Taylor Kitsch
With three movies on the horizon, including Friday's "John Carter," it's safe to say this is the Year of Kitsch. Walt Disney Pictures

Taylor Kitsch is set to have a huge movie year, thanks to the Disney blockbuster John Carter, opening Friday, and the big screen adaptation of the popular game, Battleship, out this summer.

The Canadian actor is also working with some of Hollywood's biggest names (John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Benecio del Toro, Demian Bichir) in the upcoming Oliver Stone project, Savages.

To date, Kitsch, 30, is perhaps most famous for playing the heart-stopping longhaired football god otherwise known as Tim Riggins. For five seasons, Friday Night Lights fans, old and new, watched Riggins grow from a rebellious high school football star to a rebellious adult. Riggins was last seen building a new life and new home in the heart of Texas. (Texas Forever).

This is going to be a huge year for me, no doubt about that, Kitsch recently told ESPN.

Battleship will reunite Kitsch with Friday Night Lights creator, Peter Berg, who served as director and producer on the film.

I've been working for two years on these movies and they will all hit in five months. It's quite insane . . . but what are you going to do? When Oliver Stone calls, you answer. When Peter Berg calls, you pick up, he said.

Soon, he will grace multiple magazine covers, giant movie posters and make so many television appearances promoting his work that fans will lose count (but really, who's counting?)

As movie fans get ready for the Year of Kitsch, here are 5 things you might not know about the star.

John Carter opens in theaters this Friday.

Kitsch almost didn't play Tim Riggins Can you imagine Tim Riggins without the face of Taylor Kitsch?

In a recent interview with GQ, Kitsch revealed that the casting was very last minute.

I e-mailed [a tape] to them, traveled down on Sunday to read. There was one guy left reading for Riggins. He thought he had it, obviously, being the only f**king guy. So I come into this boardroom. There's this cocky guy sitting across from me, like, 'What are you reading for?' Two hours later, you're Tim Riggins, Kitsch told GQ. (Phew).

Kitsch was in Snakes on a Plane In a blink-and-you'll-miss role, Kitsch played Kyle Crocodile Cho in the Samuel L. Jackson (classic), Snakes on Plane.

Kitsch was homeless before he made it to Friday Night Lights Before making it big with FNL, Kitsch was doing what many people go to New York and LA to do: modeling. But he did it mostly homeless, sleeping on subway trains in New York and his car in LA.

It's what I dealt with, that's what's in front of me . . . I'll sleep here for the night, got class at 10, and go, Kitsch told Canadian journalist George Stroumboulopoulos in 2011.

Like Riggins, Kitsch lives in Texas Even though his Friday Night Lights days are long gone, Kitsch still has a lot of Texas in him. He lives there when he's not working on big blockbusters or doing movie junkets.

I've always been a big country guy . . . there's some watering holes within Austin I love. A good old rodeo never hurt anyone. And those Texas sunsets, Kitsch told GQ.

Young Kitsch was on his way to pro-hockey Until his busted his knee. While he's (probably) making more money as an actor, Kitsch hasn't forgotten the sport of his nation. Kitsch still plays -- in a men's league in Texas.

Here is a 10-minute scene from John Carter, courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.