Robert Downey Jr.
How Bad Did Things Get And Why? It’s a testament to Robert Downey Jr.’s enduring talent and popularity that even at the height of what were some pretty serious substance abuse issues, he still enjoyed a career that many B-list actors would consider themselves blessed by, and even turned in consistently good performances from “Wonder Boys” and in his Globe-winning stint on “Ally McBeal”. But then it’s also a testament to just how much A-list potential he always had that second and third leads in things like “U.S. Marshals” “The Gingerbread Man” and “In Dreams” always seemed beneath his abilities, and that’s not even mentioning possible career low point, 1996’s “Danger Zone,” starring Billy Zane. But more than many on this list, Downey Jr. did it to himself, sliding into addiction and being frequently arrested and occasionally incarcerated for drug use. By the time of his being fired from “Ally McBeal” in 2001, the cycle of rehab followed by relapse had made him uninsurable, and therefore all but unhireable.
What Turned it Around? Most importantly, Downey Jr. got sober, and had enough friends in the business that were willing to take a flier on him whatever his insurance status—starting ironically with Mel Gibson who put up the bond himself to cover Downey Jr. for “The Singing Detective” Gradually he worked his way back to the kind of profile he’d enjoyed prior to his arrests, but this time the crucial difference was in the quality of roles he was taking—from well-received indies like “A Guide to Recognizing your Saints” and “Good Night and Good Luck,” to small but impressive roles in big films like “Zodiac” and of course, showing the early glimmering of his trademark wisecracking but flawed hero in our beloved “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” People had noticed that Downey Jr., now back, was better than ever, and the big break seemed inevitable, but how many could have guessed it would be as big as it was? 2008 was Downey Jr.’s epochal year, when he outstripped the term “comeback” and established himself as a bigger star than he had ever been before, with both a brilliantly hilarious turn in “Tropic Thunder” and a career-defining role as Tony Stark in “Iron Man”.
How Well Has He Fared Since? Well, he’s one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, so we’d say he’s doing okay. The lynchpin of Marvel’s most successful franchises (“Iron Man” and “The Avengers”) it’s perhaps now getting to the stage where we’d like to see him do something other than trade quips and blows with other superheroes, and sure enough, his next two films are due to be next year’s comedy “The Chef” for Jon Favreau and thriller “The Judge” with Robert Duvall. In fact, if anyone were to write the book on managing a career resuscitation (in 2008 he cancelled plans for a memoir and returned the advance incidentally), it should be Robert Downey Jr. Except he’s probably too busy.
What Has He Got To Say About It? This is a quote from RDJ at the 2011 American Cinematheque Awards. It’s about Mel Gibson, but it says as much about him: “I humbly ask that you join me—unless you are completely without sin, and in which case you picked the wrong fucking industry—in forgiving my friend of his trespasses and offering him the same clean slate that you have me and allowing him to continue his great and on-going contribution to our collective art without shame.”
Ben Affleck
How Bad Did Things Get And Why? Affleck was one of Hollywood’s golden boys, having risen from seeming obscurity to win an Oscar for writing “Good Will Hunting” (alongside his childhood pal and creative partner Matt Damon). After that, Affleck would mix in the odd prestige pic every once in a while (like “Shakespeare in Love“) but more or less went for the gold: high concept, big-budget studio movies with diminishing results (things like “Armageddon,” “Forces of Nature,” “Pearl Harbor” and “Reindeer Games“). He seemed to be saying “yes” more than saying “why?” In 2001 he entered rehab for alcohol abuse and by all accounts got clean. Not that it changed his regrettable string of professional decisions, which continued with “Daredevil,” “Gigli,” “Paycheck” and “Jersey Girl” (a movie that its director, Kevin Smith, won’t even defend). If this string of decision-making had continued, Affleck was ripe for the role of the handsome, talented, smart leading man who just fades into obscurity, a dude of whom people would ask “Whatever happened to…?”
What Turned It Around? Affleck started directing. In switching over to the other side of the camera (often times while still maintaining a presence in front of it), Affleck got a creative second wind. It’s been pretty exciting to watch; for many years the exploits Affleck would get into in his personal life (lovingly chronicled by every gossip magazine and tabloid in the land) were more interesting than what he was doing in the movies. But all that changed. And in his self-directed roles, he’s given himself the best material he’s had as an actor for years.
How Has He Fared Since? Starting with 2007’s “Gone Baby Gone” and continuing with 2010’s “The Town” and last year’s Best Picture-winning “Argo,” Affleck has honed his craft as a filmmaker while putting in supporting roles in smaller movies (things like Joe Carnahan‘s “Smokin’ Aces” and Terrence Malick‘s “To the Wonder“). For a while Affleck was everywhere—not just at the movie theaters but in the checkout aisle at the grocery store, too, and now every time he pops up as a director or actor, it feels like something to prize. Not that every decision he makes is golden; the online gambling thriller “Runner Runner” released this fall, after he’d directed and starred in the gripping, Best Picture “Argo,” proved to be a nearly historic bomb. Still: the future looks bright for him as an actor too. Next year he’ll star in director David Fincher‘s hotly anticipated adaptation of the literary phenomenon “Gone Girl” and don the cape and cowl for Zack Snyder‘s untitled “Man of Steel” sequel. If that wasn’t enough, he’ll either be prepping or shooting his next directorial effort, an adaptation of Dennis Lehane‘s historical mystery “Live by Night.” If the renaissance of Affleck the actor hasn’t quite happened yet, it sure feels like it’s about to.
What Has He Got To Say About It? In a Hollywood Reporter cover story last year, Affleck summed things up succinctly: “I was frustrated with the movies that I had done. I knew that I had something to offer. I said: ‘Here are the things I’d like to do: I want to direct movies, and I want to be in a movie that I’m enormously proud of. I want to have kids.’ I set out goals. It was a bold thing because when one is accustomed to falling short, as I had been, one becomes fearful of making predictions. But I did.”
Drew Barrymore
How Bad Did Things Get And Why? Barrymore was a beloved child actress, from a dynasty of acting royalty, but the industry tends to treat those so very gently, and her struggles soon became the overmedicated kind. The young topliner of “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Firestarter” coasted through her teenage years as an admitted substance abuser. She ended up checking herself into rehab at the tender age of 14.
What Turned it Around? Cheesecake ended up being Barrymore’s salvation. At 17, she was a standout in the thriller “Poison Ivy,” a role that gave her the sort of attention usually reserved for slightly older actresses (precocity had always been a stock in trade). The film wasn’t a massive hit (despite a number of cheeseball sequels without her) but it showed that Barrymore was a formidable screen presence, and over the years she would log enough supporting roles in major films like “Boys On The Side” and “Batman Forever” that she was no longer the little-girl-lost that the tabloids depicted her as. But it was a showy cameo in “Scream,” that got her more attention than most actresses would earn for a lead role, that really kicked things up a gear for her, and by the time she was co-starring in “The Wedding Singer” with Adam Sandler, Hollywood had begun to notice she was a bankable leading actress.
How Well Has She Fared Since? Starring roles were landing on Barrymore’s plate, but she was smart enough to diversify, moving behind the camera as a producer on hit starring vehicles like “Never Been Kissed,” “Charlie’s Angels” and “Donnie Darko.” Even though she alternated hits and bombs on the big screen, she had developed a well-liked rep within the industry, and she earned plaudits for her directorial debut, “Whip It.” Barrymore actually hasn’t had a hit for a couple of years now, but her recent marriage and child seem to have become a higher priority. In a curious footnote, Barrymore has also hosted “Saturday Night Live” six times, more than any other female performer, which is indicative of the level of decades-long goodwill toward her following that rough stretch in her childhood.
What Has She Got To Say About It? “If I ever start talking to you about my ‘craft,’ my ‘instrument,’ you have permission to shoot me.”
John Travolta
How Bad Did Things Get And Why? Travolta rocketed to superstardom on the cusp of a pair of movies that more or less defined the ’70s: “Grease” and “Saturday Night Fever” (released just a year apart from one another). For the latter he became one of the youngest actors ever nominated for the Best Actor Oscar and inspired an entire generation of grease-balls to style their hair a certain way and walk with an almost otherworldly strut. After “Urban Cowboy,” however, Travolta made a string of mad decisions, turning down a number of roles that turned out to be huge hits (he supposedly rejected both “American Gigolo” and “An Officer and a Gentlemen” among others, so Richard Gere owes him a drink) and chose to star in a number of films that were both critical and commercial nonstarters (things like the aerobics-set drama “Perfect,” the underwhelming “Saturday Night Fever” sequel “Staying Alive,” and “Two of a Kind,” a movie that reunited him with his “Grease” costar Olivia Newton-John and featured angels or something). His best role from this period, in Brian De Palma‘s 1981 thriller “Blow Out,” was a box office disaster; a downbeat ’70s movie released in the upbeat, spend-spend-spend ’80s. And at the other end of that decade, “Look Who’s Talking” grossed nearly $300 million, making it his biggest hit since “Grease,” but it was a lame comedy about talking babies, with Travolta then faced with the indignity of two sequels (the first released the following year!). Also in that period: a forgettable period musical called “Shout” and a terrible TV movie called “Chains of Gold” that Travolta also co-wrote. Travolta might have been under the impression that his raw charisma could carry projects that just weren’t there or maybe he was being guided by factors outside of himself (we have no idea what influence the powerful Church of Scientology holds over his career choices), but whatever the reason, he signed onto half-baked premises and lousy scripts time and time again.
What Turned It Around? Two words: “Pulp Fiction.” The film’s director, Quentin Tarantino, was a diehard Brian De Palma fanatic (in addition to “Blow Out,” Travolta also had a brief but memorable role in “Carrie“) and was adamant about casting Travolta in the lead of his multilayered crime comedy (at the time, Travolta was “as cold as you could get,” according to Tarantino’s manager). It was a genius move and resulted in Travolta being nominated for everything from a Best Actor Oscar to an MTV Movie Award for Best Dance Sequence. Tarantino might have shown balls (and a certain kind of brilliance) in casting him, but Travolta’s performance is absolutely dynamite. It was the kind of thing that made people (especially people who don’t see movies about talking babies) wonder where he’d been for so long.
How Well Has He Fared Since? For a while it looked like Travolta would be able to maintain the momentum and intensity of his “Pulp Fiction” role for the foreseeable future: right after “Pulp Fiction” he starred in Barry Sonnenfeld‘s wonderfully wacky Elmore Leonard adaptation “Get Shorty,” and in box office hits like “Michael,” “Phenomenon,” and “Broken Arrow” (for director John Woo). There were some missteps along the way (“White Man’s Burden,” “Broken City“), but Travolta was able to delicately balance commercial fare like Woo’s “Face/Off” with more dramatic stuff like “A Civil Action” or artier fare like Terrence Malick‘s “Thin Red Line.” And then came 2000’s “Battlefield Earth,” a passion project for the actor for a number of years and based on the early science fiction work of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, that was both a critical and commercial boondoggle, a film widely regarded as one of the worst, most financially disastrous, movies in the history of Hollywood. Travolta has limped along since, starring in the occasional blockbuster (like Disney‘s “Wild Hogs“) and occasionally giving really great performances (like in “Hairspray“) but nothing to match the critical and commercial shot-in-the-arm of “Pulp Fiction.” Especially when he’s doing trash like this year’s almost-direct-to-DVD “Killing Season.”
What Has He Got To Say About It? Travolta is largely quoted as having said that “Saturday Night Fever” and “Pulp Fiction” were the “pillars” of his career. And in a lot of ways this seems to be the literal truth, propping up the rest of his filmography, and his considerable star power, on their strength alone.
