Rosamund Pike recently described her role in the 2005 video game adaptation 'Doom' as a career-threatening catastrophe. In an interview on the 'How to Fail with Elizabeth Day' podcast, the actress reflected on her experience starring alongside Dwayne Johnson. She highlighted feeling out of her depth on the set of the sci-fi action film.
Rosamund Pike, who rose to prominence with her villainous role in the James Bond film 'Die Another Day,' discussed her involvement in 'Doom' during a recent episode of the 'How to Fail with Elizabeth Day' podcast. The 2005 movie, directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, adapted the popular video game and featured Pike alongside Dwayne Johnson and Karl Urban. It follows a group of marines on Mars battling demon-like creatures.
Pike recounted receiving the offer while filming 'Pride & Prejudice.' 'When I was making 'Pride & Prejudice' and I was having great fun in my cornfields in my bonnet, I get a call to be in an action franchise,' she said, via The Independent. 'They were making a cinema version, a narrative version of the video game 'Doom.' And I think in my bonnet, in my field of hay bales, 'Yeah, I can do anything. I can jump on this hay bale in my crinoline, so I can certainly go and kill some zombies on Mars.''
On set, Pike felt unprepared for the action genre. 'So suddenly I’m in this film with the Rock, and I realize how utterly ill-equipped I am to be an action star,' she continued. '[There were] macho guys. There were weights on the set. Every time a gun was brought out, it was kind of like a holy relic for the 'Doom' fans. I was just out of my comfort zone, out of my league, out of my depth.'
At the time, Johnson's career was ascending following roles in 'The Scorpion King' and 'Walking Tall,' though he had replaced Ray Winstone in 'Doom.' The film underperformed, earning just under $60 million worldwide, and received poor reviews with an 18% Rotten Tomatoes score. Variety's review noted that the movie 'is really not all that bad.' Pike described it harshly: 'It was an absolute bomb. I mean, I probably could have ended my career. It was just probably one of the worst films ever made. I mean, it was a catastrophe. I don’t read the reviews, but you get the sense like you’re lucky to have survived that one.'
