Directors/Writers in Cameos

[deborak]

Apologies if this has been covered before. I saw "Signs" this weekend, in which M. Knight Shyamalan has a cameo role. This reminded me of Stephen King, who also does cameos in all of "his" movies. I was wondering if there are any other directors/writers/(generally non-actors) who are also noted for doing this. Hmmm...I don't really count Woody Allen, since he's really considered to be an actor too, correct (well, he has major roles in his movies, anyway)?

Sooo...anyone else famous for cameos in their movies?

[hajario]

Alfred Hitchcock made very brief cameos in most of his films.

Haj

[richardb]

Not to nitpic too much, but in Sixth Sense M. Knight Shyamalan had a cameo role. He was a doctor who was only in one brief scene and was certainly not a major character in any sense.

In Signs, M. Knight Shyamalan plays a major character, in more than a couple scenes. Still only a small bit of dialogue, but a major character as far as the plot goes. I would not consider this a "cameo."

[Scarlett67]

M. Night Shyamalan

Carry on.

[RealityChuck]

Martin Scorsese had a cameo in "Taxi Driver," and a hilarious one in "The King of Comedy" (where Tony Randall turns to him and says, "You're the director. Tell me what to do.").

Harold Ramis appears as a doctor in his film "Groundhog Day."

John Landis shows up in his "An American Wereworlf in London" and "Kentucky Fried Movie."

[UrbanChic]

Mr. Shyamalan also had a cameo in Unbreakable.

[astorian]

Are you only counting directors who appear in their OWN films? Because, if not, I can think of several directors who've played small roles in a number of movies. Steven Spielberg had a small part as a tax office clerk in John Landis' "The Blues Brothers," and Martin Scorsese played a Geritol executive in Robert Redford's "Quiz Show."

And there are a number of directors who often (or USUALLY) star in or play major roles in the movies they direct: Woody Allen, Quentin Tarantino, Mel Brooks and Spike Lee come to mind.

For that matter, several prominent directors started out as actors, and frequently act in other filmmaker's projects. THink of Sidney Pollock in "Eyes Wide Shut," or Paul Mazursky in "Into the Night", for instance,

But if you only want directors who are NOT known as actors, but who sometimes make brief appearances in their own films...

1) Francis Ford Coppola has a brief appearance as a news reporter or documentary maker in "Apocalypse Now."

2) Oliver Stone briefly appears as a snooty film professor in his own "The Doors."

3) Martin Scorsese is one of Travis Bickle's passengers in "Taxi Driver" (he's the one talking about killing his wife).

4) Roman Polanski, of course, hacked up Jack Nicholson's nose in "Chinatown."

5) In "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," director John Huston tosses some money to a panhandling Humphrey Bogart.

[Dr. Rieux]

Oliver Stone also appeared in Platoon and On Any Sunday.

[MovieMogul]

Oliver Stone also had a funny cameo in Dave. He also appeared in Born on the Fourth of July

Other cameos-Directors:
Scorsese also had cameos in The Age of Innocence and
Federico Fellini/Alex in Wonderland
Terry Gilliam/Brazil
Alan Parker/The Commitments
Don Siegel/Charley Varrick & Coogan's Bluff
John Singleton/Boyz N the Hood

Writers:
Arthur C. Clarke/2010
David Mamet/Black Widow

[Avalonian]

David Fincher shows up briefly at the end of The Game... he's the guy from OSI who was some papers to sign.

Also, for directors in other people's movies, David Cronenberg played a pretty convincing psychopath serial killer in Clive Barker's Nightbreed.

astorian, I loved Scorcese's bit in Quiz Show... perfect for him.

[plnnr]

John Huston also played Captain Jacoby in "The Maltese Falcon," his directorial debut. All he does is stumble into Sam Spade's office and die on the couch carrying the dingus. He was captain of the La Paloma.

[lieu]

John Hughes was the guy running between cabs in Ferris Bueller's D.O.

John Hughes was Brian's father in The Breakfast Club.

And finally, John Hughes was the girl in a dress with a paper bag over her head in Class Reunion.

[gonzoron]

Can't believe no one mentioned this yet: Peter Jackson is a drunk in the town of Bree in Lord of the Rings.

I really wish Night would stick to cameos. Knowing who he was, I just couldn't take him seriously in Signs, and his part really called for seriousness.

Does Kevin Smith as Silent Bob count? well, maybe in Clerks/Mallrats/Chasing Amy. In Dogma and J&SBSB, he's more of a main character.

[lieu]

All he does is stumble into Sam Spade's office and die on the couch carrying the dingus.

Bwhaahaawhat?

What's he doing with a dingo's anus and since when are they transportable?

[lieu]

Dangit Mate, you shot him in the dingus!

Blimey, I've ruined the best meat!

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

J. Michael Straczynski, in a symbolic role in the series finale, played the engineer-type person who was wiring the space station for destruction.

[Sofa King]

Actually, it was John's dad, Walter Huston, who had the uncredited role of Captain Jacobi in The Maltese Falcon.

Martin Scorsese also has a larger-than cameo role in Akira Kurosawa's Dreams. He does an interesting job as a totally whacked Vincent Van Gogh.

[Cervaise]

Scorsese is the voice of the dispatcher in his Bringing Out the Dead.

And since astorian mentioned Into the Night, that movie is a treasure trove of directorial cameos. It's been a while since I've seen it, but I recall Jim Henson shows up as a guy in a phone booth.

And a couple of writer cameos: In Regarding Henry, the screenwriter appears briefly as the grocery delivery guy. And in Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World, screenwriter David Koepp is chomped prominently by the rampaging T-Rex during the climactic sequence. IIRC, he's the guy against the glass cinema doors.

Oh, and since gonzoron mentioned Peter Jackson as the fleetingly-glimpsed belching dude in the street in Fellowship of the Ring, it's also worth mentioning that Jackson appears onscreen in Heavenly Creatures as the guy the two girls bump into on their way out of the Orson Welles movie.

[Keith Berry]

George A. Romero has had pretty amusing cameos in his films Night Of The Living Dead, Season Of The Witch, Martin, and Dawn Of The Dead.

[Dr. Rieux]

Barry Levinson was also in Quiz Show--he played Dave Garroway.

[plnnr]

Damn it, Sofa King, you're right. John Huston was the VOICE OF GOD in "The Bible."

[Jonathan Chance]

Let's not forget Frncois Truffaut as Lacombe in Close Encounters!

And Stallone has a cameo in the horrific sequel to Saturday Night Fever, "Staying Alive".

[CalMeacham]

Director David Cronenberg (Rabid, The Brood, The Dead Zone, The Fly and a great many others) has appeared in cameo roles and bigger roles in his own films (an obstetrician in The Fly) and in those of other directors (playing serial killer Decker in Clive Barker's NightBreed). See his page at the IMDB:
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Cronenberg,+David

[Labdad]

John Sayles (http://us.imdb.com/Name?Sayles,+John), who writes and directs an awful lot of his movies, has been known to write himself a dandy little part. Beginning with Return of the Secaucus Seven, through Lianna, Brother From Another Planet, Matewan, Eight Men Out, City of Hope, and Passion Fish, Sayles wrote himself in.

He's also had cameos in a ton of films he didn't write or direct.

[ElwoodCuse]

Rob Cohen plays a pizza delivery man in The Fast and The Furious (and yes, the movie sucks).

Do Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith count or are their roles too big?

[Banger]

Frank Oz has appeared in a bunch of John Landis films.