Veteran performer Sean Connery retired decades before his death because of his part in a “disastrous” movie.
While many would hope to end their career by leaving the audience wanting more, it was quite the opposite for the James Bond megastar.
The Oscar-winner may rightly be considered a legend by film fans but the career slump which began after his awards win for The Untouchables is a staggering, and rather sad, turn of fortune.
Connery, who died in 2020 at the age of 90, decided to stop performing after 2003 because of a film which was seemingly so disastrous he lost all faith in the movie industry.
Fans now believe the Hollywood horror show is a big reason the star decided to call time on his career, with many suggesting his decision is a valid one considering the state of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
A post to the r/TodayILearned Reddit page had fans discuss what would be Connery’s final on-screen role. He would return briefly to acting for a voice role as the titular Sir Billi, though most fans hardly remember his animated catastrophe.
Instead, they noted the film that made him retire. One fan wrote: “Sean Connery had such a bad time on the set of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003 that it made him decide to retire from acting and publicly complain about ‘the idiots that make hollywood films these days’.”
Where Connery may have been somewhat out of step with what was considered popular at the time, famously passing on the role of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, others believe his desire at this point in his career was to relax.
One person wrote: “The ‘not getting LOTR’ is a bit of a cover for the real reasons: Money and Time. Connery at this point liked working very short days with lots of golf instead. He liked an easy life with big pay packets.
“LOTR paid nororiously poorly. Even if he got lots of the back end (which he may have done), he wouldn’t have known it would have been as successful as it was. So it would have looked like poor pay.
“So LOTR would have eaten up months of his life, in a location he didn’t want to be, spending too much time on set, for a low pay packet.”
Others believe Connery’s track record for films in the last few years of his career were a sign he needed to retire. After “not getting” Lord of the Rings, Connery took on the lead role in The League of Extraordinary Gentletmen, despite not understanding that either.
One fan shared: “He turned down LOTR because he ‘didn’t get it’ and then took this movie despite also not getting it because LOTR was so successful. I think the universe was telling him it was time to retire anyway.”
Another agreed, adding: “He also turned down two Matrix roles. he had some big regrets at this point.” Connery was allegedly offered the role of Morpheus, played by Laurence Fishburne, and The Architecht, portrayed by Helmut Bakaitis.
Despite the decision to retire following the release of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, some fans believe it is a fine film with some entertaining moments.
One person wrote: “I loved this movie when I was a kid. It’s unapologetically campy in the best possible ways. It even ends on a cliffhanger and I remember hoping for a sequel at the time.”