Celebrity cameos are quite common on television. The Big Bang Theory is a hugely popular show and can, therefore, draw high-profile guests, so when Sheldon Cooper runs into someone like James Earl Jones, Stan Lee, or Stephen Hawking, it doesn’t feel out of place. Because we enjoy watching famous people make fun of themselves, audiences willingly overlook the lack of realism.
A movie, however, requires more acting skills than a television episode. Although it may seem simple to play yourself in a movie, there are ways to do it that will challenge the actor. Therefore, if a celebrity makes a cameo in a film, it must be carefully chosen to avoid making the film look out of date. Surprisingly, it has been accomplished several times.
Here are the top 10 memorable times of celebrities portraying themselves on screen.
#1 Anna Faris In Keanu
Source: Tribute.ca
Keanu, the feature film debut of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, was full of surprises, including the fact that a film called Keanu about getting revenge on gangsters for their involvement with a beloved pet wasn’t meant to be a parody of John Wick. Another was that Anna Faris played herself in it.
When they arrive at the buyer’s house, Peele’s character is out on business with the dealers he’s infiltrated in his search for his cat. It’s a drugged-up Faris with a gun who wants to play a sinister game of “Truth or Dare” with it.
#2 Bill Murray In Zombieland
Source: Duniaku.com
When the survivors arrive at Murray’s house in Hollywood, they discover that he is still alive. Tallahassee, played by Woody Harrelson, is thrilled to see him, and Murray disguises himself as a zombie to scare Jesse Eisenberg’s Columbus. But he’s a little too convincing, and Columbus shoots and kills him in the stomach. Murray stole the show in just one scene.
#3 Bob Barker In Happy Gilmore
Source: Duniaku.com
Of all the celebrity cameos in Sandler films, the most memorable one is Bob Barker in Happy Gilmore.
The Price Is Right host attends a celebrity golf tournament with the famously hot-tempered Happy and gets into a fight with him. Much to Happy’s surprise, Barker is a skilled fighter who easily defeats him: “The price is wrong, b***h!”
#4 Channing Tatum In This Is The End
Source: Pinterest
The entire cast of A-list comic actors plays themselves in Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s apocalyptic comedy This is the End, but perhaps the funniest and most memorable one is Channing Tatum. The seed is planted early on with an off-the-cuff remark by Rogen about how attractive Tatum is.
Later, we see Danny McBride leading a savage gang of cannibals through the hellscape of Los Angeles, accompanied by his gimp, Channing Tatum. This cameo just goes to show what a great sport Tatum is, not to mention how funny he is.
#5 Chuck Norris In DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story
Source: Twitter
DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, the cult hit comedy, features a few celebrity cameos. Lance Armstrong gives Vince Vaughn a last-minute pep talk about the virtues of sportsmanship and integrity.
But one of them is absolutely hilarious, with Chuck Norris as one of the judges presiding over the dodgeball tournament. The great thing about how director Rawson Marshall Thurber handles this scene is that he doesn’t make a big deal out of Norris’ presence. We only have a split second to notice him.
#6 John Malkovich In Being John Malkovich
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What makes Being John Malkovich work so well is that John Malkovich is just famous enough that people want to spend seven minutes seeing what he sees. Furthermore, it is a story about a married man who falls in love with a coworker. The fact that there is a portal into John Malkovich’s mind in their office only adds context to the story; it is not the focus.
Malkovich brilliantly plays himself because he’s just a regular guy who goes insane when he discovers the portal into his head. The scene in which he goes through the portal himself and ends up in a world full of Malkovich’s is the pinnacle of his performance.
#7 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar In Airplane!
Source: Time Out
The script for Airplane! was a simple parody of the 1950s black-and-white disaster film Zero Hour!, which the Zucker brothers saw on TV one night and found unintentionally hilarious. The casting of football player Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch as a pilot was one of many things from that film that the filmmakers spoof.
They cast basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to play Captain Roger Murdock, but the fourth wall is broken when the kid they let into the cockpit recognizes him as Abdul-Jabbar. He tries to stay in character but breaks when the kid starts slamming his abilities.
#8 Keanu Reeves In Always Be My Maybe
Source: BuzzFeed
Keanu Reeves appearance as a fictionalized version of himself – emphasis on “fictionalized” – in Netflix’s new romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe has become the movie’s whole selling point. It’s a rom-com cliché to have the guy pining after the girl gets outshined by her new boyfriend, but this Ali Wong/Randall Park film flips that script by having the outclassing new boyfriend be none other than an absurd, airheaded, self-obsessed Keanu Reeves.
The production team was concerned that Reeves would not be available, but he turned out to be a huge fan of Wong’s standup and was delighted to be a part of the film, according to director Nahnatchka Khan.
#9 Margot Robbie In The Big Short
Source: Atomix
With his film, The Big Short, Anchorman director Adam McKay tried his hardest to make the world of finance entertaining, and while he didn’t quite manage to eliminate the boredom factor from a story about mortgages, he made an admirable effort.
He used celebrities to explain the dry material, which was one of the creative techniques he used to make it less dry. Margot Robbie was the first celebrity to do so, explaining mortgage bonds from the comfort of her bathtub. The majority of people who saw that movie probably still don’t know what a mortgage bond is, but this moment has merit – it can be filed under “unexpected.”
#10 Stan Lee In Mallrats
Source: Twitter
At the end of Mallrats, Stan Lee appears just in time to give the main character Brodie some sound advice. Lee is best known for his cameo appearances in MCU films – in fact, he can be seen rehearsing his lines for his Mallrats scene in Captain Marvel – but this one is perhaps his most moving.
He explains how his comic book creations came from his own life, such as how the Hulk was inspired by his desire to transform into a huge, green monster when he was angry.
