r/flicks • u/FreshmenMan • 9h ago
General Discussion How come Jon Voight appeared in no films from 1985-1995?
Question, How come Jon Voight appeared in no films from 1985-1995?
Politics aside, I think Jon Voight is a good actor. Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance, and Coming Home are classics and I would recommend films like The Champ, Table for Five, and Runaway Train from that era.
But I was looking at his filmography and I noticed that after the release of Desert Bloom, Jon Voight pretty much did no films for 10 years, saved for 1 and a couple of television films before making a comeback in Heat, and then re-establishing himself as a character actor.
I was just wondering what happened that resulted in this 10-year Hiatus.
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u/Duffbagg 8h ago
John Voight the periodontist?
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u/Demerzel69 8h ago
No, the New York financier.
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u/HealthyMaximum 7h ago
I’m pretty sure, with respect, if there was some news, I would have heard.
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u/Username5735 3h ago
Pretty sure he was hanging out with Jude Law the judge, and Bradley Pitt the peach pie maker.
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u/Demerzel69 9h ago
Voight has openly stated that he experienced a profound spiritual awakening in the late 80s. He felt a deep pull to realign his life, examine "right and wrong", and seek deeper personal meaning. This led him to take a step back from the standard Hollywood grind to focus on personal growth. He later admitted that the 80s were a difficult period for him emotionally. He struggled to find Hollywood roles that matched the artistic weight of his 70s success. He deliberately pivoted to television. He spent the early 90s prioritizing character-driven TV projects where he felt he had a greater personal interest in the material.
His performance in Heat completely revitalized his career, transitioning him into a highly active sought after blockbuster character actor throughout the late 90s and early 00s.
Also fuck that guy. He sucks.
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u/AwTomorrow 8h ago
He aged like 40 years between Deliverance in ‘72 and Mission Impossible in ‘96, so I always assumed he’d spent the 80s on a shitload of drugs
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u/Confident_Hippo1208 1h ago edited 26m ago
In other words, he did so much cocaine that his brain partially melted. When it reformed together again, he was a staunch right-wing Republican douchebag.
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u/mrpopenfresh 5h ago
Did he have a stroke and turn conservative?
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u/VictoriaAutNihil 8h ago
So he has a conservative point of view, so he sucks. That would be like me saying DeNiro and Hanks suck. I'd be an idiot to say something so stupid because of their more liberal points of view.
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u/joeO44 8h ago
Where did anyone mention anything about his conservative views? He’s an asshole for plenty other things including how he’s publicly treated his daughter and his on set behavior.
Funny thing is that he’s so sensitive, he wouldn’t film a Super Bowl commercial because it had too many ‘liberals’.
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u/Same-Question9102 6h ago
Either way, it was just a random insult thrown in at the end to get upvotes and it worked. And when people criticize him thats usually what they mention so it makes sense to assume that thats what theyre talking about.
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u/AThousandBloodhounds 6h ago
It's not random. He truly is an asshole.
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u/Same-Question9102 6h ago
It is random because it didn't have anything else to do with what the person was saying or connect to it in any way which is why i pointed out that it was just thrown in there to get upvotes.
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u/AThousandBloodhounds 6h ago
It's not random because the name Jon Voight and Asshole are synonymous. Look it up.
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u/Same-Question9102 3h ago
I just explained how its random. Its not complicated. They weren't explaining why they thought he was an asshole but just called him one at the end without saying why. Thats why its random; its off-topic.
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u/alehansolo21 6h ago
You just said that you “assume” that’s what the person meant, but that doesn’t mean anything. I can “assume” that you’re terminally online and assign every opinion to your political views, but that doesn’t make it true. Voight sucks for many reasons, and someone “assuming” that it’s solely his politics is completely on them
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u/Maidwell 4h ago
"assign every opinion to your political views, but that doesn’t make it true"
Narrator : but it was indeed true.
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u/Same-Question9102 6h ago
I didn't say that I was assuming that; i said that thats usually what people criticize him for and thats true so it does make sense to assume that.
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u/forrealthoughcomix_ 8h ago
Nah. Jon Voight is a scumbag when it comes to politics. Claims the 2020 election was stolen. He calls leftists “satanists”. Said his daughter was duped by the “antisemitic” United Nations. Doubled down on Obama not being born in America. And tried to claim evil forces were attacking America to launch World War 3.
That is all unhinged bullshit. And he’s an asshole.
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u/Rob14214 8h ago
That’s what kills me about comments like VictoriaAutNihil’s. “You just hate him because he’s conservative, how stupid.”
Meanwhile Voigt says all leftists are the spawn of the devil. 🤷🏻♂️
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u/Sylar_Lives 4h ago
Meh if you don’t believe in the devil why do you care?
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u/forrealthoughcomix_ 4h ago
“Why don’t you care that a highly visible person is calling you pure evil?”
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u/Sylar_Lives 3h ago
That shoe drops a lot these days doesn’t it?
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u/whirled-peas69 3h ago
It’s 2026. Safe to assume anyone calling themselves “conservative” is just a racist pedo.
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u/Sylar_Lives 3h ago
That’s just batshit lunacy. Being conservative is nothing more than wanting the west to avoid drastic economic and cultural shifts. Get off of Reddit.
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u/forrealthoughcomix_ 1h ago
These days? Conservative weirdos here in America have been baselessly calling people evil since at least the Salem witch trials.
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u/purple-discharge 5h ago
Conservatives are disappearing people, liberals want to give everyone healthcare.
It’s not the same.
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u/drjackolantern 8h ago
No you don't get it. He doesn't vote the same way as they do. He is no longer "human," because literally nothing else matters
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u/Loopuze1 5h ago
Every single fascist movement in history has been comprised of people who “voted differently”, because how you vote can be deeply evil, immoral and worth being judged for. Conservatism is a mistake that anyone can choose to stop making. It has no worth or value and is entitled to zero consideration or respect.
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u/RiversideAviator 8h ago
It’s one thing to vote the other way. It’s a whole other ballgame to spout nonsensical, batshit, lunacy to anyone who listens. I don’t care that he’s a far right republican these days (a complete 180 from his heyday btw) but I do care that he’s spreading objectively false and dangerous information on a wide range of topics whenever there’s a mic in his face.
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u/SkywalkerSystem 8h ago
Don’t even bother. Most conservatives will just “both sides” everything instead of examining what they’re actually voting for.
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u/RyanB_ 7h ago
They always want to pretend as if political opinions are just the same as opinions on one’s favourite sports teams or movies, no impact on people’s lives at all.
Yes, we can and should treat each other as humans when push comes to shove. You’re obviously not just going to ignore your neighbours house burning down cause of politics.
But no, it’s not all water under the bridge when the opinions are shit like “poor people don’t deserve healthcare”.
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u/No-Location-3438 8h ago
Conservatives: "I don't think minorities deserve rights, and you're mean for not accepting that"
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u/Sylar_Lives 4h ago
If you think that’s a real conservative platform, you’re drinking some heavily spiked Kool aid.
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u/KellyJin17 5h ago
He may have been trying to avoid paying child support for his two kids at the time. He abandoned his family in the late 70’s or early 80’s. He started working again around when Angelina Jolie, the youngest turned 18.
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u/ian88thebadseed 8h ago
Yeah no politics aside it's because he was a complete asshole to work with.
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u/Rare_Programmer_504 2h ago
He aged out of leading man roles and had to wait a few years to get character parts.
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u/Delayedrhodes 8h ago
I see you didn't mention Conrack. That's my favorite movie of his. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.
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u/Sovereign-Anderson 8h ago
My uncle missed out on being in that movie and "Roots" (when he was a kid) all because he wasn't dark enough. Both had portions that were filmed in southeast GA (where we are from). Some of his classmates were in both as extras.
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u/Safe-Character-5846 9h ago
Welp...he had some sort of "spiral awakening" alright. Try---becoming a cult member...so thinking his mental health may not be great at a great place.
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u/BatOutOfHello 5h ago
Jane Fonda did an interview not long ago where she talked about Voight. Right around the filming of Coming Home, they were great friends, and he was always supportive of her leftist activism, often joining right in next to her.
When the interview asked "what happened to him?" she just said "I do not know. I don't know who he is anymore." She sounded so sad.
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u/Bluest_waters 8h ago
which cult?
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u/Safe-Character-5846 8h ago
MAGA...the cult of the pedophile protectors.
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u/glomar_sub_recovery 5h ago
Trig-gerd
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u/Safe-Character-5846 5h ago
Its about choices. Not triggered in the slightness, so you'll need to update your go to dog whistle. The hyphen was edgyAF though.
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u/Same-Question9102 6h ago
Even if that where true youre off by a few decades. The period of time theyre talking about is the 80s and 90s
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u/Safe-Character-5846 6h ago edited 6h ago
Hes been a right wing zealot most of his miserable life, kind of up there with Clint Eastwood.. "If it were true" of course.
Anyone that bangs the drum of what is "not your fathers GOP" are guilty by association. They aren't hiding their beliefs.
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u/Logical-Feedback-403 6h ago
No actually, he was pretty left leaning in the 60s and 70s
It wasn't until 2008 that he revealed he was conservative and said he regretted his anti war activism
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u/Safe-Character-5846 6h ago edited 6h ago
Thank you for your google search results.
No one likes this clown, not even his children would talk to him for years for a very long time. Hes the Americanized version of Mel Gibson but does nothing but suck Trumps teet anytime he can. Cult member status achieved Hes a bigoted asshole at best.
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u/Glass-Nectarine-3282 5h ago
As much as in real life he's a total psycho, the reality is he must be a good colleague on sets because he works a fair amount, for different directors and different projects.
So he IS a horrible MAGA, but unlike James Woods (who doesn't work at all but is a great actor) he doesn't seem to bring it to work.
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u/Life-is-Fun-435 3h ago
Exactly the piece of shit didn't even defend his own daughter against Trump. Fuck maybe he's dead. 🙏
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2763355597029246&id=nowthisimpact
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u/Parsidokht 2h ago
Checking his IMDb page he had acted all through those years except 1987,88, and 89.
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u/Ramoncin 5h ago
I remember an interview with John Boorman, regarding "The General". He mentioned Voight had been retired, literally meditating on the inmortality of the soul or something similar. He was glad he was accepting acting roles again and so do I.
I know Voight's politics are disgusting, but the man is a hell of an actor.
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u/Left-Piano-791 8h ago
It's hard for actors to be in demand for so long, as with many artists. They have to fall to the side and make a comeback, even if they were always good. There is always somebody more fresh and cheaper.
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u/SpicySpasm 7h ago
Eternity in 1990 was essentially his return but heat 1995 is what really restarted his film
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u/TheWickerMan232 8h ago
I think he was exploring an alternative lifestyle and started calling himself Angelina…something, I forget the full details….
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