10 Actors Who Are About To Make A Huge Comeback

Finally, it's time for these lost or forgotten talents to shine again.

The Polka King Jack Black
Red Hour Productions

It's hard to deny the romantic allure of a Hollywood comeback.

Just look at what's happened recently with Nicole Kidman. By way of a few perfectly chosen movies and a bold TV venture, she's gone from making endless box office flops and critical duds to being the toast of Cannes. Then there's Laura Dern, who most of us only remember from Jurassic Park - now she's in absolutely everything, and is even set to star in this year's Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

So how do actors find themselves in need of a comeback in the first place? Well, sometimes they fall out of favour because they're just too popular; we turn on them because they're overexposed. Under different circumstances, events in an actor's personal life can cause the public to lose interest, or they prove difficult to work with, or they take too long of a break between flicks and lose their marketability.

But after you've been out of the limelight for so long, the right kind of comeback can rejuvenate an entire career. It's possible to graduate from lame bit parts (playing characters that anyone could play, like parents or annoying spouses) to suddenly finding yourself poised as one of the leads in a major Hollywood film.

And that's exactly what's about to happen for a host of familiar faces...

10. Val Kilmer - Song To Song/The Snowman

1298814

At one time, Val Kilmer was seen as one of Hollywood's hottest properties. Handsome, talented, charismatic (at least he appeared that way on screen), Kilmer was beloved to such an extent that they even let him play Batman. Sure, it was only one film (and not a very good one), but that's more than most actors ever get.

Then something happened: Kilmer's reputation for being a pain the arse started to eclipse Hollywood's desire to actually employ him, and so he ended up being lost to what now reads as an endless list of films you've never heard of. Arguably his only memorable role of the past 15 years was in Shane Black's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

But Kilmer is set to make a comeback in 2017, owing to his role in the upcoming adaptation of Jo Nesbo's thriller The Snowman, as directed by Tomas Alfredson. Kilmer will star alongside Michael Fassbender in an unknown role. Not only that, but he also has a small part - which he reportedly steals the movie with in under two minutes - in the latest Terrence Malick film, Song to Song, which features both Christian Bale and Natalie Portman and has done well on the festival circuit.

After having not been in a movie for 3 years, that's all pretty good going, Val.

In this post: 
Jack-Black
 
Posted On: 
Contributor

Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.