem to end.
3. Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox’s career took a deep plunge after Lost in 2010 that was one of the most highly acclaimed series ever. His movie career never actually took off as his role in Alex Cross (2012) and World War Z (2013) could not give him what he probably deserved. On the personal side he has been vehemently denying that he beats women (alleged by Lost co-star) and that he hit a female bus driver. He has also been in a DUI arrest. In 2012 he hinted that we might not see much of him anymore if he won’t get any opportunities. Five years later, we see that what he said was true. With all these reasons, he is an actor that Hollywood won’t cast anymore.
2. John Cusack
To be honest, we have seen a bit of him even recently but it was barely noticeable. He made 17 movies between 2012 and 2016 that is an average of more than 4 a year and yet, there were little ripples created amongst fan waters besides the brief Oscar buzz for his co-star in Love and Mercy (2015). His movies have been failing to ignite that passion which is name now seeks. Also, because he is in his 50s he has started to feel a bit old to the newer generation of film audience. Still, Cusack has kept himself busy with passion projects like co-funding the Freedom of the Press Foundation and writing a book on Edward Snowden– the NSA whistleblower.
1. Jessica Alba
Thanks to flops like Fantastic Four (2005) ad Awake released in 2007, Jessica Alba has a crummy resume, especially for Hollywood. Although she has blamed new directors and bad scripts for her flops, a high profile and respected publication like The New York Times has referred to her acting as “vapid”. Something that is bland by default can hardly be blamed on directors and scripts. In recent interviews she has said that acting is not her top priority and that she really stopped acting when she was 27. She is focusing on her kids at the moment and in August 2017, she announced a third to be on the way. She also runs her own consumer-goods brand that goes by The Honest Company. Unfortunately, the brand itself is suffering with various litigations regarding featured ingredients in particular products. It stands at 1 billion Dollars though.