Leading Men Who Didn't Quite Work Out

Bill Pullman was to the 90s what Ralph Bellamy was to the 30s. He always played the good-looking guys in romantic comedies who just weren't good enough for the heroine.

I think his demise in rom coms was “Mr Wrong”.

A lot of the 80’s / 90’s guys were ugly. Tom Hanks and Billy Crystal. Yikes.

per Reddit post:

Joseph Gordon Levitt

Jai Courtney

Sam Worthington

Taylor Kitsch

Army Hammer

R2 Sorry I meant for romantic comedies or movies.

Joseph Gordon Levitt, looking hawt.

[quote]I think his demise in rom coms was “Mr Wrong”.

But he and Ellen had such great chemistry!

Did Aaron Eckhart deserve a bigger career?

Billy Campbell, sigh.

R3 I think superhero movies hurt those men. Superhero movies replaced big action movies and characters sold the superhero movies, not the actor personas, which was all action movies really are.

I also think superhero movies created conflicts for actors because Heath Ledger showed you could take on dramatic Oscar worthy performances. No one wanted to be Batman, everyone wanted to be The Joker.

[quote]Army Hammer

Oh, dear.

R7 I think he was too much of a weirdo / pain in the ass for directors to tolerate. He’s a “method actor”.

Javier Bardem

Hollywood tried to make Greg Kinnear happen.

Josh Duhamel.

Tom Hardy's had a decent run. But has he peaked? Did he ever peak?

I haven’t seen Greg Kinnear in anything recently but he could make a comeback if he was in a hip TV show with a lot of nudity and sex scenes. Like Eric Dane’s character in “Euphoria”.

R15 Tom Hardy is a huge disappointment. He pulled a Chris Tucker. As soon as he landed a franchise, it’s like he retired basically retired.

Campbell Scott.

R7 I think people saw him as a Thomas Jane clone

R8 he was gorgeous in The Rocketeer, but he pretty much disappeared until I saw him getting his ass kicked by Jennifer Lopez in Enough.

Tom Hardy peaked with Mad Max and playing Bane

Paul Walker

He certainly had the looks but for some reason he couldn't break out of the Fast and Crispy franchise.

Apparently, Ansel Elgort has a series on HBO Max (TOKYO VICE--I've never heard of it). But I thought he'd been cancelled after allegations of harassment.

And WEST SIDE STORY and THE GOLDFINCH were huge disappointments.

Josh Hartnett

R22 absolutely

He was so promising in the late 90s:

Billy Campbell is actually a hilarious comedic actor. I remember him as Tea Leoni's do-gooder doctor boyfriend in the underrated movie "Ghost Town," somewhat reprising a similar role he'd play on an episode of Frasier.

Looking at his IMDB, he's done pretty well for himself over the years. He's definitely stayed busy.

My favorite Bill Pullman scene ever:

Chris O'Donnell

although his nips were glorious in the role of Robin playing the submissive bottom to George Clooney's Batman

Gerard Butler is 53 and doing a lot of C/D-list projects and voiceover work.

Always working, but never really going anywhere.

Darren Criss

Whip Hubley

Perry King

Steve Guttenberg

Bill Pullman's problem was that no one could tell him apart from Bill Paxton.

JGL is way too short to be a leading man, even if Tomboy pulled it off.

John Stockwell almost made it, but luckily for him, he could do other things as well, like write.

Here are some others:

I don't think Darren Criss will have much of a film career. Maybe TV projects, maybe not. He was quite good as Andrew Cunanan in the VERSACE miniseries.

At any rate, he's done very well in theatre and concerts. He's second only to Lea Michele (speaking of second acts in show biz) for success among the GLEE kids.

Alex Pettyfer

Eric Bana

That guy from “The Truth About Cats & Dogs.”

Mr. John Beck

John Stockwell actually directed three of my favorite films

Crazy/Beautiful

Blue Crush

Into The Blue (with Paul Walker, trying to break out of this Fast and Vicious mold)

That article at R30 is almost a decade old, but still quite accurate for the most part.

Ryan Reynolds is still a star, for reasons I don't understand.

I'd also make an exception for Colin Farrell, a current Oscar nominee. Never really "box office," but he has put together a long and interesting career for himself in indies and foreign films. He's a talent.

Kellen Lutz is married to my niece. They are religious and if he is getting any its from Jesus.

R20 It's a shame that Paul Walker died before doing any gay roles.

Chris O'Donnell.

Skeet Ulrich.

Dermot Mulroney

Jarde Leto, fortunately.

Maybe he would have done better if his first name WAS "Jarde"

i really like this movie.

Dylan McDermott

Thomas C. Howell

Andrew McCarthy

Billy Eichner owns this thread.

[quote]Kellen Lutz is married to my niece. They are religious and if he is getting any its from Jesus.

Interesting! Any good Kellen stories?

Brad Johnson

Jonathan Rhys Myers

Ben Chaplin

Channing Tatum. Outside of the Magic Mike movies, 👎👅

Robert Pattinson owns this thread several times over.

Christopher Atkins

Johnathon Schaech

I love Bill Pullman. I wish he worked out. He's a better actor than a majority of that era's leading men.

I also love Bill Paxton and wish he got leading man chances. Sexy and talented!

Greg Kinnear I never though much of until I saw Auto Focus. He was GREAT as Bob Crane opposite an equally great Willem Dafoe, who I also believe deserved to be a leading man over some of his peers that actually became one.

from the 70s to early 80s: Andrew Stevens.

Guess he went to the other side of the camera, according to his IMDB.

Off topic a bit, but While You Were Sleeping is my all time favorite rom com. One of those movies I can watch over and over and over. I know it's not even a good movie. But it's pure comfort.

Gary Cole. With Fatal Vision and Midnight Caller in the late 80's, he was poised to be a leading man, possibly on the big screen even. Lots of character actor work for decades. Final when he turned 65 (2021), he took over from Harmon as the NCIS leader anchoring the show now.

Hell of a story. Most people don't start a commercial high or career high at 65.

Jesse Bradford

David Lyons: ER, The Cape, Revolution plus several failed series. Some executive at NBC had a major hard on for him.

^ ditto for James Wolk.

Freddie Prinze Jr

Zac Efron

Taylor Lautner

Another Bill Pullman fan here. His four minutes in A League Of Their Own get me all emotional every time. And he's perfect in Sleepless In Seattle.

He's got a show called The Sinner. Very dark and he's excellent in it.

I've seen the Sinner too and like it

Actors who are marketed as leading men are some of the most astoundingly pretentious creatures on the planet. Always droning on about their “craft” and what great ARTISTES they are. Bottom line is it’s about fuckability. Or relatability. If you want to be an actual actor, go do Shakespeare in the park. Actual acting has nothing to do with being a Movie Star.

Jake Gylenhaal

I think Bill Pullman has had a great career. He was hilarious (and a scene-stealer) in Ruthless People, was very funny and a perfect lead in Spaceballs, branched out and was an excellent leading man in The Serpent and the Rainbow, and showed variety throughout his career -- rom-coms like While You Were Sleeping, played the President in Independence Day , kids movies (Casper) and a Lynch classic (Lost Highway).

William Eythe

Adam Brody

Shane West

I feel like their are several Brits who are textbook examples of this, namely: Ben Chaplin, Jeremy Northam, James McAvoy, Clive Owen, Cumberbatch and Hiddleston. Obviously, for the latter four, they still have relatively high profiles but none of them achieved the level of a Hugh Grant or Colin Firth.

Liam Hemsworth

Klinton Spilsbury. Was cast as the lead in the Lone Ranger revival, was a dick to everyone on the set, ultimately had all his lines dubbed by James Keach, movie bombed big time, and he never worked again. Current whereabouts unknown.

R73 = Armie Hammer.

I have no idea why Clive Owen didn’t work out. Gorgeous and talented.

Thomas Jane

R57, Sweet November has the same effect on me. No idea why, but it just gives me the feels every time.

Leading Man failures who remain A or B List stars:

1). Jake Gyllenhaal

2) Henry Cavill

3) Matthew Mcconaughey

please continue. there are SO many.

Christopher Jones. His slight resemblance to James Dean only went so far.

Oh…and he was crazy

Bill looked OLD in that poster. Looks like someone’s dad than a romantic lead in a romcom.

Loren Dean.

Michael Parks

R55, I have some bad news about Bill Paxton . . .

R83 I know, that's why I wrote it in past tense. What a loss that was! Ironically he and my other guy Dafoe were both in one of my favorite 80s movies together (Streets of Fire) and good friends in real life.

Aaron Eckhart was great in The Company of Men. But never hit that mark again; the effort was always too obvious.

I wish Skeet Ulrich had had a better career. To me, there is something arresting about him and his performances. Maybe it's just the big, hungry eyes and wiry quality. James McAvoy holds a similar place, an actor with broader range but destined mostly to quirky roles.

The problem is the definition of leading man. It's more that lead male character, but how so? And to the standards of the 1940s? Shitty 1980s/90s rom-coms?

D.W. Moffett and Jeff Fahey come to mind as 1980s-1990s guys who worked steadily, but could have had much bigger careers.

I met D.W. at several social occasions — he was incredibly handsome back then, straight but very gay-friendly, and smart. Here he is at an ACT-UP NY benefit.

DW was held back because of a small penis.

D.W. was also in "An Early Frost" with Aidan Quinn at a time when it was risky for straight guys to play gay dramatic roles.

I loved him in While You Were Sleeping, but I never could figure out that odd family none of whom seemed like they could be related to each other.

I also thought he was the best thing about Sleepless in Seattle, a movie I didn’t find romantic at all, just the opposite. Annie blatantly cheated emotionally on Walter throughout the whole thing, and then when he found out — on Valentine’s Day — he didn’t whine or cry (the way she had over Sam), he just told her to go for it.

By that point I wanted a sequel to this movie, where he meets somebody else.

P.S. just realized… Sleeping…. Sleepless… lol.

Alex Cord.

I’ll never forget reading Helter Skelter where Vince Bugliosi refers to Sharon Tate’s friend “Joanna Pettet (Mrs Alex Cord).” I knew who Joanna Pettet was (mostly from seeing the execrable 1967 Casino Royale on tv. It seemed to air every other weekend) but I had no idea who Alex Cord was. He was supposed to become a really famous hunky actor but I don’t think he did much beyond some tv guest shots and B movies.

McAvoy strenuously resisted the "normal cute guy" roles his pretty face could have easily scored him and went for dark, quirky, indy parts. He probably could have had a bigger career despite only being 5'7 (never stopped Tom Cruise), but he didn't seem to want it. And he said in a recent interview that he prefers stage more and more, as spending 12 hours on a set when you don't give a shit about the part is basically torture. Guess we won't be seeing him as Charles Xavier again. . .

Jude Law

At a certain point, Law also started leaning more towards character parts. He could have hit the gym and gotten hair transplants, but went the other way.

John Wilkes Booth.

Okay, r95 wins!

D.B. Sweeney

R97 “The Cutting Edge” is still one of my favorite guilty pleasures.

Aidan Quinn was another handsome man that never really caught on in leading roles.

[quote] I feel like their are several Brits who are textbook examples of this, namely: Ben Chaplin, Jeremy Northam, James McAvoy, Clive Owen, Cumberbatch and Hiddleston. Obviously, for the latter four, they still have relatively high profiles but none of them achieved the level of a Hugh Grant or Colin Firth.

The one who most wanted to become a huge American star in this category was probably James Purefoy. I've heard he was very upset when it never happened for him, and he couldn't figure it out, given that he's classically well trained and also extraordinarily handsome and fit. He really thought he was going to be a big Hollywood star.

Cumberbatch, Hiddleston, and McAvoy all got big parts in MCU or X-Men films, so they've done great money wise, even if none of them became quite a big a heartthrob as Grant or Firth. I honestly think none of those three wanted really to be leading men--they all mostly wanted to be character actors. Northam very much wants to be a character actor too from what I know--he hates the fame part of being a movie star and purposefully stepped back from Hollywood after "Emma" and "Gosford Park."

I once saw Ben Chaplin in Hollywood at a party not long after "the Truth about Cats & Dogs" and he looked msierable. He is a very, very small man with a huge head and a handsome face. I haven't heard about his work in years.

R93 I think that the "beginning of the end" of Jude's carreer was that Chris Rock monologue at the Acadamy Awards when he said: "You want Tom Cruise and all you can get is Jude Law?"And it wasn't much help either the fact Sean Penn tried to defend him with his blah-blah-blah speeches.

Fassbender has also almost disappeared.

Fassbender has the new David Fincher movie this fall.

Fassbender’s “Harry Hole” franchise didn’t pan out.

Fassbender is doing okay

Another of Ms. Bullock's co-stars: Jason Patric

James Purefoy was hot back in the day but had a certain coldness and smugness that probably turned audiences off. Audiences love a handsome man with vulnerability, but Purefoy couldn't project that. Dominic West has a similar problem.

Patrick Wilson

James Wolk

Tim Matheson

Evan Handler

Frank Whaley

Keith Coogan

Ben Miller, Ben Miles, who are not the same person, and Ben Chaplin, all seemed at first to have big careers in front of them, but either they didn't want to pursue it, or they weren't pursued.

Very few Brits have made it big in America, but that may be because unlike the incredibly ambitious types that come from Iowa or Alabama to Hollywood, the Brits have more of an interest in leading a life outside of the movies.

[quote] Fassbender’s “Harry Hole” franchise didn’t pan out.

Had it been a "Hairy Hole" franchise, it would have been more successful.

[quote] Fassbender has also almost disappeared.

Michael Fassbender does not belong in this thread. Fassbender is a star and has proven what a great actor he is. Now Theo James does belong here. He was handed a leading romantic/action role in a franchise early in his career and nothing came of that except pretty shitty movies and roles after. Only recently has he been getting some decent roles. He still can't act. But then he's hired for his looks and body.

R36 Crazy/Beautiful is underrated.

Chris Sarandon was hot as fuck but never really big.

Matthew Goode

Rege-Jean Page was the Next Big Thing for about a minute, and then he pissed off Shonda Rimes by leaving Bridgerton after a season. Which always seemed arrogant and petty to me--he couldn't at least film a couple of guest appearances?

Dan Stevens

Henry Cavill outside of Superman

Ryan Murphy tried to push David Corenswet, but he's basically Cavill with even less charisma.

Lance Bass in On the Line

Liberace in Sincerely Yours

Neil Diamond in The Jazz Singer.

Thomas Jane was so handsome, thought he would have a bigger career. Yikes just Googled him and he has lost his looks.

Bruce Jenner, star of "Can't Stop the Music". Whatever happened to that guy?

R121 Someone I know went to high school with him in Maryland and claimed that he's a real creep. Said he assaulted multiple girls in school and his parents pulled him out of school and shipped him off to California to avoid charges.

Wasn't Fassbender short-listed to be cancelled during the #MeToo mania?

Seems to me a couple big actors went stealth during those years.

Tony Goldwyn was handsome enough for leading roles, but seems like he's always played supporting.

I like Tony Goldwyn

I like blue.

I've seen Tony Goldwyn twice onstage (including THE INHERITANCE on Bway) and he's (still) handsome and capable, but rather unexciting as a performer. He doesn't have "it." Talent is not enough for some leading men.

This was true back in GHOST when he was lost onscreen vs Whoopi, Patrick Swayze, and Demi.

He's had a good career, though. I hope he made a fortune on SCANDAL. That thing ran for 6 years.

He was great in The Last Seduction - which in a way could be viewed as an incredibly dark romantic comedy. Though I guess Peter Berg is the male lead even if they both have a lot of screen time.

With a last name like Goldwyn, any reasonably handsome actor who could perform at a base-level was going to have a career. He's Sam Goldwyn (of MGM's) grandson.

130 posts and no black men have been named?

Fuck off, Benay! I mean, fuck off, Jada!

You may loathe Will Smith, but he is undeniably a leading man.

I'm not a big fan of Denzel, but he has been a successful leading man for 3 decades. Eddie Murphy for 4 decades.

I think Don Cheadle is talented (but hit and miss) and did NOT quite work out as a leading man.

Cheadle isn't handsome enough to be a leading man. He isn't even cute like Eddie or Will Smith. He looks like a middle-school principal.

Elliot Page, the hottest new actor in town and not a single leading role. Maybe if he butched it up a little.

Cheadle is probably better off as a character actor, he'll have a long career

Jesse Eisenberg

Casey Affleck

R92 McAvoy gave a brilliant performance in Split.

McAvoy should have had Oscar nominations for The Last King of Scotland, Atonement, and Split. But he's never played the publicity game very well.

Cillian Murphy Garett Hedlund Cole Hauser Wes Bentley Martin Henderson Hayden Christensen Orlando Bloom Oliver Hudson Matthew Davis Kip Pardue Matt Keeslar Joseph Fiennes Jonathan Rhys-Meyers Jim Caviezel

Eisenberg was good as a leading "man" when he was playing a teenager, young-20 something, but a fully-formed adult leading man, yeah, I don't think it could quite work out. He was perfectly fine in Fleischman is in Trouble and a married adult with children, but that's a TV series and, again, he was fine, not spectacular.

Lemme try that again

Cillian Murphy

Garett Hedlund

Cole Hauser

Wes Bentley

Martin Henderson

Hayden Christensen

Orlando Bloom

Oliver Hudson

Matthew Davis

Kip Pardue

Matt Keeslar

Joseph Fiennes

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers

Jim Caviezel

Stuart Townsend

A list of names without any kind of commentary is really boring.

Jack Carny

Michael Dorsey

I first saw Thomas Jane in Deep Blue Sea (underwater Jaws) and he was really really good. It’s like Russell Crowe in Gladiator, totally convincing in what could’ve been a disaster. I thought for sure he’d be big because he was in gorgeous but no and now he’s showing his age. I did watch a recent series he did filmed in Australia and it was pretty good. Definitely worth watching. I just found it by accident.

Martin Henderson I saw in Bride and Prejudice (Bollywood-type film) and he was so terrible that I honestly thought he was an expat or a traveler hired to play “British Guy” or “American Guy”. I’ve known people who live in Asia and India who do get background or minor character roles because they are Westerners.

There are so many streaming channels now, US actors can have series filmed elsewhere like the UK or Europe that you never hear about.

Stuart Townsend has practically disappeared. Did Charlize get him blackballed?

It takes so much to be a star as a leading man.

You have to have:

1) the facial looks;

2) a good body;

3) incredible onscreen charisma;

4) a distinct personality onscreen;

5) incredible drive;

6) have the luck to have the right personality audiences want right then.

So many of these guys have #1 and #2 on this list (such as most young male soap opera actors), and even #1, #2, and #3, but not the other three characteristics.

Only a very few movie actors have all of these (Tom Cruise is high among them, even though he is neither intelligent nor that gifted an actor).

R144, Cillian Murphy will be an Oscar BA contender in 2024 for "Oppenheimer."

YHIHF.

I have a perfect example!

Jim Sturgess.

I don't understand listing Oscar winners or men who have made careers taking challenging roles in interesting films of artistic value. Are you bafoons?

R153, It's "buffoons," and to your point:

How many of those "men who have made careers taking challenging roles in interesting films of artistic value" would sell their souls to be on the level of a Brad Pitt or George Clooney?

That's right---all of them.

He has no lips.

Dane Cook (thankfully).

Taylor Lautner

It has to be frustrating for some actors when an ugly douche like Tobey Maguire makes it big. Although thankfully his fame seems to have died down. I blame these stupid superhero movies for making stars out of some of these idiots.

On a talk show for one of his projects, Timothy Olyphant told the story of arriving for a reading/rehearsal for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in his nice electric car, only to see Brad Pitt arrive around the same time--in a helicopter. "That's the difference," he told himself. "That's the difference."

Olyphant's been married to the same woman since college and his kids still love him, so . . .

Timothy Olyphant is okay. But he has exactly the size career he deserves.

Christian Slater as a romantic lead. Opposite Mary Stuart Masterson, no less. WHO greenlit that?

And he comes off as so creepy and illegal and stalkerish, even when he's meant to be a harmless tragic lovesick fool. Christian can at most manage a tweener rogueish antihero type of role, but never an out-and-out sympathetic babyface.

[quote] It has to be frustrating for some actors when an ugly douche like Tobey Maguire makes it big. Although thankfully his fame seems to have died down.

Tell me about it....

The second Darrin from Bewitched..

Nobody thought Tobey McGuire would ever be a leading man. Nobody. Not ever.

Maybe his mom.

R144 His drinking problem killed Jonathan Rhys-Meyers' chance at being a leading man.

R166 well, that and the Catholic programming. And the CSA. And the closet. And the faint aura of menace.

Timothy Hutton. He was very hot in the 80s and then it seemed to fizzle out for him.

Bruno Campos. He gave up acting and became a lawyer. So did Teddy Dunn from Veronica Mars.

I once sat next to Timothy Hutton on a flight from LA to NY and his body odor was overwhelming. Maybe that's why his career fizzled out. He was also very petulant and sullen, treated the attendants as though they were his private staff.

Bruce Jenner.

[quote] Are you bafoons?

Oh, [italic]dear.[/italic]

It's actually "Doe, a deer", dear.

Julian Sands

Dougray Scott.

Ronald Reagan

Bonzo

Chris Hemsworth. Those Marvel movies have made him a very wealthy man, but besides that and People magazine naming him sexiest man alive, he doesn't really have that much of a career.

I feel bad for Dougray Scott. He almost got the part of Wolverine, and that would have reversed the careers arcs of him and of Hugh Jackman (who was sexy as Wolverine but much too tall, and is a dull presence onscreen in any other role)..

Alden Ehrenreich and Hayden Christiansen.

Both of them genuinely had talent (although you have to look to "Shattered Glass" to find Christiansen's because the Lucas dialogue he worked with sabotaged his performances as Anakin Skywalker), but neither were able to provide the star power their Star Wars movies needed to make them into the kind of stars the studio wanted.

Leading Men Who Didn't Work Out?

Uh, John Belushi?

Brad Johnson

R167 None of that matters in showbiz as long as you show up on time, are properly groomed and cause no problems on sets. Poor JRM is a mess when he drinks. He's such a mess, that he doesn't even book the sorts of BBC TV projects that failed Irish and English actors get when their movie careers don't pan out.

It's a shame, in his prime, JRM was one of the 5 or 6 most beautiful men that I've ever seen.

Billy Crudup has made a nice little comeback recently but still didn't reach anywhere near what was expected of him in the '90s. People thought he could take Brad Pitt's place, particularly when he apparently beat Pitt for the Almost Famous role.

That good looking English actor from the 90s.

I'm glad to see Crudup's return, R184--he was the only reason to keep watching THE MORNING SHOW, IMHO.

But back in the 90s, Billy Crudup was a bit of a diva, being obnoxious about roles he didn't want to play and especially about doing press. He stated publicly that doing press for projects was not part of his job as an actor. (Honey, it IS.) He also took a beating in the media over abandoning pregnant Mary Louise Parker for younger strumpet, Claire Danes (who he also ultimately abandoned). So maybe he's a bit humbler these days.

He is talented. And quite gorgeous in his prime.

Another early Sandra Bullock co-star, Goran Visnjic. He was very hot and very sexy - he easily could have been a Kristen Bjorn international superstar.

Wasn't he on ER, the tv show, for years, getting a big salary?

Sure, but he failed as a leading man in films

Andrew McCarthy

Yahoo Serious

Michael Sarrazin. He was supposed to be really big, but he just fizzled out. When he was young he looked like the love child of Mick Jagger and Peter Fonda, but he didn’t age well.

I remember laughing hysterically when I watched SNL and Sarrazin starred in a spoof of a teen public service worker, Josh Ramsey: V.D. Caseworker. “Venereal disease is a loaded gun aimed straight at your crotch.”

“Boy, my penis sure hurts when I urinate!”

“Comedy” at that time was Bob Hope’s stale jokes about Raquel Welsh’s boobs and Johnny Carson playing Aunt Blabby. Hearing VD, penis and urinate on TV was shocking.

I find Bill Pullman more creepy than appealing, I think he played himself in the Scary Movie scene as an incestuous father. He was tolerable in The Accidental Tourist. The Sandra Bullock movie was charming mostly due to her and the rest of the cast.

Rufus Sewell

Sarrazin was very good opposite Jane Fond in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and very cute opposite Barbra Streisand in the very funny "For Pete's Sake".

Fonda, that is

A lot of the guys mentioned in this thread never had the hype in the media proclaiming them to be the next big thing. You know, a cover story in "Details" in the late 90's, or being the "next bright young thing" in Vanity Fair, getting interviewed on "Entertainment Tonight" and such.

Stephen Dorff

Dane DeHaan

Judd Nelson, who for a while acted like he was James Dean, Paul Newman and Laurence Olivier all in one (incredibly unappealing) package. He faded even faster into n obscurity than Andrew McCarthy, who at least became a writer and director.

Chris Pine isn’t working out the way Hwood hoped

Star Trek, Wonder Woman and even good reviews for Don’t Worry Darling and still no one is asking for another Chris Pine Movie

It doesn't help that there are like 3 or 4 actors names Chris who are getting big roles in movies. Other than the one who was on "Parks and Recreation" (or Chris Tucker) I can't tell them apart frankly after a while. They might as well be Ryan Reynolds, another interchangeable Chris type.

[quote]he looked like the love child of Mick Jagger and Peter Fonda

Spot on description.

Bill Pullman doesn’t work because he’s an arrogant prick.

Steve Guttenberg

Jeff Hammond.

Harry Styles.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Although he does seem better suited for television.

Shawn Mendes

[Quote] Eisenberg was good as a leading "man" when he was playing a teenager, young-20 something, but a fully-formed adult leading man, yeah, I don't think it could quite work out. He was perfectly fine in Fleischman is in Trouble and a married adult with children, but that's a TV series and, again, he was fine, not spectacular.

Worst Lex Luthor ever.

[Quote] Stuart Townsend has practically disappeared. Did Charlize get him blackballed?

It was all downhill after Queen Of The Damned. I'm glad he didn't get the role of Aragorn in LOTR.

[Quote] I feel bad for Dougray Scott. He almost got the part of Wolverine, and that would have reversed the careers arcs of him and of Hugh Jackman (who was sexy as Wolverine but much too tall, and is a dull presence onscreen in any other role).

I can't picture Dougray as Wolverine. He did end up joining a comic franchise, unfortunately it was Batwoman on the CW.

Russell Brand and Robby Williams own this thread

R184 Brad Pitt dropped out of Almost Famous. That's not the same as Crudup winning the role over him.

Crudup did the voiceover for those "priceless" MasterCard ads for about a decade, so he must be swimming in money and might not care about fame.

Stuart Townsend's career died when he was let go from TLOTR.

Stuart Townsend's career died when he was let go from TLOTR.

Orlando Bloom

Showing peen in photos doesn't help that much anymore, i guess.

Jon Hamm. End of thread.

R204 More info, please!

The OP.

Ian Somerholder.....he was very, very handsome. The problem is he knew it and acted above it all with just a few highly-visible roles, such as guest starring on the original CSI when it was at its zenith.

I think he was also homophobic, right?

R220 was he? Ian played a gay character in the Rules Of Attraction.

Kirk Cameron, Scott Baio, Antonio Sabato Jr, Dean Cain, Gary Sinise, Kevin Sorbo, Jim Caviezel, Vince Vaugh, Dennis Miller.

Dylan McDermott

Dermot Mulroney

Ian Somerholder played the gay lead in RULES OF ATTRACTION. He's not bad, in an exceptionally silly and uneven but entertaining movie.

But he lost major points by publicly saying how much he hated the same-sex intimacy (eg, "I'd rather kiss a dog than another man, it's disgusting," etc.) And then ROA was a bomb, which certainly didn't do him or the other leads any favors (including James Van Der Beek).

No big loss, IMHO.

Can we discuss Kevin Kline?

What a strange, uneven career he's had. For every SOPHIE'S CHOICE there are twice as many WILD WILD WESTs. Or DELOVELYs. Or worse. He clearly works best in ensembles, like THE ICE STORM and THE BIG CHILL.

I used to think it was because he's too overtly theatrical, too big (and too hammy, perhaps) for film. But his theatre career is as uneven and spotty as his movies.

Never cared for Kline's self-impressed acting.

Jon Hamm was the leading actor of a hugely successful series. He was a big part of that success. How did he not quite work out?

R227, he didn't work out as a leading man in films

It’s not too late for Jon Hamm to be a leading man in gay porn!!!

John Hamm, like January Jones, was perfectly cast in Mad Men. But being good in a role that is almost tailor-made for you and being good in general are two different things. When he is playing anybody but Don Draper, Hamm is strangely charmless.

And Jones just sucks.

Logan Marshall-Green

R225, Kevin Kline is a sophisticated, smart example of the post's premise. He really needs to have a thread all his own.

Kevin Kline seemed fine on paper for "Sophie's Choice", but the character and his performance of it, was totally overshadowed by Meryl Streep in probably her best performance. He's quite fine in "A Fish Called Wanda", but I always thought he was better in comedy anyway. He was marvelous on stage in "On the 20th Century" and in "Pirates of Penzance" doing lots of zany physical comedy. He should have done more nudity, that might have helped in dramas with love scenes.

[Quote] But he lost major points by publicly saying how much he hated the same-sex intimacy (eg, "I'd rather kiss a dog than another man, it's disgusting," etc.)

I expect nothing less from the guy who threw out his wife's pills so she could get pregnant and thought it was a cute story.

I thought Kline was great in Sophie’s Choice. And that was also the only film where I thought he was fuckable.

Jon Hamm is 51, and looks it. His FLETCH movie came and went.

He needs to stop smirking in cheesy commercials and find a good featured role in a classy TV project, or he's doomed.

He IS talented. He's either incredibly unlucky or as big an asshole as some online gossip sources say. Or both. Cause no one wants to work with an asshole.

r238 He's joined season 3 of The Morning Show, y'all!

Jon Hamm apparently beat up some frat boys back in his college days. He is most unpleasant.

If you've ever met frat boys, they deserve to get beat up.

Jon Hamm WAS a frat boy back in college.

People like Kathy Griffin say he never outgrew it, either.

I don't care for frat boys. Violence is still abhorrent.

He didn't just beat him up: the kid had to have an organ (spleen?) removed or repaired because it was so damaged.

He hit his balls with the claw end of a hammer.

What the fuck kind of sicko does that?

Kline acts in French movies as well.

Vince Vaughn.

Another contender for the "no big loss" category. I thought he was attractive and appealing in SWINGERS... and then never, ever again. Not even once more.

Giving young Affleck vibes here. Did they ever work together? They could have played brothers.

Why the fuck is this thread greyed out???

Some people here are not getting the point of this thread. It’s not about being a working actor. It’s about being promoted as a leading man in feature films and not being successful at it for whatever reason.

I can’t believe that Josh Lucas has not been mentioned. Serviceable but bland in the Bill Pullman mode. I have no clue what he’s up to nowadays. And wasn’t he outed in some blind item a few years ago? There definitely is no ‘there’ there.

And as much as he is loved here, DL fave Brenton Thwaites has not been able to maintain his status as an A list movie star. Even in his soon to end streaming show, TITANS, he is part of an ensemble. I don’t know what he will do next. If only tree trunk thighs and the face of an angel were enough….

Vince Vaughn may have not gone on to be heart throb empty headed romantic leading man but he is a really good actor unlike many of the heart throb leading men. I'm looking at you and your too close-set eyes, Theo James.

Yuck, Vince Vaugn is a Trumper and, no, he can't act

Josh Lucas is a good one.

I know nothing of his personal life, but onscreen and particularly in interviews, he's always PINGING loudly and clearly to me.

Vaughn is an asshat who has gotten into barroom brawls for spouting out his un-PC bullshit.

I feel bad for Thwaites, as I am a fan despite his minimal acting abilities.

By "un-pc" you mean "delusional and bigoted"

Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black. Horrible movie and performance.

Brad Pitt is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

r253 This thread is referring to overall careers that didn't pan out, not specific performances.

Yes r252 exactly that…fuck Vincent.

Sorry R 255, I miss understood.

I see Josh is on YELLOWSTONE…figures 🙄🙄🙄

Sean Bean was given a leading man role in the movie "Cleanskin."

It bombed.

He's very talented and handsome, but he's not a leading man in Hollywood. Ironically, he was a successful leading man in the TV series 'Sharpe.'

Mark Harmon didn't work out as a leading man in films, though obviously he had success on tv

[quote]Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black. Horrible movie and performance.

Yea, poor Brad Pitt. It was terrible that he didn't pan out as a leading man.

Almost nothing about MEET JOE BLACK works, even Anthony Hopkins. Brad is laughably bad.

The person it really didn't work out for was "leading lady," Claire Forlani. Beautiful, but largely forgotten.

I thought the score was pretty. Thomas Newman is brilliant.

I remember that there was a huge push for Jude Law in the 90s and also for Russell Brand in 00s. Neither really resonated at the US box office so back to the old dart they went, where they still have profiles.

Jude Law is a genuinely talented actor who was pushed hard by the powers that be. Regrettably. But he's still working, at least. And THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY is a classic for all the actors involved (even you, Gwyneth).

Russell Brand was an obnoxious novelty act who is exactly where he should be now.

Jude was in too many movies at one time. After you hit, sometimes it's good to space out your appearances so that they seem like special events.

R262 oh God i always forget about the Patois scene. But the car accident is so bad.

Vince Vaughn cracks me up. But he whittled his nose down to a toothpick!

R5 Joseph Gordon Levitt appeared to pull away from public view around the time of the so-called dust-up between him and boyfriend Michael Pitt. Though he did play leading man a few times, he seems to prefer character actor roles.

I think a lot of the people on this thread are very good actors, but maybe not all-purpose leading man types. Hiddleston, Fassbender, & C. Murphy are very talented, but fit into a particular type of role (killer, psychopath, that kind of thing). That "leading man" role currently seems to be held by Adam Driver, but who knows how long that will last. A lot of the people listed on this thread had pretty good careers & the ones that didn't were due to personal issues (JRM), didn't want to play the Hollywood game (Kitsch) or later morphed into character actors (Crudup) - not exactly Brad Pitt type stuff, but not bad either.

[Quote] didn't want to play the Hollywood game (Kitsch)

?????

Tarpon Egerton is slipping into obscurity, especially after his Elton biopic flopped.

Taron, not Tarpon…damned autocorrect 😒

[quote]didn't want to play the Hollywood game (Kitsch)

I just meant that he seemed to be a bit of an oddball (aside from being a Canadian) who just wanted to live in Austen, but didn't necessarily aspire to be a big star

[quote]Austen

Oh, DEAR…

That is one of the craziest "Oh, dears" in a while, r274!

Fair enough R273 Dude got multiple chances though back in the late 00s.

Cole Hauser and Josh Lucas - they could've been big like McBongo.

Yes, Josh Lucas pings. He was hottest as Reese's ex in Sweet Home Alabama.

He also fucked Jonathan Tucker in The Deep End with Goran Višnjić, another one that never became a lead.

I guess because he's Croatian he typecast as mobsters and shady characters. He was a hot daddy in the Dragon Tattoo remake with Rooney Spectrum. Too bad he was only I it for a couple of minutes.

Logan Marshall-Green - looks too much like Tom Hardy.. without the Myspace attention whoring

[Quote] Logan Marshall-Green - looks too much like Tom Hardy.. without the Myspace attention whoring

Logan will always The Invitation and The OC.

Goran Višnjić was always very one note - he could play a certain type, but didn't have much range. I remember reading he had a kid with a woman who was not his wife & ultimately had to admit paternity, so maybe he was messy behind the scenes. In contrast, I think that's Matt Damon's appeal - he's this very bland, pasty white guy that can morph into different roles - like putty in human form. I'm guessing that's harder to do when you're very ethnic looking

Josh Lucas had been the "voice" of those Walmart commercials for years now. He may not make Top Gun money, but I am sure it is a good paycheck.

Doesn’t matter r280. He didn’t make it as a leading man. That’s what the thread is about.

[Quote] Vaughn is an asshat who has gotten into barroom brawls for spouting out his un-PC bullshit.

Doesn’t matter [R281]. He didn’t make it as a leading man. That’s what the thread is about.

My boyfriend in the Jane Fonda movie. He did a spy show or something?

Josh Lucas. So forgotten he didn't even make it before on this list.

Sean Bean should have played James Bond.