MANILA, Philippines – After stars experience the bad fortune of topbilling a number of flops, producers give them a wide berth and they end up as has-beens. What do they do after spending months or years licking their bruises? Sure as shooting, they try to make a hit comeback. Now older and a lot wiser, they do their best to choose the right vehicle to renew their popularity, with varying results.

Low points

Of late, the comeback kids who’ve come on strong after particularly low points in their careers include Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, and Woody Harrelson.

Downey was sidelined by personal problems and bouts with addiction, but has “miraculously” bounced back with hits like “Iron Man” and “Tropic Thunder.”

For his part, Woody Harrelson was down and out for years, but his star began shining brighter again with his supporting appearance in the Jennifer Aniston-Steve Zahn comedy, “Management.”

In the film, Harrelson played Aniston’s “crazy” boyfriend so feistily that viewers were jolted into retroactive attention. Why had they given up on the actor when it was obvious that he was an unusually dynamic and inventive performer?

Harrelson has quickly followed up on the good impression with his similarly in-your-face portrayal in the current blockbuster, “2012.” He’s one of the few actors in the movie who aren’t completely upstaged by the production’s terrifying visual wizardry.

In the apocalyptic film, Harrelson plays a loopy radio announcer who predicts the end of the world to coincide with the end of the Mayan calendar.

Solar flares

To add credence to his “mad” prophecy, he sets up camp at a national park where the water supply has dried up due to major changes in the earth’s crust resulting from unprecedentedly violent solar flares. It turns out that Harrelson’s seemingly crazy character isn’t so demented, after all, as subsequent destructive events affirm.

To make sure that his comeback sticks, Harrelson is following up on the success of “2012” with another apocalyptic starrer, “Zombieland,” where he has an even bigger role. He’s co-starring as a zombie killer (of all things).

In the freaky film, zombies have taken over the United States, and Harrelson’s character is one of the few survivors who’ve learned how to outwit the bloodthirsty killers. In particular, he helps the movie’s young male lead (Jesse Eisenberg) to stay alive as the savage zombies go on a killing spree across the country.

Like “2012,” “Zombieland” is expected to click with moviegoers despite its apocalyptic shockers. The film is described as a viewer-pleaser, because it employs humor to mitigate its visual terrors. Harrelson’s successful comeback bids prove that, if an actor is talented, you can’t put him down – for long.