Nicole Kidman was A-list back in the Val Kilmer Batman Movie. Since then she’s been in a string of flops (Australia, anyone?) and arthouse films. And even then, she was only A-list by marrying into it.
Lucy Liu, for a few years, was in every single role that required an asian beauty: High Noon, Charlie’s Angels 1 and 2, Kill Bill, etc.
George Clooney has always been box office poison. His career was going nowhere fast until he had moderate success with Ocean’s 11. Brad Pitt hasn’t made a splash since Babel. Matt Damon was on life support after Good Will Hunting. Bourne basically saved his career. Julia Roberts also had her career killed after Ocean’s 11-12.
I’m not sure about Clooney, but Damon’s career is doing just fine - he simply manages it differently then most A-list actors, alternating serious work in films by respected directors (Coens, Eastwood, Scorcese, Soderberg, Greengrass - all of whom he’s worked with in the past five years) with the occasional blockbuster like the Bourne films. He’s an actor who occasionally plays the role of a movie star, not the other way around.
Pitt, on his part, seems only to take roles that he finds interesting - very few of which are standard “leading man” roles. His last two movies were directed by Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher, and were critical and commerical successes.
Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy have certainly seen better days. Cameron Diaz is sliding slowly. Bill Murray is running out of edgy, hip, young directors to keep him aloft. And Billy Bob Thornton!..
She may have initially entered the A-list by marrying into it, but she’s been pretty well-respected over the years and still draws a lot of attention. And it’d be hard to argue that her career right now isn’t better shape than that of Tom Cruise.
Likely back in 1997-2001, when he was receiving props and nominations for Trainspotting, Moulin Rouge!, and Black Hawk Down.
And it’s not using “bizarro logic” to say a film with disappointing BO grosses indicates you are no longer on the A-list, especially if you’re not even the leading man.
Seinfeld is still packing in big crowds as a standup comic. I saw him at Austin’s Bass Concert Hall last year, and he’s still in peak form.
My sense is, standup comedy is still his first love, and his TV show gave him the financial security to do what he LIKES doing. Remember that, unlike Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Jerry HASN’T tried to launch a new TV series, nor has he starred in any flop movies (or ANY movies, unless you count his voiceover work in the cartoon “Bee Movie”).
He’s doing what he wants to do, and is still very good at it.
That’s the impression I get also, that stand-up is his true passion. Also it doesn’t hurt that he’s one of the few comedians in America who can consistently sell out arenas while charging a premium ticket price (which start at about $50-$60 whenever he plays around here, a mid-sized city in the south).
His two movies before Ocean’s 11 were O Brother, Where Art Thou? - $45M Box office and *The Perfect Storm *- $182M. Odd definition for either career going nowhere or box office poison.
Sylvester Stallone re-visited ‘Rocky’ several times after the first and original. Sigourney Weaver re-visited ‘Alien’ a few more times, and is going to be in a ‘Ghostbusters’ sequel. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if someday Julia Roberts made an appearance in a ‘Pretty Woman’ sequel, and didn’t Quentin Tarantino once say he wanted to make a ‘Kill Bill’ sequel far in the future, starring the little girl who watched the big fight in the kitchen and is going to seek revenge? - well, there’s Uma Thurman’s retirement ka-ching, if she can just wait a few years.
Hanks is more of a producer these days (Big Love, The Pacific, indie movies), but movies he stars in (Angels & Demons, Toy Story 3) still make serious money.
Are you sure you aren’t confusing actors you don’t like with actors “on the decline”? I think that the fact that you mention Bourne saved Matt’s career directly contradicts yourself. Julia’s “Eat, pray, love” shows you aren’t quite up to speed on her career.
Also, I disagree that Lucy Liu was an A-list or that Charlie’s Angels required an asian beauty.
