Early appearances are often mistakenly considered as cameos. Sylvester Stallone appears in Woody Allen's Bananas credited as only as "Subway Thug #1," five years before his breakout role in 1976's Rocky. Other examples would be Elijah Wood in Back to the Future Part II and Samuel L. Jackson in The Exorcist III. These are early appearances of non-established actors.

Quentin Tarantino provides cameos or small roles on some of his movies.

Kevin Smith appears in most of his movies, such as Chasing Amy, in which he, as Silent Bob, delivers an ironically lengthy monologue which encapsulates the movie's plot and explains the title. Smith's Silent Bob has a longer role in Dogma, and then assumes the lead role in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Likewise, Peter Jackson has made brief cameos in all of his movies, except for his first feature length movie Bad Taste in which he plays a main character. For example, he plays a peasant eating a carrot in The Fellowship of the Ring; a Rohan warrior in The Two Towers and a pirate boatswain in The Return of the King. All three were non-speaking "blink and you miss him" appearances, although in the Extended Release of The Return of the King, his character was given more screen time. He also appears in his 2005 remake of King Kong as the gunner on a biplane in the finale.

Director Martin Scorsese appears in the background of his films as a bystander or an unseen character. In Who's That Knocking at My Door, he appears as one of the gangsters, a passenger in Taxi Driver. He opens up his 1986 film The Color of Money with a monologue on the art of playing pool. In addition, he appears with his wife and daughter as wealthy New Yorkers in Gangs of New York, and he appears as a theatre-goer and is heard as a movie projectionist in The Aviator.

Denys Arcand portrays a judge in his film Jesus of Montreal.

Yet, some directors, even among the most celebrated, never appeared in any of their films. This is, for example, the case of Stanley Kubrick, from whom there is only a shadowy figure in Lolita and non-confirmed rumors exist about his voice (in 2001 or The Shining).

Actors and writers

In the film version of Hunter S. Thompson's book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas starring Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke, Hunter S. Thompson's alter-ego, Thompson can be seen quickly as an older version of Depp's character in a flashback scene at a San Francisco nightclub. Similarly, Arthur C. Clarke makes a brief cameo appearance in the film adaptation of his book 2010: Odyssey Two. S. E. Hinton played a nurse in the film adaptation of her novel, The Outsiders. Stephenie Meyer appears eating at a diner in the film adaptation of her novel, Twilight.

In the 2009 film The Invention of Lying, there were cameos from Edward Norton as a cop, Philip Seymour Hoffman as a bartender, Christopher Guest, Stephen Merchant and Barry from Eastenders. In the recent film adaptation of author Sapphire's 1996 novel Push, (renamed Precious so not to be confused with the 2009 action film of the same name), Sapphire appears in one of the end scenes as the woman running the daycare.

Remakes and sequels occasionally feature actors from the original films. In the 2003 version of Willard, the framed picture of Willard's father is a picture of Bruce Davison, who played Willard in the 1971 version of the film. The 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead features cameos by Ken Foree, and Scott Reiniger. The original stars of Starsky and Hutch appeared at the end of the 2004 film, and Bernie Kopell, who portrayed Siegfried in the original show appeared in the 2008 film version of Get Smart. Vin Diesel made a short appearance at the end of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift where he challenges to race Shawn (Lucas Black), the then Drift king.

In the same vein as the remake and sequel, actors can also make appearances in completely different films directed by or starring another actor they are friendly with. Actors Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, and Will Ferrell have made appearances in so many of the same films (whether as lead characters or cameos) USA Today coined the term the "Frat Pack" to name the group. Actor Adam Sandler is also known for frequently casting fellow Saturday Night Live performers (including Rob Schneider and David Spade) in various roles in his films (as well as making cameo appearances of his own in theirs, most of which he co-produces). Sam Raimi frequently uses his brother Ted and Bruce Campbell in his films. Sylvester Stallone gave Arnold Schwarzenegger a cameo in Stallone's 2010 action film The Expendables.

Directors can also be known to cast well-known lead actors with whom they have worked in the past in other films. Among the many cameos featured in the film Maverick, (directed by Richard Donner), actor Danny Glover (Mel Gibson's co-star in the Lethal Weapon franchise of films also directed by Donner) appears as the lead bank robber. He and Maverick (Gibson) share a scene where they look as if they knew each other, but then shake it off. As Glover makes his escape with the money, he mutters "I'm too old for this shit", his character's catchphrase in the Lethal Weapon film series. In addition, a strain of the main theme from Lethal Weapon plays in the score when Glover is revealed. Actress Margot Kidder made a cameo appearance in the same film as a robbed villager. Kidder starred as Lois Lane in Superman, also directed by Donner.

In the 2003 film Holes, Louis Sachar, the author of the novel, makes a cameo appearance as Mr. Collingwood, the bald man whom Sam (Dule Hill) gives a supposed hair tonic made from onions.

Real-life people

Films based on actual events occasionally include cameo roles of the people portrayed in them. In the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness Chris Gardner makes a cameo in the end. 24 Hour Party People, a film about Tony Wilson, has a cameo by the real Tony Wilson and many other notable people. In the film Apollo 13, James Lovell (the real commander of that flight) and his wife Marilyn appear next to the actors playing them (Tom Hanks and Kathleen Quinlan respectively). Domino Harvey makes a short appearance in the credits of Domino. The real Erin Brockovich has a cameo appearance as a waitress named Julia in the eponymous movie (where her role is played by actress Julia Roberts). The 2000 film Almost Famous featured Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner as a passenger in a New York City taxicab. Chuck Yeager has a cameo as "Fred", a bartender at "Pancho's Happy Bottom Riding Club", in The Right Stuff. Likewise, several associates of Harvey Milk appear in the 2008 film Milk. In the 2008 film 21 Jeff Ma, the character the film is based on, plays a blackjack dealer at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. His character in the movie calls him "my brother from another mother".

In a similar vein, cameos sometimes feature persons noted for accomplishments outside the film industry, usually in ways related to the subject or setting of the film. In the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Buzz Aldrin appeared as himself whereby he reveals certain details as to what really happened (although fictional) during the Apollo 11 space mission. October Sky (1999), set in 1950s Appalachia, featured photographer O. Winston Link in a brief appearance portraying a steam locomotive engineer. Link became famous in the 1950s for chronicling the last days of regular steam locomotives service in the region. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), set in Depression-era rural South, featured cameos by country "roots" music notables such as Alison Krauss, Ralph Stanley, Gillian Welch, The Whites and the Fairfield Four. In the film The Last Mimzy, noted string theorist Brian Greene has a cameo as the Intel scientist. In Dr. Dolittle 2 a cameo appearance was made by Steve Irwin. Stan Lee, the creator of many Marvel Comics characters has appeared in the film versions of the comics, including X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four and Thor. Skateboarder Tony Hawk makes a cameo as a dead body in an episode of CSI: Miami. In Men in Black 2, Biz Markie (a hip hop artist) appears as an alien who uses beatboxing to communicate, also the late Michael Jackson appeared as Agent M.

Mike Todd's film Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) was filled with cameo roles: (John Gielgud as an English butler, Frank Sinatra playing piano in a saloon), and others. The stars in cameo roles were pictured in oval insets in posters for the film, and gave the term wide circulation outside the theatrical profession. Notably the 1983 television adaptation and 2004 film version of the story also feature a large number of cameos.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), an "epic comedy", also features cameos from nearly every popular American comedian alive at the time, including a silent appearance by the Three Stooges and a voice-only cameo by Selma Diamond. Bill Murray made a cameo as himself in the 2009 movie Zombieland with featured Ghostbusters antics.

Also some royalties have made cameos: Carl XVI Gustaf, king of Sweden, was in children's program "Mika" (Mika och renen Ossian på äventyr) when Mika was in Stockholm with his reindeer. Another royal is the present king of Jordan Abdullah II, who appeared briefly in Star Trek: Voyager ("Investigations") while still a prince.

Fictional characters

A type of fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters into the context of a single story. This occurrence can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans and is intended for promotional, parodic or other purposes. John Munch, a fictional detective played by actor Richard Belzer, which first appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street, made, among numerous other TV show crossovers, a small cameo appearance in the episode "Took" from the fifth and final season of The Wire. In Homicide, along with Tim Bayliss (played by Kyle Secor) and Meldrick Lewis (played by Clark Johnson), Munch is co-owner of "The Waterfront", a bar located across the street from their Baltimore police station. In The Wire he refers to owning "The Waterfront" in the past-tense and talks about wanting to buy a bar again in New York City in the crumbling economy of the country.

See also

Bit part

Crossover fiction

Extra

List of directors who appear in their own films

List of Hitchcock cameo appearances

Self-insertion

Law and Order

A show notorious for its cameo appearances is Law and Order. Created by Dick Wolf it has seen guest stars such as Cynthia Nixon, Erick Avari, Daniel Benzali, Jeffrey Donovan, Estella Warren, Mike McGarry, Jessica Walter, Elliot Gould and John Pankow. The directors of the show believe these characters add a new dimension to each story, in addition to giving actors and actresses a chance to be seen in a small screen role.

References

Category:Acting Category:Performing arts Category:Television terminology Category:Film and video terminology

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