An Oscar is a funny thing. Winning one means you're a respected thespian, but as 1966's Best Supporting Actress Sandy Dennis once noted, it also means you can't be new again. Some Oscar-winners find themselves taking less-than-stellar roles after their big night at the Kodak, and we're commemorating eight whose next trip to the silver screen was a marked downgrade.
(Point of order: We're talking about these actors' next movies to arrive on the silver screen; some may have been filmed prior to their Oscar win. Also, a few actors on our list played parts in TV movies following their Oscar win, but for the purposes of this list we're not counting them. Who does?)
Anthony Hopkins
Oscar: Best Actor for Silence of the Lambs
Next movie: Freejack
Anthony Hopkins is pretty fabulous in everything; I even recall his role as Torvald Helmer in the '70s adaptation of A Doll's House with awe. But the movie that followed his most prestigious part, Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, is a head-scratcher: the cyperpunk failure Freejack, starring Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, and Rene Russo. Cute fun-fact: It's a futuristic technological thriller set in 2009.
Marlee Matlin
Oscar: Best Actress for Children of a Lesser God
Next movie: Walker
Marlee Matlin was greeted with a fleet of accolades for her debut film, the screen adaptation of Mark Medoff's play Children of a Lesser God, and the august thesp still holds the record for youngest Best Actress winner (at age 21). Unfortunately, she followed that success with the towering failure of Walker, the absurd, Peckinpah-aping story of William Walker, an American filibuster who invaded Mexico and became president of Nicaragua. Lucky for us, Marlee Matlin's Twitter indicates that she's in pretty good spirits.
Helen Hunt
Oscar: Best Actress for As Good As It Gets
Next movie: Dr. T. and the Women
Oh, the post-Oscar career of Helen Hunt. Does it get any weirder? After decimating awards season with her Oscar and Emmy win, Helen Hunt moved on to costar with Richard Gere and Farrah Fawcett in Robert Altman's Dr. T. and the Women, and here are three things you should know about this movie: 1) It is called Dr. T. and the Women; 2) Tara Reid and Shelley Long play key roles; 3) Richard Gere stars a gynecologist who's just trying to understand love in this crazy world. S.O.S.
Adrien Brody
Oscar: Best Actor for The Pianist
Next movie: The Singing Detective
Tina Fey's least favorite SNL host's Oscar win for The Pianist was a surprise, but his subsequent role was even more of a shock: the Robert Downey Jr. non-hit The Singing Detective, based on the same-named BBC miniseries. Any movie with Katie Holmes playing a professional role is probably a misstep.
Jamie Foxx
Oscar: Best Actor for Ray
Next movie: Stealth
Jamie Foxx spent most of 2005 raising the bar on acceptance speeches everywhere -- his Golden Globe one even had a call-and-response section! -- but his cinematic follow-up to Ray was less impressive. In fact, it's one of the biggest box office duds of all time, the Jessica Biel sci-fi film Stealth. The humiliation! Rotten Tomatoes list it at 13%, and I list it as yet another bizarre movie for Sam Shepard to co-star in.
Helen Mirren
Oscar: Best Actress for The Queen
Next movie: National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Helen Mirren is one of the most respected actresses in the modern world, even when she's starring in Red and Love Ranch. But her biggest biff came after her Oscar win for The Queen in the unanimously panned sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Helen Mirren should never have to play second fiddle to 1) a torch-wielding Nicolas Cage and 2) John Wilkes Booth.
Jennifer Hudson
Oscar: Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls
Next movie: Sex and the City
American Idol's favorite seventh-place belter made the most of Dreamgirls' awful screenplay and earned the Oscar for her first film role. That's a feat. And that's why it's so crushing that her next role would come in the very problematic Sex and the City movie, where she played condescending Carrie Bradshaw's "assistant." And I do mean "mammy," because this is a truly horrible, one-note role.
Linda Hunt
Oscar: Best Supporting Actress for The Year of Living Dangerously
Next movie: Dune
NCIS: Los Angeles's droll Hetty Lange won an Oscar for her second film, playing -- and the entire description must be included -- Chinese-Australian male dwarf photographer Billy Kwan. Her next film was also a classic, but it's more of a Bad Movie We Love: the indulgent, incoherent Dune. I don't think we'll get over the hurt of this movie until the real year 10191. At least Sting was there to soften the comedown.