5 Actors Who Straight-Up Refuse To Watch Their Own Movies

Daniel Day-Lewis Won Three Oscars And Still Won't Press Play

You'd think a three-time Best Actor winner would want to see the results, but Day-Lewis flat-out refuses to watch his own films — including Phantom Thread, the movie he made right before announcing his retirement. He told W Magazine his decision not to watch it was tangled up with his decision to walk away from acting altogether, and he still can't fully explain either one.

Robert Pattinson Used To 'Really Struggle' Just Seeing His Own Face On Screen

Pattinson told Wonderland magazine that watching himself used to be a genuine struggle, though he's since made peace with feeling "quite disconnected" once a film wraps. He's also admitted to a deep fear of humiliation, saying critics calling a film bad is something he can never fully brush off no matter how hard he tried on set.

Kristen Stewart Says Watching Herself 'Fills Me With Terror'

Stewart told Australia's WHO magazine she'd sooner put on a horror movie than sit through one of her own — Twilight, Spencer, Charlie's Angels, all of it. Her reasoning is brutally simple: she's always thinking about the millions of things she could have done differently, and watching it back just makes that spiral worse.

Javier Bardem Can't Even Look At His Own Nose On Screen

Bardem admitted to GQ that he can't stand watching his own performances, right down to specific features: "I can't even watch that f****** nose, that f****** voice, those ridiculous eyes." He's said watching himself usually happens "through shaking fingers," which somehow makes his Oscar-winning turn as Anton Chigurh even creepier in hindsight.

Joaquin Phoenix Has Basically Only Seen Two Of His Own Movies

Phoenix told Time Out London that Paul Thomas Anderson personally talked him into watching The Master, and he also saw Her — but that's the whole list. He said he thought he might be "mature enough to watch and learn," but ultimately called it something he still struggles with.