These Stars Pulled Off The Unbelievable
There’s always a second act. At least, that’s what these performers proved when they made their triumphant returns to the big screen.
Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke made a name for himself in films like 9 ½ Weeks and Angel Heart due to his mixture of intensity and sex appeal, even drawing frequent comparisons to the heyday of Marlon Brando. But a mixture of erratic off-screen antics and bad film choices he made just for the money resulted in his star-power severely declining in the 90s.
Winkast Film Productions, Angel Heart (1987)
Mickey Rourke
Things changed though with the one-two punch of 2005’s Sin City and 2008’s The Wrestler, which had audiences forgetting that his name was ever a punchline. The sports drama The Wrestler, made a particular impact in drawing comparisons between the role and the actor’s real life.
Wild Bunch, The Wrestler (2008)
Brendan Fraser
Fondly remembered by millennial audiences for his roles in kid-friendly films like George of the Jungle and The Mummy, Brendan Fraser had a lot of goodwill with movie fans despite having gone decades without appearing in anything of note.
Brendan Fraser
That’s why everyone was so charmed when he made his triumphant comeback to lead roles with his Oscar-winning turn in the 2022 drama The Whale, where buried under heavy prosthetics and CGI to depict a morbidly obese man confronting regret, he still managed to convey a large degree of humanity.
Renee Zellweger
Despite being one of the most famous and beloved actresses of the 90s and 2000s due to films like Jerry Maguire and Chicago, Renee Zellweger had largely, and mysteriously, disappeared from movies in the 2010s.
Renee Zellweger
However, Zellweger’s luck changed when she won her second Academy Award in 2020 for her portrayal of Judy Garland, where audiences were encouraged to read parallels between both performers’ respective rise and fall narratives.
Ke Huy Quan
It was likely considered that Ke Huy Quan would have Short Round, the sidekick role he played as a 12-year-old in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, marked on his tombstone. After having difficulty finding acting work in his adult lifetime, he had turned to both stunt choreography and assistant directing to pay the bills.
Paramount, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Key Huy Quan
Luckily the director team behind the groundbreaking indie film Everything Everywhere All At Once never forgot him, and took a chance casting him opposite Michelle Yeoh. The risk paid off, and resulted in a teary Oscar acceptance speech from the actor in 2023 and one of the most inspiring comeback stories of late.
IAC Films, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Michael Keaton
Nobody had forgotten Michael Keaton, but he wasn’t exactly getting high-profile lead roles either. For the most part, it was common to see him pop up in a scene-stealing comedic role like The Other Guys or a slumming villain turn in the rightly forgotten RoboCop remake.
Columbia, The Other Guys (2010)
Michael Keaton
Everything changed, though, when he was cast in the 2014 Best Picture winner Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance. Making allusions to Keaton’s own career in his portrayal of a former superhero actor staging an attempt at a comeback, the easy parallels didn’t do all the work, as his high-wire performance matched the frenetic and experimental tone of the film every step of the way.
Regency Enterprises, Birdman (2014)
John Travolta
It’s easy to forget that in the early 90s, John Travolta was chiefly associated with decidedly unhip talking baby comedies such as the Look Who’s Talking series. The star, who had come to define a new form of 70s cool in films like Saturday Night Fever and Grease, found his career in a bit of a fallow period.
John Travolta
Yet a young filmmaker named Quentin Tarantino always remembered his iconic roles and gave him a deliberate shot at a comeback in one of the most iconic movies of all time, Pulp Fiction. Earning an Oscar nomination for his turn in the decade-defining film, Travolta was back to working with A-list directors and putting out box-office smashes immediately after.
Keanu Reeves
It’s easy to forget that in 2014, Keanu Reeves was already considered a star of yesteryear, mostly appearing in low-budget films nobody dared to watch outside of snoozy late-night Netflix viewing.
Village Roadshow Pictures, The Lake House (2006)
Keanu Reeves
That’s why nobody was expecting a four-film blockbuster franchise when the first John Wick quietly dropped onto screens, but the combination of energetic action sequences and a stoic, concentrated lead performance reminded audiences of what kind of films they liked before the superhero craze took over.
Thunder Road Pictures, John Wick (2014)
Jamie Lee Curtis
One role can pay dividends decades later. Jamie Lee Curtis may have already reprised the role of Laurie Strode in multiple Halloween sequels, but it was coming back for the 2018 direct continuation of the original, an unexpected smash at the box office, which cemented her legacy.
The De Laurentiis Company, Halloween II (1981)
Jamie Lee Curtis
Capitalizing off the success, she went on to roles in influential hits like Knives Out and Everything Everywhere All At Once, the latter of which she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for.
IAC Films, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Jackie Earle Haley
The former child star from the 70s hit The Bad News Bears apparently spent a good portion of his adult life taking jobs as a security officer, limo driver, and pizza delivery man until miraculously getting the call to appear in the shocking suburban drama Little Children, with Kate Winslet.
New Line Cinema, Little Children (2006)
Jackie Earle Haley
Receiving an Academy Award nomination for his powerful performance as a former criminal attempting to go clean, the actor parlayed it into steady acting work which included collaborations with directors like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.
Twentieth Century, Alita- Battle Angel (2019)
Jane Fonda
Despite being one of the most iconic movie stars of the 60s and 70s, actress, activist and workout-tape entrepreneur Jane Fonda knew she needed a break from acting to focus on her personal life and other ventures.
Columbia Pictures, Cat Ballou (1965)
Jane Fonda
Seemingly disappearing from the big screen after 1990’s Stanley & Iris, she made a triumphant comeback 15 years later in 2005’s Monster-in-Law, which’s surprising box office performance saw it opening at number one amidst heavy summer blockbuster competition.
New Line Cinema, Monster-in-Law (2005)
Ben Affleck
In the early 2000s, Ben Affleck had the misfortune of being the most overexposed man in the world thanks to his headline-grabbing relationship with mega-star Jennifer Lopez. It didn’t help matters for his reputation that he was starring in one stinker of a movie after another.
Ben Affleck
It was when he turned to directing, following in the wake of other actors like Clint Eastwood or Robert Redford, that fortunes changed. His acclaimed debut, the 2007 crime drama Gone Baby Gone, opened the door for consistent work behind the camera, which eventually led to him winning the Best Picture Oscar for 2012’s Argo.
Ellen DeGeneres
Maybe you won’t remember that before 20 years of her talk show (and some of the ensuing bad headlines), Ellen DeGeneres was at one point considered a washed up sitcom star and comedian, with her show Ellen having been abruptly canceled in 1998.
Warner Bros., The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003-2022)
Ellen DeGeneres
Yet in the rare case of a voice performance resurrecting someone’s career, her daffy (and deft) turn as the forgetful fish Dory in 2003’s mega-hit Finding Nemo became the most acclaimed vocal turn since Robin Williams in Aladdin. From there on, she both reclaimed her fanbase amongst adults and found a new one with kids.
Walt Disney, Finding Nemo (2003)
Robert Forster
You can always count on Quentin Tarantino to resurrect a career. Robert Forster, the steady, salt-of-the-earth presence who was one of the most notable character actors of the 60s and 70s, had mostly been toiling away in direct-to-video horror and action films beneath his talent throughout the 90s.
NBC Television, Wikimedia Commons
Robert Forster
This was until he got the call from everyone’s favorite movie nerd, Quentin Tarantino, for his 1997 Elmore Leonard adaptation, Jackie Brown. The prominent supporting role in a big deal movie was nice enough, but the cherry on top? A much deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his soulful turn.
Eddie Murphy
Despite being probably the biggest movie star of the 1980s, Eddie Murphy hit a pretty big bump in the road during the 90s, with a number of weak films and unfortunately sleepy performances in them convincing people he had lost his dynamite comic appeal.
Paramount, Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Eddie Murphy
Yet in remaking another comic performer’s film with a reinvention of Jerry Lewis’ The Nutty Professor in 1996, he both reclaimed his performing brio and found a new audience with younger kids.
Imagine Entertainment, The Nutty Professor (1996)
Dennis Hopper
Considered a relic of the 60s counterculture by audiences and too difficult to deal with by Hollywood creatives, Easy Rider icon Dennis Hopper found himself in a bit of a wilderness period through the 70s and early 80s. That was until the magical year of 1986, where he captured the attention of both arthouse and mainstream audiences.
Raybert Productions, Easy Rider (1969)
Dennis Hopper
Shocking people as the foul-mouthed, repellant villain in David Lynch’s cult film Blue Velvet and also breaking their hearts with his Academy Award-nominated supporting turn in the basketball drama Hoosiers, he reminded everyone of the talent that never went away.
Marlon Brando
The most influential and iconic film actor of the 1950s, Marlon Brando had unfortunately earned the label of box office poison by the next decade, with his method acting and sex appeal having seemingly faded for audiences.
Trailer screenshottrailer at IMDB, Wikimedia Commons
Marlon Brando
Brando’s reputation was restored though with two films that premiered in 1972, The Godfather and Last Tango in Paris, both of which embraced his age and drew upon the deepest depths of his talents. He cashed out on the new success by the end of the decade with a cameo appearance in the original Superman film.
Paramount, The Godfather (1972)
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn likely defines the movie star of the 1930s, but a combination of bad press and some films that hadn’t connected with audiences made her the target of scorn from the industry by the end of the decade.
Katharine Hepburn
So the star took destiny into her own hands and went about developing a film adaptation of the play The Philadelphia Story for her to star in. The risk paid off and made film audiences at the time fall in love with her again.
Loew's, The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Simon Rex
The former MTV VJ and novelty rapper made some brief waves on the big screen with his turn in the latter Scary Movie sequel, but nobody thought he was more than a relic of 90s pop culture.
Dimension Films, Scary Movie 5 (2013)
Simon Rex
In one of the most surprising turns of recent years though, Simon Rex blew away audiences with a compelling portrayal of a truly malignant character in the 2001 indie comedy Red Rocket. Ever since that role, he’s become a steady presence in big and small films.
FilmNation Entertainment, Red Rocket (2021)
Gloria Swanson
Few actors defined silent era film acting like Gloria Swanson. But as soon as the talkies took over the medium, her influence began to wane.
Melbourne Spurr , Wikimedia Commons
Gloria Swanson
Director Billy Wilder remembered her, though, when casting Gloria Swanson as a variation on herself in the iconic 1950 film noir Sunset Boulevard. The effect worked for audiences, as Swanson received an Academy Award nomination for her haunting turn.
Paramount, Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Robert Downey Jr
Considered one of the most talented new actors of the 80s, Robert Downey Jr struggled to live up to his promise as his career went through many ups and downs to say the least. Struggling with addiction and legal issues, the actor, despite his massive charisma and versatility became borderline uninsurable due to offscreen behavior.
Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Robert Downey Jr
Luckily for him, indie-turned-blockbuster director Jon Favreau made the risky choice of selecting Downey after seeing his hilarious turn in the cult flick Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, for the lead role in the original MCU movie, Iron Man. The rest is history.
