# Movies were the top billed stars don't have a scene together **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236 "2007-09-23T23:16:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/21 "2007-09-24T14:23:10Z")
Double post. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/22 "2007-09-24T14:26:33Z")
[QUOTE=buns3000] In the movie **Heat** , there is only one scene featuring both Robert De Niro and Al Pacino but the actors were filmed separately. [/QUOTE] No, there’s two, the diner and the airport at the end. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/23 "2007-09-24T14:36:45Z")
**Babel** Many of the cast members never met each other IRL until the premiere showing. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/24 "2007-09-24T14:54:09Z")
In **The Mexican** , Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts have maybe one brief scene together. I saw it when it was in theaters and haven’t seen it since, so I may be misremembering. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/25 "2007-09-24T15:20:35Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] Was David Prowse top-billed? [/QUOTE] I can’t remember, but perhaps not. He’s there near the top of the end credits, but that’s hardly the same thing really is it? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/26 "2007-09-24T15:26:49Z")
Michael Biehn and Arnold Schwartzeneggar apparently don’t have a single scene together in **The Terminator**. In scenes where they’re both in the same place, like the Tech Noir club, apparently they’re not in the same shot. When Biehn’s character finally confronts the Terminator at the end, it’s either the life-sized cexoskeleton or the animated figure seen via optical effects. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/27 "2007-09-24T16:17:18Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] There’s **The Hours** where the three top stars – Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman are in different time periods and thus never meet. [/QUOTE] Moore and Streep do meet at the end, but Kidman never meets either of them. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/28 "2007-09-24T18:06:50Z")
A lot is being made of the fact that Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal star in the soon-to-be-released **Rendition** , and have starting dating because of it, but had no scenes together. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/29 "2007-09-24T18:20:10Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] Was David Prowse top-billed? [/QUOTE] No, but he was Darth Fucking Vader. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/30 "2007-09-24T18:20:34Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Michael Biehn and Arnold Schwartzeneggar apparently don’t have a single scene together in **The Terminator**. In scenes where they’re both in the same place, like the Tech Noir club, apparently they’re not in the same shot. When Biehn’s character finally confronts the Terminator at the end, it’s either the life-sized cexoskeleton or the animated figure seen via optical effects. [/QUOTE] What about the scene where the Terminator jumps on their car and smashes through their windshield? Or the long car/motorcycle chase where they’re shooting at each other? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/31 "2007-09-24T18:25:49Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] **Best Defense** with Dudly Moore and Eddie Murphy: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086955/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086955/) [/QUOTE] The interesting part about that movie is that, although made in 1984, it had a plot about Iraq invading Kuwait - six years before it actually occurred! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/32 "2007-09-24T18:34:52Z")
[The Other](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069050/) Martin Udvarnoky as Holland Perry only interacts with his twin Chris Udvanrnoky as his twin Niles Perry because Holland’s dead ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/33 "2007-09-24T18:47:03Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] What about the scene where the Terminator jumps on their car and smashes through their windshield? Or the long car/motorcycle chase where they’re shooting at each other? [/QUOTE] I would guess that in at least some of those cases one or the other of them was replaced with a stuntperson. Now I’m curious as to whether the two are both visible in the window smashing scene. We know it’s Arnold from a behind-the-scenes thing on the DVD. Going back a few years, and depending on what constitutes “top billing,” Joan Crawford and Marjorie Main were never on-screen together during “The Women.” I’m running through the scenes in “Grand Hotel” and “Dinner at Eight” trying to recall if all the top people all had scenes together. I don’t think Barrymore had any scenes with most of them since his character was always in his hotel room. IIRC, neither Myrna Loy nor Asta ever shared a moment of screen time with the Thin Man. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/34 "2007-09-24T18:52:14Z")
Fried Green Tomatoes Kathy Bates and Mary Stuart Masterson ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/35 "2007-09-24T19:19:22Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] Another not quite fitting the OP but almost might be Star Wars. Hamil only sees Prowse from a distance and the characters meet again in SFX only. [/QUOTE] I seem to recall that originally Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin) was billed as the top Bad Guy, which was retconned when Star Wars became popular. Cushing and Hamil never meet, communicate, etc. (For completeness, neither Vader nor Tarkin give a bantha’s ass about Luke before his famous run down the trench.) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/36 "2007-09-24T19:51:25Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] There’s **The Hours** where the three top stars – Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman are in different time periods and thus never meet. [/QUOTE] As well, there’s **The Red Violin**. Five stories, disconnected not only by time but by space. Sam Jackson, Jason Flemyng, and Sylvia Chang may never have even met. Their scenes were shot on three different continents. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/37 "2007-09-24T21:38:53Z")
Hello, People- **Pulp Fiction**? Bruce Willis and Sam Jackson never interact, and Bruno only sees Travolta for about 5 seconds. Christopher Walken appears almost by himself. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/38 "2007-09-25T04:34:40Z")
Sauron (CGI) and Frodo (Elijah Wood) in _The Lord of the Rings_? Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/39 "2007-09-25T05:14:49Z")
[QUOTE=buns3000] In the movie **Heat** , there is only one scene featuring both Robert De Niro and Al Pacino but the actors were filmed separately. [/QUOTE] This is patently untrue. It may appear this way from the pan & scan VHS cut, but one can see in the cinematic release and the widescreen DVD that they’re sitting across the table from one another. At the original (Beverly Hills) Kate Mantilini’s (not recommended for the food, but if you want to see the movers and shakers in the so-called “entertainment industry” it’s the place to go for lunch) there is a still picture in the atrium which clearly shows DeNiro and Pacino sitting across the table from one another (in fact [this](http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0113277/Ss/0113277/1-1.jpg?path=gallery&path_key=0113277) is the very image) and in the director’s commentary he talks about the tension between the actors and how many times the scene was shot (the selected take was #11, and it’s a continuous take, with the cameras on each side just barely out of the frame of the other). Besides that, the very end scene, where after shooting Neil McCauley (DeNiro) down like a dog in the outskirts of LAX, Lt. Vincent Hanna (Pacino) improbably moves in and takes his hand to offer dying comfort to his ‘fellow’ outsider. “I told you I was never going back there,” says McCauley with his dying breath and Hanna responds “Yeah,” and then the rising strains of of Moby’s “God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters” cue in before cutting to the end credits. Oh, it’s cheezy as hell, but it’s as close to I get at crying at a movie. Anyway, Pacino and DeNiro share the screen twice in the film without question. I guess he wasn’t top-billed, but Robert Ryan never appears in frame with William Holden or Ernest Borgnine in _The Wild Bunch_ despite hunting them through the entire film. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236/40 "2007-09-25T05:21:39Z")
[QUOTE=cochrane] The interesting part about that movie is that, although made in 1984, it had a plot about Iraq invading Kuwait - six years before it actually occurred! [/QUOTE] It’s not really that surprising. Iraq (under the former and Hussain governments) always considered to be Kuwait an inherent part of Iraqi territory every since its independence in 1961, and threatened to invade several times. Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-were-the-top-billed-stars-dont-have-a-scene-together/420236.md?page=3)