Every Hollywood actor has a role or a movie in their past that they’re probably not very proud of.

For Scottish actor and “300” star Gerard Butler that less-than-stellar role came courtesy of an equally ill-advised movie called “Dracula 2000,” a critical turkey and box office bomb released in (you guessed it) the year 2000. Movie critic James Berdardanelli summed up “Dracula 2000” thusly:

“Of all the indignities to have been visited upon Dracula during the past century (including being the ‘inspiration’ for a cereal and a ‘Sesame Street’ character, and being lampooned by Mel Brooks), none is more unsettling than what has happened to the world’s most famous vampire in ‘Dracula 2000.'”

In the “horror” film, the then 30-year-old Butler played the titular Prince of Darkness — a long-haired, rock star-like vision of the legendary vampire, to be exact. After several years of bit parts and TV work, a lead role in a major motion picture (as a hair metal Dracula, no less) was not something the young, working actor could have turned down easily.

Looking back, though, perhaps all involved should have thought twice about making this movie – especially after watching Butler’s tragicomic audition tape (seen below).

Butler is clearly having a lot of fun during this audition, but it’s a shame that none of that really translated to the movie, which took itself far too seriously.

“Dracula 2000” featured the talents of Oscar-winner Christopher Plummer (as a descendant of legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing), Jonny Lee Miller, Omar Epps (remember him?), and “Star Trek Voyager” star Jeri Ryan — a pretty decent cast that surely could have elevated the B-movie material to a higher level, but simply failed to do so.

If you missed “Dracula 2000” when it was in theatres (sadly, this writer cannot make the same claim), consider yourself lucky. Butler has certainly come a long way!