10 Movies That Resurrected Actors’ Careers

Here we will talk about actors who could not win the love of the audience with their roles and achieve the attention of good directors. Some actors even ruined their own careers with drugs and bad films.

But only one role in the fateful cinema allowed these actors to become the most recognizable and sought-after people in the world of cinema. The roles they played became iconic, and the films brought huge box office to the creators, allowing actors to take part in high-profile projects on the wave of popularity and revive their careers from the ashes.

10 Joaquin Phoenix, The Master | 2012

Top opens the actor who personally buried his career for the sake of a film that failed at the box office. According to the plan, Joaquin was supposed to grow hair and a beard, behave strangely in public, give ambiguous interviews and generally make people feel confused.

They began to laugh at the actor on the Internet, parody in comedy shows, and absolutely everyone agreed that Joaquin’s career was over, and the man was slowly going crazy.

As a result, a film was released on the screens, according to which it became clear that Phoenix simply played a role in everyday life for a year. The surrounding people agreed that the actor was not crazy, but the sediment remained, and therefore the actor was left without work for about a year until he was invited to play the role in The Master. The actor played so well that questions about his condition at once disappeared from everyone and Phoenix’s career went uphill again.

9. Tom Hardy, Bronson | 2008

Now, if Tom is announced in the lead role, then the viewer can safely carry money to the film distributor: the film with Hardy is definitely good. But it was not always so.

Previously, Hardy was a supporting actor, acting in low-budget films. This continued until 2008, when Hardy was offered a role in Rock and Roll, and then in Bronson.

For the sake of the role, Tom gave it his all: he gained 19 kilograms of muscle mass, personally communicated with a famous criminal, whose personality he needed to transfer to the screen, got used to the image and played the best role in his film career at that time.

After that, Hardy was noticed: first they invited Nolan to Inception, then to the film Warrior, and then Tom played the role of Bane in The Dark Knight.

8. Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler | 2008

Rourke was a star in the 80s and 90s, and then disappeared from all radar, and even had a lot of plastic surgery on his face, after which the actor’s appearance deteriorated greatly. And the bad character of Rourke did not benefit the actor’s attempts to climb the career ladder.

Rourke was able to return to the big screens only in 2008, starring in Aronofsky’s film The Wrestler. The actor proved that he could still be the main star of the film, because The Wrestler collected substantial sums at the box office, and Mickey himself received the Golden Globe for Best Actor and was even nominated for an Oscar.

After such success, Mickey was called to Iron Man 2 as the main villain and to the promising film The Expendables.

7. Ben Affleck, City of Thieves | 2010

Ben began his career quite cheerfully, even won an Oscar for the best screenplay for the film Good Will Hunting, and then a black streak began. First, nominations for the Golden Raspberry, and then a full-fledged statuette for his role in the film Daredevil.

It suddenly became clear to both the audience and the filmmakers that Affleck was a bad actor, and therefore Ben was not allowed closer than to the supporting roles.

Then Affleck realized that he would have to save his career himself, and therefore he adapted the book and directed the film “City of Thieves”, playing the main role in it. As a result, Affleck’s good direction helped the film not fail at the box office, and the picture was nominated for an Oscar.

The producers realized that Affleck might not be the best actor, but he clearly has the makings of an excellent director, and therefore they entrusted Ben to direct Argo, and the film was a fantastic success. After there were the main roles in the films “Gone Girl” and “Batman”, which returned the name of a good actor to Affleck.

6. Steve Carell, Foxcatcher | 2014

Steve is an actor in the comedy genre, and therefore is familiar to the viewer as a good comedian. The opinion about the actor changed after the role of Carell in the film “Foxcatcher”, where the comedian was offered to play the role of a cold and distant lunatic and Steve did an excellent job!

The film may not please the viewer with its gloominess and lingering plot, but the acting performance in this film is at the highest level. Ruffalo, Tatum and Carell did an excellent job with their roles, Carell was eventually nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in the film.

The following year, Carell was again waiting for a resounding success for his role in the film “The Big Short” and another nomination, the same story happened with the film “Battle of the Sexes”.

5. John Travolta, “Pulp Fiction” | 1994

John’s career began in the 70s. He successfully starred in films of the musical genre, declaring himself a good actor and dancer.

When Travolta starred in the comedy “Look Who’s Talking,” he was successful there, but the second and third parts of the film were so terrible and of poor quality that John was no longer invited to any film projects at all.

It would seem that Travolta’s career is over, but then Quentin Tarantino came into play. Quentin didn’t care what reputation the actor has in Hollywood, he offered John the lead role in the film Pulp Fiction, and Travolta, in turn, agreed and did an amazing job with it. For this film, the actor was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

4. Matthew McConaughey, The Lincoln Lawyer | 2011

Now we know McConaughey for his excellent roles in the films Dallas Buyers Club, Interstellar and True Detective.

But until 2011, McConaughey had an image of a handsome man who did nothing but play similar roles in romantic comedies. Several films changed the situation at once, when Matthew realized that he was able to play in thoughtful dramas, and not second-rate romantic comedies.

In two years, he played in three good films: Mud, The Lincoln Lawyer and Killer Joe. After his debut in serious films, McConaughey was called to the Dallas Buyers Club, which brought the actor an Oscar. When Nolan watched Mud, he immediately realized that Matthew should play the main role in Interstellar, and after that work appeared in True Detective.

3. Michael Keaton, Birdman | 2014

In the late 80s, Keaton played Batman and this role brought Michael worldwide fame. After Keaton’s departure from the superhero project, the actor disappeared from all radar, only occasionally appearing in low-grade films in supporting roles.

As a result, Keaton became an actor of one role for everyone around him, and he became so merged with this role that director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu offers him to play an actor of one role in the film Birdman.

The film shot, took several Oscars and reminded producers and viewers of Keaton. Then there was success in Spotlight, and a role in the box office reboot of Spider-Man, in which Keaton played the main antagonist.

2. Robert Downey Jr., Gothic | 2003

Robert is a prime example of a dizzying success, and then falling to the very bottom. In the late 80s, Robert was called one of the most talented young actors. In 92, he was already nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Chaplin. And then Downey’s life went downhill.

Downey tried drugs for the first time at the age of 8, and over the years, the addiction became stronger and stronger. Permissiveness, fame and financial situation adversely affected Robert, and therefore in 1996 the actor was sentenced to 16 months in prison for possession of weapons and cocaine.

After his release from prison, the actor tried to find work, but all the roles were small and insignificant, until in 2003 Robert played in the film Gothic. The film may not be the best in Downey’s career, but it was on the set that he met his future wife, for whom he quit drugs and began to change his life.

There were roles in the movies “Kissed Out” and “Zodiac”, and then the role of Tony Stark in “Iron Man”, which returned popularity not only to Downey, but also to the dying Marvel.

1. Marlon Brando, The Godfather | 1972

Marlon began his film career in 1950, and two years later received his first Oscar nomination. During the first 8 years of work as an actor, Marlon was nominated for a statuette 5 times, but after Brando’s career began to decline.

For 14 years, the actor starred only in minor roles, until one day he was invited to the film The Godfather. The role of the mafia became a cult, brought the actor a second Oscar statuette and allowed Brando to star in good films such as Last Tango in Paris and Apocalypse Now.