Burt Reynolds after he posed naked in the April 1972 issue of "Cosmopolitan". Reynolds said he did it for "a kick. I have a strange sense of humor" and because he knew he had "Deliverance" coming out. He later expressed regret for posing for Cosmopolitan. "Deliverance" was a huge commercial and critical success and, along with the talk show appearances, helped establish Reynolds as a star. "The night of the Academy Awards, I counted a half-dozen Burt Reynolds jokes," he later said. "I had become a household name, the most talked-about star at the award show." He was then in "Fuzz" (1972),
Jon Voight teamed up with Russian writer and director Andrei Konchalovsky to play the role of escaped con Manny Manheim in "Runaway Train". The script was based on a story by Akira Kurosawa, and paired Voight with Eric Roberts as a fellow escapee. Voight received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe's award for Best Actor. Roberts was also honored for his performance, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Voight followed up this and other performances with a role in the 1986 film, "Desert Bloom", and reportedly experienced a "spiritual awakening" toward the end