AWOL: Orlando Bloom's Career

He “has a record six movies that have grossed $300 million+ in the US,” has worked with hugely successful directors, and was once “a big-league heartthrob whose poster adorned the walls of many a teenage girl,” writes Scott Mendelson for the Huffington Post. So why is Orlando Bloom “nowhere to be seen in today’s filmmaking landscape?” Blame it on his daring to “put the movie first and stardom second.”

The big problems: “Taking major roles in films that looked great on paper but ultimately floundered through no fault of his”—see Elizabethtown and Kingdom of Heaven—and “being critically torn apart not because of his acting, but because of the content of the character he was playing”—see Troy and Pirates of the Caribbean. Legolas the elf's alter ego “may not have deserved Oscars,” Mendelson concludes, “but he deserved more than just our scorn.” (More Orlando Bloom stories.)