The Crime Thriller Flop That Charlize Theron Regrets

When you have a career as long and as varied as South African actor Charlize Theron's, you're guaranteed to have starred in at least one or two things that didn't quite cut the mustard. She's had a handful of certified stinkers over the years, like the 2005 live-action adaptation of the MTV cartoon "Aeon Flux" and the 1999 sci-fi thriller "The Astronaut's Wife," but there's one movie that she's personally given a big thumbs down.

In an interview with Esquire in 2008, Theron shared her feelings about the 2000 action thriller "Reindeer Games," directed by John Frankenheimer. While the characteristically frank Theron (as "Hot Ones" fans could tell you) didn't pull any punches and revealed that she thinks the movie itself is pretty awful, she also said she has "no regrets" for some pretty fantastic reasons. "Reindeer Games" certainly isn't a great movie, sitting at a 25% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, but there are some things to love about it — especially if you're Charlize Theron.

"Reindeer Games" wasn't just critically reviled, it also totally flopped at the box office with a worldwide gross of around $32 million (against a budget of $42 million). That's a pretty massive loss, and it's kind of a shame. "Reindeer Games" was Frankenheimer's final film, as he would die only two years after its release, and most people think of it pretty negatively. Sure, it's one of the best movies set in the state of Michigan and is apparently much better in the director's cut, but the average movie-goer was not impressed, and neither was Theron. She told Esquire:

"That was a bad, bad, bad movie. But even though the movie might suck, I got to work with John Frankenheimer. I wasn't lying to myself — that's why I did it. I mean, he directed 'The Manchurian Candidate,' which is like the movie of all movies. F*** regret. Just f*** it."

That's honestly not a bad way to look at things, because as an actor you're almost guaranteed to have some roles that didn't pan out for one reason or another. Over the years, Theron has gotten to work with some absolute industry titans, including Sam Raimi, George Miller, and Ridley Scott. Not every film is going to have the staying power or fanbase of something like Tom Hanks's "That Thing You Do!," but at least she's gotten to work with some truly talented directors. And "Reindeer Games" isn't that bad. C'mon Charlize, you were in "A Million Days to Die in the West." It can clearly get worse.