The year was 2010. You’re Sam Worthington and you’ve just come off two huge movies, Terminator Salvation and Avatar, about to headline a third massive blockbuster, Clash Of The Titans, and you’re voicing the lead character in a Call Of Duty game.
The world should’ve been your oyster, yet your star and name recognition fell just as fast as it rose in the span of a couple of short years. So what exactly happened to Sam Worthington that caused him to go from being the face of three huge blockbusters to being Lara Bingle‘s other half?
On the topic of people who seemed to disappear after making it big, the GOAT team talk about Nikki Webster and Rebecca Black’s comeback on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
If we take a look at Sam Worthington’s filmography immediately after the epic Terminator Salvation/Avatar/Clash Of The Titans/Call Of Duty blockbuster quadruple header, we can see that he has appeared in several smaller scale drama movies with the occasional dip into bigger budget territory as a supporting role.
So why the sudden shift from leading man to dramatic actor in under-watched indies? Well we have a few theories as to why Sam sorta just disappeared out of the public consciousness.
As big as Terminator Salvation/Avatar/Clash Of The Titans/Call Of Duty all are (or were), none of those hits were marketed based on Sam Worthington’s name. Sure he was the face and voice in all of them, but he was always overshadowed by something else, whether it was by his more famous co-stars or the sheer spectacle of seeing blue CGI aliens bone.
Okay, so Sam Worthington probably wasn’t the biggest drawcard for Terminator Salvation, Avatar, Clash Of The Titans or Call Of Duty, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t bring anything special to the big screen as his talent had to play some part in getting all those butts in cinema seats.
Well this brings us to our second theory: Sam’s rise through the Hollywood ranks during 2009-2011 came just as Marvel began to get huge and seemingly every leading man was named Chris began to hog the spotlight.
Hollywood is filled to the brim with good-looking white dudes and when you combine that with Marvel hiring most of them to front its movies, there’s very little room left for anyone else, let alone another similar good-looking white guy named Sam Worthington.
There’s also a plausible third theory: maybe he was just over it. Being in the spotlight isn’t for everyone and perhaps Sam Worthington just wanted to settle down with Lara Bingle and do projects he was passionate about, hence why the sudden pivot to a heap of smaller, local movies.
It’s not like Sam isn’t getting any work now that his Hollywood fame has seemingly disappeared as he’s been pumping out some good stuff in cinemas and Netflix, as well as some quality TV like Manhunt: Unabomber. It’s all just been lower-profile stuff compared to what he used to do back circa 2009-2011.
So in short, Sam Worthington never really left, he’s just kept things on the DL for a few years while still putting out good work and starting a family with Lara Bingle. Who knows if Sam will ever reach the same level of fame as he did back in 2009-2010, but never say never given how he’s got at least two more Avatar movies lined up.
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