John Carter actor Lynn Collins has opened up about the devastating effect the film's failure had on her and her career as a woman in film.

John Carter actor Lynn Collins has opened up about the devastating effect the film's failure had on her. John Carter tells the story of a Civil War vet who is transported to a barren planet where he is imprisoned by 12-foot tall barbarians. The film is based on the story A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs and was helmed by Finding Dory director Andrew Stanton. John Carter boasted an all-star cast including Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds and Bryan Cranston, and was released in 2012.

Everything seemed to be right for John Carter. The film was based on source material that had inspired sci-fi giants like Dune and Star Wars, it had an all-star cast, and was being produced by Disney. Despite all of this, upon its release, John Carter was a disaster. While the film managed to gain a significant amount of hype while it was in production, these days many moviegoers don't even remember that John Carter exists. This, of course, was a major disappointment to both the cast and crew of the film who had put so much work into making what they believed was going to be a very special film.

In a recent article from The Wrap, many cast and crew members of John Carter were interviewed about their thoughts on the flop ten years later. Perhaps one of the most upsetting stories comes from co-star Collins who played Dejah Thoris. While many of the male cast members were upset about the response to John Carter, Collins' experience nearly ended her career. According to Collins, the night after the premiere she was told by her manager to disappear for a while, as she was "the one who’s going to get the heat for this." When Collins asked why, she was told simply "usually that’s what happens," meaning as the female star, she will be blamed. See her full quote below:

“'You’re just going to have to disappear because you’re the one who’s going to get the heat for this.'”

“It was so indicative of that stereotypical, the woman gets the brunt. Like really sh–ty. Taylor went on to continue to work, he did ‘Battleship’ and other things, but basically my people shelved me for a while. This is so devastating because it wasn’t just the film disappointing me, now it was the entire industry and my representation. And I ended up firing those people. It took like a year for me to do that, but I took a break and tried to figure out, up until then my career and my work, I really allowed it to define me.”

Collins has gone on to detail that while her co-star Kitsch continued to work, her agency decided to shelve her for a while due to the failure of John Carter. For Collins, this added insult to injury, as it wasn't just the film that was disappointing her anymore, it was the industry as well. Collins has admitted that she did eventually fire her representation, though it took her a year to finally do it. Up until that point Collins has stated that she allowed her career to define her, and she didn't want that anymore.

While Collins' story is certainly upsetting, this is, of course, not the first time this has happened. Many films before John Carter have accused their leading lady of giving a poor performance and ruining what was likely an already flawed project. It's not surprising given the film industry is one of the many that are mainly controlled by men. However, with people like Collins opening up and sharing their stories, perhaps this issue can be changed. It is sad that John Carter did not live up to the expectations of fans and its filmmakers, however, this can hardly be blamed on Collins.

More: John Carter: Everything That Went Wrong With Disney's Movie

Source: The Wrap