The 10 most bizarre roles of big action stars

Action stars sometimes get it wrong. Not every film can hit like Terminator, and some ideas look a lot more reasonable on paper than they do on screen. This may explain why Sylvester Stallone has already played a role as a cab-driving country singer. And Arnold Schwarzenegger was pregnant. Or Keanu Reeves played a dog person 20 years before the first John Wick. We have the most bizarre appearances of the biggest action stars gathered.

1. Action star Sylvester Stallone as a crooner in The Whiz

In The Whiz, Sylvester Stallone plays a New York City cab driver who, with the help of a singer (Dolly Parton!), is to be turned into a country sensation. Plenty to follow glittering costumes, singing interludes and questionable gags. Stallone regretted the film but loved working with Parton.

2. Dwayne Johnson as the bodyguard in Be Cool

Ex-Hollywood guru Chili Palmer (John Travolta) enters the record business in the rightfully panned crime comedy Be Cool. He also meets the gay bodyguard and actor wannabe Elliot (Dwayne Johnson). Johnson’s performances are bizarre, the jokes are outrageous, and the film’s attitude towards the LGBT community is more than questionable.

3. Keanu Reeves as the dog person in Freaks

Keanu Reeves was talked into directing his Bill & Ted co-star Alex Winter in the early 1990s. Freaks is a bizarre comedy about an ex-child actor who is supposed to sell a highly toxic fertilizer. He also encounters his victims, such as Ortiz, The Dog Boy (Reeves). Dog-like fur grows all over his body. The film was a disastrous flop at the box office. It is currently not available in German for home cinema.

4. Marvel star Scarlett Johansson as a teen misfit in Ghost World

Scarlett Johansson’s role as a cynical misfit in Ghost World will seem quirky to many today in light of her bombastic Marvel roles. The black comedy about a teenage friendship flopped at the box office, but was met with critical acclaim. Roger Ebert wrote that he wanted “embrace the movie” (via rogerebert.com). Today Ghost World is considered a cult film.

5. Action star Bruce Willis as a car salesman in Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast of Champions is based on a novel by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and revolves around the popular car dealer Hoover (Bruce Willis) who on the brink of a nervous breakdown and struggles with suicide every day. The film strings together absurdities and puns at a bizarre speed, but was completely lost when it opened in cinemas. To date, it is not available as a VOD.

6. Samuel L. Jackson as the frivolous narrator in The Mad Journey of the Penguins

Samuel L. Jackson has played just about every type of role in his busy career. One of the least known and strangest, however, is a speaking role. In the original version of The Crazy Journey of the Penguins, he tells of the sprawling mating rituals of a group of penguins. Antarctica philosophize about relationships, make penis jokes and look forward to the upcoming orgy. The very existence of the film seems bizarre.

7. Arnold Schwarzenegger as a pregnant scientist in Junior

Like his longtime competitor Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger made many detours into comedic waters. One of the better-known results is the Twins follow-up Junior, in which he plays a pregnant man. When the Terminator actor complaining about sore nipples or demanding a massage, that may have been too much for many action fans. The film fell short of expectations financially.

8. Megan Fox as herself in The Dictator

Megan Fox has been considered an action star since her Transformers appearances, but thanks to her strong public persona, she is also a fixture of American pop culture. Perhaps the most memorable of these is her performance in The Dictator as herself, starring Sacha Baron Cohen she spends a short and apparently rather unsatisfactory night there.

9. Angelina Jolie as a suicide robot in Cyborg 2

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider star Angelina Jolie recently proved her action qualities again in Eternals. She proved that early in her career in a notorious sci-fi flop. In Cyborg 2, a humanoid suicide machine plays itself, which is set on the board of a cybernetics company. The film has gained a cult following over the years. Probably not least because of its absurdly trashy staged fight scenes. According to Jolie she saw the film once and threw up (via New York Times).

10. Vin Diesel as an elite nanny in The Babynator

Every action star must have at least one role in filmography where he or she is babysitting young children. Schwarzenegger has Kindergarten Cop, The Rock Tooth Fairy on probation, and Vin Diesel The Babynator. The film is exactly how you imagine it to be. Elite soldier needs to change diapers. But it doesn’t matter either. Diesel’s charm can do a lot. Child seats, for example.

Action replenishment: The 22 biggest streaming films 2022 on Netflix and Co.

There are a few real highlights waiting for you in the streaming area this year. Netflix in particular has announced a host of promising films. In the podcast stream browsing, we give an overview of which projects the anticipation is particularly great.

With genres such as science fiction, action, comedy, fantasy, animation and more, Netflix, Disney+ and AppleTV+ are guaranteed to have something for all tastes – whether you’re looking for the new film by Martin Scorsese, the next Disney remake or the film adaptation of yours favorite novel.

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What absurd roles for an action star can you think of?