You may have heard the saying, “you are your own worst critic.”
When it comes to being an actor, this much is true. This is despite the fact that most actors have adoring fans, rave reviews, and mantles full of awards.
This kind of self-doubt has forced some actors to make a difficult decision: they don’t watch their own movies.
1. Megan Fox
When the actress was faced with watching her own movies by Entertainment Tonight , it was cringe city.
“I just got sick to my stomach … ugh, kill me. Just kill me,” she said.
2. Jared Leto
While he won an Oscar for Texas Buyers Club , it’s the one movie the actor can’t bring himself to watch.
“I can’t hear that voice! I’ve never really heard very much of it and I’ve never watched the film,” he told New York Times’ Thursday’s TimesTalks.
3. Tom Hanks
The legendary actor has called watching his movies a ” horrible mistake .”
This includes his all-time bests, such as Forrest Gump , Philadelphia , and Cast Away , each of which landed him Academy Award nominations for best actor.
“Because you never learn what to do,” he told ABC News in 2016.
“You only sort of learn what not to do. The thing about looking at the old movies is that they don’t change,” he explained.
4. Meryl Streep
If we were Meryl Streep, aka one of the best actresses of all time, we wouldn’t hesitate to watch our movies all of the time.
But that’s not the case with Meryl, who said that she doesn’t watch her movies more than once .
5. Saoirse Ronan
She’s missing out! But the actress told Vogue in 2018 that doing so gives her massive anxiety.
“I just get so anxious whenever I watch anything that I’m in,” she said.
“I’m fine with the way I look now. But I wouldn’t necessarily be looking at photographs of myself all day.”
“I don’t want to become too consumed by the image of myself.”
We love how humble and grounded she is!
6. Sarah Paulson
This all started after she played Marcia Clark on The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.
She told Vanity Fair that the positive reactions to her performance were making her nervous (she ended up winning the Golden Globe for her role).
“It was the first time in my career where I really felt such an onslaught of complimentary, effusive reactions to the show itself and to my work on it,” she said.
“That I started to get very nervous about my typical way of watching something and ripping it to shreds when it’s my own work. I felt too many feelings about playing her.”
7. Javier Bardem
The No Country For Old Men actor is extremely critical of his physical features when he watches his films.
“I can’t even watch that [expletive] nose, that [expletive] voice, those ridiculous eyes. I can’t handle that,” he told GQ .
8. Reese Witherspoon
Not only does the actress not watch her own movies, she also blocks scenes out.
“I have absolute amnesia about every movie I have ever made,” she said in a 2010 interview with the Daily Express .
Things get so bad that she will even spiral into a state of “self-hate.”
When she does see her clips, it leaves her feeling strange.
“I sometimes catch the odd clip of something. I look at it and think, ‘I have absolutely no memory of that.’ It’s really weird.”
9. Al Pacino
As an actor of many decades, the actor chooses to look forward, not back.
“There’s no real need [to go back]. I’ve seen it; I know what it is,” Pacino told USA Today . “If it’s good, I feel lucky. If it’s not, it’s something you try to forget.”
10. Joaquin Phoenix
While he’s been in several acclaimed movies — and even won an Oscar — he’s only seen two of them.
The reason for this comes down to him noticing his mistakes . Which is a very good reason to not watch something.
”I thought I might be mature enough to watch and learn,” he told Time Out London.
“To think: These are the mistakes that were made. But it’s still something I struggle with.” The only movies he’s seen are Her and The Master .
11. Julianne Moore
The actress hates watching her own movies so much that she even skips the premieres.
“I like being in the movie more than I like watching them,” she told Britain’s Daily Express . “That’s my big thrill, rather than seeing the finished product.”
“Because I saw all the mistakes. The things that I wished I could change, but couldn’t because it’s permanent,” he explained on The Howard Stern Show.
“Plus, I came from a theater background where you don’t get to see it … I’d want to make it better looking or perfect, and that’s a trap.”
12. Adam Driver
The Star Wars actor’s theatre background has gotten him into the habit of not watching his films.
Plus, he was put into such a bad headspace after watching his work in the pilot episode of HBO’s Girls .
13. Johnny Depp
The actor made the decision a long time ago to not watch his movies, due to fear of it “harming him.”
He told The Independant that what sucks about this is that he misses his friends’ incredible work.
