Alec Baldwin has been in the film industry for almost four decades now and it goes without saying that the actor has come out with some unforgettable gems since. These include Still Alice, The Cooler, The Departed, and so on. However, even after leading a successful career, he has a couple of regrets.
One such regret is being a part of Adam Shankman’s Rock of Ages. While Alec Baldwin was initially quite excited to join a cast that had Tom Cruise, the actor soon realized that things are not going to end well. Describing the experience with an analogy, Alec Baldwin compared Rock of Ages to a buffeting plane with its engine on fire.
Alec Baldwin Knew the Film Was a Disaster
While speaking at the American Magazine Media Conference in New York, Alec Baldwin opened up about Rock of Ages, a film he knew was simply not going to work. Adam Shankman’s Rock of Ages might boast a pretty stellar cast, but it still lacked a certain flair, with critics giving mixed or average reviews to the film. With a 42% Rotten Tomatoes score, the consensus states that although the film can be entertaining, it is “too bland and overlong.”
Apparently, Baldwin’s sixth sense had already warned him that the film was not going to be received well. He stated, “It was a complete disaster…A week in you go, ‘Oh God, what have I done?’” He then described the film with the analogy, “The plane is buffeting, the engine is on fire.”
Yikes! So if Baldwin knew that the movie was going to plummet, why did he stick around? The answer is simple. As he told the audience at the conference, Baldwin was too excited to work with Shankman, Tom Cruise, and Russell Brand.
Alec Baldwin Was Initially Excited for the Film
In a conversation with Collider, the film’s director stated that when he first described the movie and the role to Baldwin, Baldwin was absolutely game. He was more than excited to play the role of Dennis Dupree.
“When I talked to Alec, he said, ‘What would I do in the movie?’ I said, ‘You’re a guy from the ‘60s who started this hot rock club. You fostered all these people and nurtured them, but you are really stoned. You started getting really stoned in the ‘60s but never stopped getting stone. You have been so stoned for the last 27 years that you didn’t realise you were gay.’ And he was like, ‘I’m so in! That’s amazing!’”
If you think that was easy to get Baldwin on board, then you should know that it was much, much easier to get Brand to say yes. Shankman stated, “With Russell, I said, ‘You play Alec Baldwin’s lover.’ And he just went, ‘I am in!’ That was that.”
If only Baldwin could see into the future right? Made with a budget of $75 million, Rock of Ages couldn’t even get past the number, ending its box office run with a mere $59.4 million.
You can rent/buy Rock of Ages on Prime Video.
Source: The Wrap
