Alert – David Arquette reveals ‘disaster’ role that he ‘wasn’t right’ for: ‘It was a painful, painful experience’

David Arquette has revealed the role he played that he ‘wasn’t right’ for, to the point that the job turned into a ‘disaster.’

The 52-year-old is beloved by horror fans as the bumbling cop Dewey Riley in the Scream franchise, which he has been part of since its first instalment in 1996.

However not all his career moves have brought him such a warm response – and one in particular carries sour memories for him to this day.

‘I mean, I’ve played roles too, that I was really sort of, it wasn’t the right role for me to play,’ said David, the ex-husband of Friends star Courteney Cox.

Now he has revealed which job caused him to have such a ‘painful, painful experience,’ in a new interview with TooFab. 

David Arquette has revealed the role he played that he ‘wasn’t right’ for, to the point that the job turned into a ‘disaster’; pictured last month in New York

‘Sherlock Holmes! I played Sherlock Holmes once and it was just a disaster,’ said David, who portrayed the fictional detective onstage in 2015.

David stepped into director Andrew Shaver’s production of the 2013 comic play Sherlock Holmes by the late playwright and magician Greg Kramer. 

His castmates included Big Time Rush star James Maslow as Dr. Watson, with The Secret Like Of The American Teenager actress Renee Olstead as Lady Irene St. John.

The show originally opened in 2013 with This Is The End actor Jay Baruchel playing a goofy, reimagined version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s character.

Two years later, David took on the role and toured the United States and Canada, earning a dismissive response from critics on both sides of the border. 

‘Arquette’s idea of how to be British is like your middle-aged uncle flouncing around in low-camp fashion after a few too many Cosmopolitans,’ sneered the Toronto Star. 

‘Arquette is a real actor, but this is not his role and you feel like he knows it all too well,’ opined the Chicago Tribune, describing the show as ‘a total disaster.’ 

Looking back on the professional mishap now, David reflected: ‘I learned a lot from It, but it was a painful, painful experience.’

While promoting his run as Sherlock Holmes in 2015, he confessed that he might initially appear to be ‘an odd choice’ for the part.

‘ Sherlock Holmes! I played Sherlock Holmes once and it was just a disaster,’ said David, who portrayed the fictional detective onstage in 2015 (pictured)

His castmates included Big Time Rush star James Maslow as Dr. Watson (right), with The Secret Like Of The American Teenager actress Renee Olstead as Lady Irene St. John (left)

Two years later, David took on the role and toured the United States and Canada, earning a dismissive response from critics on both sides of the border

The 52-year-old is beloved by horror fans as the bumbling cop Dewey Riley in the Scream franchise , which he has been part of since 1996; pictured in Scream 4 in 2011 

David is pictured on Tuesday attending the Los Angeles premiere of his new movie The Good Half, which stars him alongside Nick Jonas

However he noted that the play’s version of the detective was an ‘oddball’ and ‘probably a little lighter than a lot of people play.’

David explained: ‘He laughs a lot, he finds humor in things. He’s still the eccentric sort of wild thinker, very quick-minded, but he’s not quite as smart, perhaps, as some of the other Sherlocks,’ via the CBC.

‘He’s not the smartest man in the room, necessarily, but in the play he’s the smartest of all the dumb guys, is what I like to say.’

Meanwhile David, who has dyslexia, also confessed that he ‘thought I was losing my mind’ just before previews because of all the lines he had to memorize.

‘I was like: “This is too hard, I don’t think I can deal with it. It’s so much dialogue.” It’s like two hours of dialogue, so it’s a lot,’ he said.

‘But once we got into a groove, then it really started working, and when you get comfortable with it, then you can have fun with it.’