The year 2012 was supposed to make Taylor Kitsch a star.
The year after finishing his run on the cult TV series “Friday Night Lights,” the actor landed the leads in two megabudget action blockbusters, “John Carter” and “Battleship.” With massive marketing campaigns featuring explosions and a handsome new action hero from a beloved TV show, the studios expected both films to be enormous franchise-starters. Costing an estimated $250 million and $209 million, respectively, surely the films would be the next big thing.
But . . . each took in less than a third of its budget at the domestic box office. Critics tore the movies to shreds, and Kitsch’s follow-up, “Savages,” didn’t fare much better.
And just like that, Hollywood’s hopes for its next A-list draw were extinguished.
Maybe.
A year and a half later, Taylor Kitsch, 32, may very well redeem himself with his return to the big screen, Wednesday’s “Lone Survivor.” Based on the true story of 2005’s “Operation Red Wings” in Afghanistan, the film tells the story of four Navy SEALs who were ambushed while attempting to shut down an al Qaeda operation on the Sawtalo Sar mountain. It’s no spoiler to say that only one, Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), made it out alive. Alongside Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster, Kitsch takes on the part of one of those other selfless SEALs, Lt. Michael Murphy of Long Island. Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery.
“To play someone like that is kind of surreal,” Kitsch tells The Post. “How visceral all that stuff is — that moment, how he went out. He really does exemplify the team’s brotherhood and [leads] by that last action. It’s a phenomenal role.”
Born in British Columbia, Canada, the actor was raised solely by his mother, who had a job with the local liquor board. Kitsch was passionate about hockey and seemed destined to go pro, until a knee injury nipped his plans in the bud. Instead, at 20, he headed to New York to pursue modeling and acting.
Though he now lives comfortably in Austin, Texas (by himself — yes, he is reportedly single), back then, he was homeless, spending his nights sleeping on subway cars.
“What you’re doing is you’re killing [time],” he says. “I would stay at my buddy’s till midnight or whatever and then go and just [ride the train] for five hours and get up and go to the gym at 6 a.m. and shower.”
He smiles.
“I had all my best mates in town for the [‘Lone Survivor’] premiere — my business manager, my mom’s here, my sisters. We laugh. I’m staying at Columbus Circle in the Mandarin and flying family in,” he says, with a chuckle. “It’s a pretty amazing thing to be a part of. It really is just a reminder to keep your head down and do good work.”
That’s poignant advice for someone who’s taken criticism by the bucket load since last year.
“Was it last year?” he asks.
It does feel longer.
“Right?” he says. “I mean, obviously you want [a movie] to be successful. I know that, personally being the lead of these movies, I did everything I possibly could. I couldn’t have acted harder or worked out harder or whatever it was, prepped harder. So that allows me to let go a lot easier.”
So what was the take-away then?
“I learned a lot about myself and how you react, and I think that’s most important,” he says. “I’ve been a lot lower in my life, so it wasn’t like . . . that’s pretty bad if that’s the lowest. I’ve had a pretty f–king good life. You know what I mean? So it’s like, okay, now what? Get back up and go f–king swing again.”
Next year will see Kitsch in his first animated role, in “Almost Heroes 3D” (“I just went for it,” he says with a laugh), but first, he’ll make his boldest move yet, starring as the closeted gay man Bruce Niles in the HBO adaptation of Larry Kramer’s AIDS-focused “The Normal Heart.”
“It really is, at the end of the day, a love story — gay or straight — and that was my approach,” he says. “I wasn’t really concentrated on the gay part. It was just a human story about the loss of life and how you’re dealing with that or not dealing with it.”
He’s also considering his next move with long-time pal Peter Berg, who directed him in “Friday Night Lights,” “Battleship” and “Lone Survivor.”
“We’re taking a beat, but I’m sure we’ll reconnect down the road,” says Kitsch.
Now the actor’s continued success is likely to depend on whether the press and public can let the past go. Kitsch says of all the questions he’s asked, he’s most tired of having to answer for “Carter” and “Battleship,” which is a little surprising given the frequency with which reporters bring up the possibility of a “Friday Night Lights” movie. (“Oh man, I don’t know how many times we can tell you it’s not happening!” he says.)
It all begs the question: Are these new directions Kitsch’s plea for redemption?
“That motivation will last a day,” he says. “You know what I mean? To go into something to spitefully work to have a ‘touché’ or a ‘f–k you’ or whatever you want to call it, that just doesn’t last.”
But with everything that’s happened, would he change anything?
“I’d do it all over again,” he says, point blank. “It’s all a risk.”