James Remar in Crime Story

Season 2: Episode 2 "Blast From The Past"

Cool photo. This is a great episode of a great show that was too short lived.

He was fired from Aliens for being in possession of cocaine. I think that damaged his career because he didn't get much good roles or movies for quite a few years after that. It was mostly supporting roles in medicore films. He could've been a leading man in movies as he had the talent and charisma for it. It's a pity. He could've had a better career than he did. Aliens could have really propelled him. 
He was also great in The Cotton Club, Band of the Hand and on Vice in Buddies. Just this picture shows he has charisma and presence to burn and he also had acting talent too. I really think he blew his big chance.

If Michael Biehn's mainstream career is anything to go by, then being Corporal Hicks didn't really make anybody something major. And Biehn had a lot more going for him in terms of potential mass acceptance than Remar all told. I think what held them both back is being regarded as genre actors, which was something not nearly as respected back then as it is now. Even Weaver herself had a hard time shaking that off to be able to do other things.

I'd say that Biehn's career was better than James' after Aliens. 
James' career was a bit mediocre for over a decade after 1986 and then he started getting better roles.
I think it was the fact that he was fired from Aliens on drugs charges that harmed his career and might have damaged his reputation in Hollywood. Brad Davis' movie career tanked after Midnight Express because of his heavy and public drug and alcohol use then. It might have been the same here.

He got an important role in the popular series Dexter.

Both guys would never play lead on an A-list level. Biehn had the potential to, had he been pushed. But instead he was typecast as a soldier-type in supporting roles most of the time. Remar was always doomed to either support or heavy status imo. I don't think being Hicks would've changed that. Aliens was more of an ensemble piece anyway with a female star. If Biehn was really going to break out, it should've happened after Terminator, a film where he actually got to lead and have a great deal of the screentime. Look at Mark Hamill, for instance. It was Bill Paxton who would rise the most out of that squad, which no one really saw coming. But to do that he had to change the public's perception of him as an actor.

I think James could've been like Dafoe or James Woods. He could've had the kind of career they had.

Possibly, but having a coke habit in '86 in Hollywood of all places should not have been enough to derail that from happening. There had to be other factors. 

6 hours ago, Bren10 said:

Possibly, but having a coke habit in '86 in Hollywood of all places should not have been enough to derail that from happening. There had to be other factors. 

I agree. I always liked Biehn as well. Tombstone really gave us a look at some of his potential in my view. He and Kilmer played off each other to perfection.

On 8/31/2020 at 5:41 PM, Bren10 said:

Possibly, but having a coke habit in '86 in Hollywood of all places should not have been enough to derail that from happening. There had to be other factors. 

True. If that wasn't the case then most actors careers would be on the slide, because they were all more or less snorting coke back in the 80's