Self-confidence is something special, you can win it and lose it, like the football world cup. (It’s not from me, it’s from the Dalai Lama). Some celebs didn’t even believe in their own projects when they were working on it and were surprised when it hit because they expected it to be a royal smash. You will see that it happens more often than you think and it is reassuring because you can tell yourself that everyone can succeed if they give themselves the means. Which is false, but we have the right to believe it.
1. Only one person believed in “Star Wars” and it wasn’t even George Lucas.
When he wanted to make his somewhat childish little SF film, George Lucas was convinced that it was going to kill the jaws royally. It must be said that several friends told him that was going to be the case, in particular Brian De Palma who was not kind to his project. But in the middle of it all was Steven Spielberg, the only one who believed in the film and therefore the only one who was right. A visionary man.
2. Liam Neeson thought “Taken” was going to be released straight to DVD
If we base ourselves on the script, the production and his acting, we could clearly agree with him by saying to ourselves that the thing was going to bider and go directly through the box released on DVD. But no, it was a hit, so much so that it became a saga and that was clearly not planned. People seem to enjoy seeing Liam Neeson blow up and I’m not going to prove them wrong.
3. Schwarzenegger didn’t believe in “Terminator” for a second.
“The shitty movie I’m making”. It is with these words that the actor described the project during filming, it gives you an idea. His agent had warned him that this role might put him in a box but Arnold had replied that anyway the trick would pass so unnoticed that there was no chance of him being noticed in it. Needless to remind you that the film was a hit and really launched his acting career.
4. Keira Knightley was ashamed to tell her friends that she was working on “Pirates of the Caribbean”.
In his defense, it must be said that a film based on a theme park attraction is not particularly the best-selling project. Most of the cast were convinced that the movie would be a “huge shit” that was going to flop, but as you probably know it’s been quite the opposite considering there have been five movies (so far).
5. DC Comics thought “Batman” was going to be a cinematic failure.
It was when a producer was thinking of buying the rights to adapt the Batman character to make a movie on it that a DC employee advised him not to do so because it would be a waste of money. The character wasn’t doing as well as it used to in terms of comic book sales and a movie didn’t seem like a good idea to revive the character. It seems that the guy who advised him not to get the rights has become an expert in prospecting, you just have to do the exact opposite of what he advises to make money.
6. James Cameron thought ‘Avatar’ would probably be the end of his career
As production progressed and the film’s budget was spent (and continued to grow) James Cameron began to seriously doubt that this whimsical SF story was going to suck. But a good promo and amazing technology for the time were enough to bring the spectators (a lot of spectators), even if the scenario was a little copied from that of the pact of wolves. Or of Dancing with the wolvesI tend to confuse the two.
7. Chris Pratt thought ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ was going to ruin his career.
“Nobody can make a movie about a talking tree and spend that much money animating a raccoon with guns.” Here is the summary of Guardians of the Galaxy by Chris Pratt who did not expect so much success for the film based on a fairly niche comic book. Yet James Gunn’s direction and style were enough for the public to hook directly with the trailer and for the band of losers to become one of the public’s favorites. Marvel.
8. James Cameron (him again) hoped “Titanic” wasn’t going to lose too much money
The guy doesn’t believe in his own projects so much that he didn’t even hope that Titanic would make a profit, he only hoped that he wouldn’t lose too much money so as not to get burned in the middle . But that was without counting on the fact that everything this guy touches turns to gold and that the film was the biggest hit in the cinema that involved Celine Dion.
9. Robert Carlyle had a hard time imagining “The Full Monty” walking.
Not only did the actor not believe for a second in the success of the film, but he still talks about it today, saying that it was a lot of shit and that the shooting had made him uncomfortable. Yet the success of the film at the time was undeniable both on the spectator side and with the critics. It had four Oscar nominations, which is more than the film Thor 2 who has had none and is a huge piece of shit.
10. Bill Skarsgard freaked out about something happening during the entire production of “It.”
From the start of production until the film’s release Bill Skarsgård (who plays the clown Pennywise) freaked out that shit was happening. He was convinced that everything was going too well and that it was a bad sign, which was going to cause him a bitter failure. Even when the film was released in theaters and the first feedback was very positive, he couldn’t believe it. Even when the number of entries exceeded the studio’s estimates he thought there was still going to be a problem, but no, it just worked out really well.
11. Betsy Palmer agreed to do “Friday the 13th” just for the money.
To say that the actress who played Pamela Voorhees believed in the project would be a beautiful lie, she agreed to do it only because she wanted to buy a new car with her stamp. Beyond that she had no hope that the film would be talked about since she considered the scenario “crappy” and did not see how people could spend money to go see it. Overall someone you want to work with
12. Donald Sutherland turned down Animal House percentages (and he regretted it)
The actor only had one day of filming scheduled on his pal John Landis’ film and he wanted $250,000. Since the budget wasn’t incredible, Landis offered him $25,000 and 2% of the film’s takings, which the actor refused, stating that he only wanted the money and a little extra ($35,000 in everything) because he didn’t think for a second that the film was going to work. The film was the best-selling American comedy of the 1970s and Sutherland estimates after calculation that it could have made 14 million dollars if he had accepted the 2%.
