Linda Blair, who plays the sick child parodied in Airplane!, was asked in an interview WHILE the second Airport movie was number 1 at the box office that week, what it felt like being in another runaway hit (after The Exorcist) and she said, 'I really wish they had just cut me out of the picture.'
Then, of the 3rd Airport movie, Jack Lemmon regretted being in it. His previous movie had been a bomb and he was afraid he'd never work again so told his agent to accept the next high-paying job that came along. That movie was the third Airport movie. "Biggest mistake of my career," he said.
The thing is, they're fun movies. They make absolutely no sense, and the quality and logic decrease as you go along the franchise, but... I mean, Gloria Swanson plays herself in the 2nd one, for chirssakes. You have Myrna Loy playing a fun drunk as well.
Only in the first one do you actually deal with an actual airport of course--the rest are just airplane movies (or in the third movie's case, a sort of airplane/LOST situation). But I find it hilarious that 90% of the actors were like, 'Yeah, that was a piece of shit. Look at my new pool.'
I watched them all recently and for the time and for what they were, they're fine. I wouldn't have kept watching if they weren't. All of those actors did worse movies, imo.
I know. That's why I am amused a lot of them were like, 'Oh yeah terrible choice.' The only actor who has a credible gripe is Lemmon, who almost died because of a SCUBA scene where they didn't give him enough oxygen in his tank, and risked getting the bends saving himself.
Also the first one is genuinely interesting as well as pop-corny: I am a sucker for split screens and insets, and that movie is full of them.