# Meta casting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 5, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432 "2013-10-05T13:54:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/1 "2013-10-05T13:54:18Z")
I was watching “Searching for Bobby Fischer” yesterday (great movie), and noticed in IMDB that Bruce Pandolfini, the chess teacher who is played by Ben Kingsley in the movie, has a bit part in the movie as a chess player. This kind of thing (real people with bit parts in movies where other people play them) happens a lot of course: the real Jim Lovell showed up in “Apollo 13” for example (and Eddie Foy, Jr. plays Eddie Foy in “Yankee Doodle Dandy”). The weirdest case I know of is this one though: In “Sue Thomas, F. B. Eye” a television series about a real deaf FBI agent, Sue Thomas is played by Deanne Bray. In the last episode, an actress is researching Sue, because a television series is going to be made about her - the actress is called “Deanne Bray” and is played by the real Sue Thomas. Dizzying… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/2 "2013-10-05T14:07:41Z")
Would you want to include movies like [Cape Fear (1991)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101540/?ref_=nv_sr_1) where at least two actors (Peck and Mitchum) are involved, but in different roles from [Cape Fear (1962)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055824/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2)? Quite a few remakes have that gimmick. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/3 "2013-10-05T14:09:48Z")
TV Tropes calls this a [Real Person Cameo](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealPersonCameo). **Zeldar** ’s example would be a [Remake Cameo](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RemakeCameo). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/4 "2013-10-05T14:16:41Z")
Great links there, **Flywheel**! ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/5 "2013-10-05T14:37:46Z")
_24 Hour Party People_, about the 1980s “Madchester” music scene, features several cameos by musicians of the era – and the movie actually stops to point this out. There’s also a scene where the main character walks in on his wife getting friendly in the club bathroom with (an actor playing) Buzzcocks singer Howard Devoto. Then the janitor cleaning the bathroom turns around and is revealed to be the _real_ Howard Devoto, who tells the camera he doesn’t remember this happening. ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/6 "2013-10-05T14:47:16Z")
In the miniseries of _Generation Kill_, Owain Yeoman plays Sgt. Kocher. The actual Sgt. Kocher appears playing a gunnery sergeant. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/7 "2013-10-05T14:49:03Z")
For some reason, my favorite is that Sonny Seiler played the judge in the film of [_Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119668/combined). This amuses me much more than any of the other RPCs in that film, and vastly more than The Lady Chablis playing herself. Sonny was Jim Williams lawyer. Canape? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/8 "2013-10-05T14:58:00Z")
Hey, remember OCEAN’S TWELVE, where Tess, who as a plot point has to look like Julia Roberts, was _actually played by Julia Roberts?_ (I don’t think I’m doing this right.) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/9 "2013-10-05T14:58:11Z")
The sudden and fortuitous appearance of Marshall McLuhan in"Annie Hall" is one of my favorite real person cameos. Oops: does not match thread intent. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/10 "2013-10-05T15:09:31Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Hey, remember OCEAN’S TWELVE, where Tess, who as a plot point has to look like Julia Roberts, was _actually played by Julia Roberts?_ > > (I don’t think I’m doing this right.) Yeah, well, I don’t think she looked at all like Julia Roberts. Nobody would have fallen for that trick. The one in the OP is a hoot. Thanks for sharing! ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/11 "2013-10-05T15:12:02Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > The sudden and fortuitous appearance of Marshall McLuhan in"Annie Hall" is one of my favorite real person cameos. > > Oops: does not match thread intent. Carry on. Perhaps, but definitely worthy of mention. “Well, I just happen to have Marshall McLuhan right here …” If only! It’s amusing how well I recall that scene, despite having seen the movie only once, when it first came out. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/12 "2013-10-05T15:34:52Z")
This happens a lot on David Simon projects. Besides Generation Kill mentioned above he’s done this a lot on The Wire and on Tremè. On The Wire, for example, the inspiration for the Omar character plays another character on the series, and the real Detective Landsman plays another role. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/13 "2013-10-05T16:33:04Z")
My favorite example is in **24 Hour Party People** , where Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson stops the movie to point out that the character you just saw was the real Tony Wilson, then goes on to show you all the real people that have already appeared in the movie as other characters up to that point. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/14 "2013-10-05T16:41:15Z")
[Paging Mr. Herman!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaBgd_nOXKM) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/15 "2013-10-05T16:49:20Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Hey, remember OCEAN’S TWELVE, where Tess, who as a plot point has to look like Julia Roberts, was _actually played by Julia Roberts?_ > > (I don’t think I’m doing this right.) In Erin Brockovich, the real Erin Brockovich plays a waitress named “Julia” while Julia Roberts plays Erin. In “The Seven Year Itch” the hapless married hero tells his friend that he could have Marilyn Monroe in his apartment - in fact, he had a character referred to as “The Girl” who was played by Marilyn Monroe [The Seven Year Itch - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Year_Itch) In an episode of “Community” French Stewart plays a man who runs a celebrity impersonator service - the character used to impersonate French Stewart, but he got too old to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/16 "2013-10-05T17:40:26Z")
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had one of his first lead film roles in the action movie _The Rundown_. Near the beginning of the movie, as Johnson’s character is walking into the village where a whole heap of trouble is waiting for him, there is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger is walking out of the village. As he passes Johnson their eyes meet for an instant and Arnold says “Have fun” with a smirk, and he continues on. It was a symbolic passing of the action-hero torch, and had nothing to do with the story. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/17 "2013-10-05T17:47:12Z")
Jim Garrison playing Earl Warren in “JFK”. Larry Flint playing a judge in “People VS. Larry Flint”. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/18 "2013-10-05T18:20:01Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had one of his first lead film roles in the action movie _The Rundown_. Near the beginning of the movie, as Johnson’s character is walking into the village where a whole heap of trouble is waiting for him, there is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger is walking out of the village. As he passes Johnson their eyes meet for an instant and Arnold says “Have fun” with a smirk, and he continues on. It was a symbolic passing of the action-hero torch, and had nothing to do with the story. Good call, except the scene takes place in a night club, not a village. In _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_, Johnny Depp’s Hunter Thompson encounters the real (and much older) Thompson during a flashback, essentially seeing himself from the future. Needless to say, drugs were involved. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/19 "2013-10-05T18:49:07Z")
Jim Lovell as the ship captain in _Apollo 13_. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432/20 "2013-10-05T20:42:39Z")
Kind of at one remove, but in the same vein, is Colm Wilkinson’s role as the Bishop in the recent movie version of the musical Les Miserables. Wilkinson originated onstage the Jean Valjean role played in the movie by Hugh Jackman. Also, Chita Rivera in the movie version of _Chicago_ as a fellow prisoner. Chita was the original Velma Kelly (the role played by Catherine Zeta-Jones). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meta-casting/670432.md?page=2)