The Eddie Redmayne Awards

These are actors I can't stand. It's that simple.

Sometimes you see someone and you immediately know that you don’t like the cut of their jib.

This happened to me recently while watching the movie Vengeance. Writer, director and star B.J. Novak showed up and I wanted to punch him in his stupid face. It didn’t help that he and John Mayer were having a nauseating and poorly-written conversation about casual dating, but even if it was a silent movie, I wouldn’t care for him. The movie itself was meh, but it did inspire me to put together Aerial Shot’s first-ever Eddie Redmayne Awards for actors that I can’t stand.

Redmayne is the face of this ceremony because I’ve never enjoyed a single thing he’s done. From blase biopics like The Theory of Everything to Oscarbait junk like The Danish Girl to the trailers of the Fantastic Beasts movies (I don’t want to watch a single second of that series), Redmayne hasn’t impressed me for a single second. He even beat out Michael Keaton for Best Actor; how dare he. I also just don’t like him. I’m sure he’s a nice person—I’m not actually sure of that—but he’s my Cinema Enemy (Cinenemy), and that’s the way it is.

I asked some friends (and potential enemies) to add some names to the list, and those will pop up at the end. For now, let’s get into 2023’s winners. Congrats to those that made it in this year, and, also, I hate you.

You may notice that there are more men than women on here, and I have a reason for that. Men are more annoying. Me included.

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This guy sucks.

The method actor’s method actor, Leto is that guy in your class who is constantly making everything about himself. He’s your coworker who is trying to explain Radiohead to you. Imagine having the self-confidence that Leto has; you’d be unstoppable.

He’s rarely in a good movie, and when he is, it’s because the director (David Fincher, Denis Villeneuve) uses him as a punching bag. He’s apparently an asshole on set and seems to be despised by all of his costars.

Mr. Chau @Srirachachau

The issue with Jared Leto among other things is that he just isn't talented enough to be that annoying

The man is also a ham in all the worst ways and does his best to make you roll your eyes.

I don’t like him. End of story.

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There are plenty of anecdotes about how James Corden is kind of a jerk. Like here, here and here. But this has less to do with that and more with the fact that Corden just isn’t a very good actor. He was the worst part of Cats, and that’s quite a feat.

Whenever he shows up, I always respond with, “Oh, he’s in this?” And he keeps on showing up! Ocean’s 8, Yesterday, The Prom, Cinderella, Into the Woods. Very nearly Wicked.

Pop Crave @PopCrave

Viral petition to keep James Corden out of ‘Wicked’ movie becomes one of the top signed petitions on Change.org with 50,000 signatures. Corden has starred in an array of musical movies in recent years including, ‘Cats,’ ‘Into the Woods,’ ‘The Prom’ & ‘Cinderella.’

He’s constantly a dud and loves to bring absolutely nothing to his roles. Don’t cast him. Let him go back to England.

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Gal Gadot … not good at acting.

Her IMDb is a real hellscape. There’s the adequate first Wonder Woman and then a hodgepodge of dreck. Wonder Woman 1984, Zack Snyder's Justice League, Red Notice, Death on the Nile. The rundown only gets worse and worse as it goes along.

The Memes Archive @TheMemesArchive

enough champagne to fill the nile

When she showed up in the Snow White casting as the Evil Queen, I was a bit bummed. I’m excited about Rachel Zegler’s ascendance, but at what cost? At what cost?

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This may be my most obscure one, but I don’t care for this guy. Maybe it’s Workaholics, a show that never worked for me and actively annoyed me, or maybe it’s the fact that he looks like a guy you’d know at sleepaway camp that always knew the worst thing to say at the worst time, but I can’t with Adam DeVine.

He’s irritating but fine enough in Pitch Perfect and then has played the same bumbling character who always wins in the end in everything else.

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I hate this commercial so much.

Common thinks he’s a genius and voice for the people, and I’m not having it. Go away, Common.

He’s quietly had a pretty big acting career from joining the John Wick franchise to Wanted to Selma to Suicide Squad, and he’s always playing a version of Common. There’s something very fake about his shtick. Very much not for me.

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Maybe my most controversial choice, Ryan Reynolds has been slowly trying to ruin the movie industry, and I’ve taken that as a personal attack. The Big Picture once called him “the antichrist.” I’m not disagreeing with that sentiment.

After some early interesting picks and fun movies like The Proposal, Adventureland and Waiting…, Reynolds has pivoted to the same archetype in every role: Ryan Reynolds. It started with Deadpool and has progressively gotten lamer and lamer from there. His commercial persona is one and the same as his movie-star persona, and the metaness and in-your-faceness are so irksome to me. Sure, the Wrexham stuff is nice, I guess, but it feels like a brand extension more than anything else.

Also, he makes bad stuff. Red Notice. Spirited. Bullet Train. Free Guy. 6 Underground. All the man does is make garbage content for the lowest common denominator. Treat yourself. Watch something better.

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Now, that's the end of all of the rants I had prepared, but some friends had some names they wanted to throw in.

Jake: Ben Affleck, Jared Leto, Casey Affleck: “More like Manchester by the see a different movie.”

Kathrine: “Ben Affleck. His personality annoys me. Also, I was forced to watch The Voyage of the Mimi as a child and it scarred me for life.”

Erica: “I can’t stand Timothée Chalamet. First of all, how dare you have the most ridiculous spelling of Timothy. I know he’s part French or whatever but still. Second of all, he needs to see a doctor because he always looks gaunt and pale and like he’s about to snap in half. I’ve only seen a few of the movies he’s in because I can’t stand him, so I’ve only seen Lady Bird, Call Me By Your Name, and Dune. But that being said, he seems to always act with the same pained, mysterious persona going on and it’s not original in any way and doesn’t mean he’s talented. Maybe I should force myself to see Wonka just to see if he has a personality.”

[Redacted]: A friend wrote a thing here about an actor that they don’t like and then told me to drop it from this newsletter because they didn’t want the actor to feel bad. Venmo me $5 (@gott31), and I’ll tell you the actor. Venmo me $10, and I’ll tell you the actor and friend.