4) Mel Gibson
Then:
The 80s and 90s were very good to Mel Gibson. In those two decades he made three Mad Max films, four Lethal Weapons, a couple of acclaimed efforts with Peter Weir, a Shakespeare adaptation with Franco Zeffirelli, Braveheart, plus a bunch of popular tough guy films like Ransom and Payback.
Now:
Gibson’s downfall has been in large part not through choice: a series of racially-charged altercations – with the police, with his wife, with his colleagues – is what led him to become a Hollywood pariah. Since 2003, he’s managed to make just five films, none of which have been particularly well-received.
He does, however, have a fresh directorial effort, the war drama Hacksaw Ridge, due for release this year. No doubt he’s hoping it’s good enough to help everyone forget that time he called a cop “sugar tits.”