Hollywood can often be seen as a vain and greedy enterprise, with actors and crew commanding massive paychecks and sometimes kicking off even bigger lawsuits. These antics can prove to be a bit alienating for general audiences, who can't quite wrap their head around someone being paid tens of millions and above for a few month's work.
Every so often, however, an actor will take on a job for different reasons. Perhaps they love the source material the work is based on or greatly admire someone working on the production and simply wishes to work alongside them. Sometimes, an even sweeter reason will be behind the decision, and that's simply because they know their children will enjoy the film.
10 Idris Elba Wanted To Be Part Of A Classic
In 2016, director Jon Favreau brought a new iteration of the much-loved Disney classic, The Jungle Book, to the big screen. The film would utilize live-action footage and stunning CGI animation to reimagine the tale in a whole new and allow younger audiences to experience the story for the first time.
Actor Idris Elba was cast to voice the villainous Shere Khan, but his reasons for accepting the role were based on something more than money. He looked forward to being part of a new classic motion picture that his children would be able to enjoy, and who would get an extra kick out of their father voicing the big baddie.
9 Julianne Moore's Kids Almost Bullied Her Into A Role
Julianne Moore has had a stellar career lasting since the early 80s and has seen great success in films such as The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, Hannibal, and The Lost World: Jurassic Park. With a resume as strong as hers, no one should be able to boss her around. Except for her kids, of course.
Her children demanded that she read The Huner Games books series and eventually this would lead to her taking on the role of President Alma Coin in the two film adaptations, Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2. Afterward, Moore stated in regards to her children that "it's been a great thing for my kids to have me in these."
8 Michael Sheen's Daughter Went Nuts When He Was Cast In Twilight
Michael Sheen is no stranger to the vampire genre, having already starred in 2 of the Underworld films, the first of which also starred his ex-wife Kate Beckinsale. He and Beckinsale had a daughter together, Lilly, born in 1999 who became quite the Twilight fan as she grew older.
As it turns out, her level of fandom was enough that she "squealed with delight" when Sheen revealed that he had been cast as Aro, the leader of an ancient vampire coven in The Twilight Saga: New Moon. He would reprise the role in the final two installments, Breaking Dawn Parts 1 & 2.
7 Jamie Foxx's Daughter Was Excited To See Him Lose
2014s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 isn't a perfect film. Some questionable creative choices and a few too many villains added too much to the project and it was largely seen as a failure, leading to the titular hero being rebooted into the Marvel Cinematic Universe only 2 years later.
That said, someone who was very excited about the film was the 4-year old daughter of Jamie Foxx, who portrayed Electro. She was a huge fan of the hero and when she found out about the role, she told her father "Spider-Man's going to kick your butt!" She even visited the set in her Spider-Man outfit while Foxx was in full costume. He claimed that was "everything I need."
6 Gary Oldman Became A Hero At His Kids School
Gary Oldman is one of the most famous and respected actors of all time, and he's particularly known for portraying villains in such films as Leon, True Romance, and Dracula (depending on your definition of a villain). In 2004, he took on a vastly different role which won him serious brownie points with his kids.
By that point, the Harry Potter franchise was the biggest thing on Earth, and Oldman would join the franchise with the third film, The Prisoner of Azkaban. He would play Sirius Black and the choice not only made him a hero to his children, but he was even greatly respected at their school amongst their peers.
5 Ben Affleck Justified The Experience Of Justice League
2017s Justice League has been the subject of countless discussions since its release, even more so with Zack Snyder's version of the film finally being unleashed onto the world in early 2021. While the experience of working on two versions of the film may have been negative for Batman actor Ben Affleck, he did find a way to make it all worth it.
Stating that his kids couldn't see some of his films such as Argo, Affleck decided to don his full batsuit for his son's birthday one year. This unexpected party trick ultimately proved "worth every moment of suffering" on the ill-fated 2017 project.
4 Deadpool Wasn't Exactly Child-Friendly, But Detective Pikachu Was
Ryan Reynolds struck gold with his 2016 film Deadpool, based on the wise-cracking, fourth-wall-breaking Deadpool character from Marvel. The film stood out from the competition with its hard-R rating based on foul language, adult humor, and strong violence.
Reynolds loves portraying the merc with a mouth, but his young children weren't exactly the target audience. As such, he was very keen to land the voice role for iconic Pokemon character Pikachu in 2019s Detective Pikachu. He stated that he doesn't "do a lot of films that are not rated-R" so this was the perfect project to share with his kids.
3 Kate Winslet Wanted To Be Cool
The Divergent franchise hit the big screen in 2014, based on the popular book series of the same name. Similar to Julianne Moore's casting in The Hunger Games, actress Kate Winslet took on the role of villainous Jeanine Matthews for one main reason. Her kids would be impressed.
Her daughter, who was 12 at the time, was apparently very excited that other kids at her school were talking about the film and Winslet's part in it. Despite having an Oscar under her belt and having starred in the likes of Titanic and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it was the role of Matthews that helped her daughter think she was "cool."
2 Frank Langella's Son Adored He-Man
Actor Frank Langella is a multi-award-winning actor and kicked off his impressive career in 1963. He was even nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his work in Frost/Nixon in 2008 (acting opposite Michael Sheen, as it happens).
It's perhaps not surprising then that many people were confused (to say the least) when Langella leaped at the chance to play the diabolic villain Skeletor in 1987s Masters of the Universe. To this day, he considers it one of his favorite roles, and this is down to the fact that his then 4-year-old son was a massive fan of He-Man and Skeletor. The actor stated that he "didn't even blink" when accepting the part.
1 Street Fighter's Iconic Villian Was A Labor Of Love
Raul Julia was a hugely respected actor who started his varied career in 1969, starring in almost 30 films in total. Many modern audiences know him for his role as Gomez Addams in 2 The Addams Family adaptations, but it was the role of General M. Bison that endeared him to millions.
1994s Street Fighter was a peculiar product, receiving many negative reviews and generally being considered a bomb. Like Frank Langella in Masters of the Universe, people were left scratching their heads at the casting of Julia as the main villain. Perhaps more confusing was how genuinely fantastic and entertaining his portrayal was. He let his children pick the role for him as they were huge fans of the original games that the film was based on, and tragically the role would be his last. Julia battled stomach cancer through filming and died two months prior to release.