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Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Gerrard Kaonga
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Have you ever been a part of something so bad that it convinces you to leave your industry for good? Well, Sean Connery has.
To some people, Connery is the truest 007 agent James Bond, while to others, he is Indiana Jones’ father, and to some they simply ask ‘who is Sean Connery?’
Well, whether you are in the know or not, prior to his death in 2020, he had one hell of a career.
However, in 2006, Connery made the decision to retire from acting - and it is believed that his involvement in a 2003 comic book movie had influenced his decision.
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After announcing his retirement in 2006 at the American Film Institute, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award, he said: "I have retired for good," before mentioning his surgery for a kidney tumor, adding: "It's been a bit rough since Christmas, but I'm perfectly okay and I feel well."
While in 2005, he described being 'fed up with the idiots', as reported by The Telegraph, and when asked what could tempt him back to acting, he joked it would have to be 'a Mafia-like offer I couldn't refuse'.
Aside from a voice acting role in 2012's Sir Billi, the star never returned to our screens, and it was reported that his experience making the 2003 movie, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, had a hand in it.
In case you need refreshing, you can watch the trailer here:
The film was an adaptation of the comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and artist Kevin O’Neill that was essentially a riff on the big superhero team up story.
But instead of superheroes, the league was made up of Victorian literary characters who would team up and save the world.
However, shooting the film was more akin to a Victorian tragedy as things seemed to just not go to plan.
The production, which was shooting in the Czech Republic (now Czechia), was hit by a massive flood the paused the film and even damaged sets.
As per The Independent, Jason Flemyng, who played Dr Jekyll, said: “We lost all our sets, we lost everything.
"Financially, that was a huge bind. We had to leave everything and go to Malta – to spend way too long on bits that weren’t scheduled to be filmed yet – while they rebuilt the sets in Prague."
Connery and the film's director, Stephen Norrington, also didn’t quite get on - with the actor even claiming that he was 'heavily involved in editing and trying to salvage' the film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Connery later told the Scotsman that the two had 'professional differences, personal differences, you name it'.
And Flemyng said that Connery's instincts 'were right and deserved to be listened to', while Norrington was 'really creative and a really huge character', adding: "I don’t think either of them were listened to enough – by each other or by the studio.”
And the cherry on top was the film pretty much bombed with critics - essentially put a nail in the coffin with any future follow-ups.
But the claim whether it made Connery quit acting? His co-star Stuart Townsend doesn't think so.
"I don’t think that’s true," the actor said. "His passion had definitely left him by that stage. That was a money gig.”