# Movies where one actor obviously wandered in from another movie altogether. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666 "2012-08-06T22:43:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/21 "2012-08-07T14:08:05Z")
Everyone in **Ironman 2** seemed to be on the same page and got the vibe right (Downey, Cheadle, Paltrow, Rourke) with everyone playing it straight and Downey breaking the tension with sarcastic one-liners. Sam Rockwell must not have gotten the memo since he goes over the top cartoony thinking he’s in a Joel Schumacher batman flick. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/22 "2012-08-07T14:15:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _River’s Edge_. Everyone else in the cast was performing in a serious drama. Crispin Glover apparently was performing in a gonzo black comedy. Strangely. much the same thing was said at Glover’s last family Thanksgiving dinner. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/23 "2012-08-07T14:17:18Z")
Donald Sutherland’s “Oddball” in _Kelly’s Heroes_ springs to mind: a late '60s hippie in WWII France. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/24 "2012-08-07T14:35:59Z")
Phillip Serymore Hoffman in Along Came Polly. Every once in a while, he would wander into a scene like he just came out of a much better, funnier movie. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/25 "2012-08-07T14:39:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Day Of The Dead 1985, every single actor seems to be unsure of what kind of movie they are in. > > The guy playing the mad scientist seems to think he is in a goofy B-movie, he hams up his performance to the sky. > > The rest either play it entirely tense, too goofy, or too emotional. To be fair, these aren’t even b-list actors we’re talking about-they’re pretty much members of George Romero’s extended family who were likely working for peanuts. Still, they were supposed to be portraying people who were, you know, trapped in an underground cavern by literally millions and millions of zombies. I’d be pretty freaked out. And I’m pretty sure Doctor Logan was supposed to be a bit on the mad side anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/26 "2012-08-07T15:25:36Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > I gotta give Little Nemo’s entry a second bump. I was struck by how out of place Glover’s performance was. I think he was supposed to be high out of his mind, but on top of that he was high out of his mind. The other actors in that must have just cringed and wondered who his agent was. Glover’s performance is one of my favorite things about that movie. I think it underscores just how insane the events and mindsets of the other people were, that they found his ideas to have merit at all when he’s pretty clearly a raving lunatic. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/27 "2012-08-07T15:30:43Z")
My example is Micheal Madsen in [Sin City](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401792/). He seems to have drunk an awful lot of cough syrup, forgotten where he is or why he is there and seems to be making up his lines as he goes. It damn near ruined what it is otherwise a flawless film (IMO, YMMV, see dealer for details, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/28 "2012-08-07T16:39:23Z")
Kevin Kline in _Prairie Home Companion_ Chris Cooper in every movie I’ve ever seen him in. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/29 "2012-08-07T16:43:51Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Everyone in **Ironman 2** seemed to be on the same page and got the vibe right (Downey, Cheadle, Paltrow, Rourke) with everyone playing it straight and Downey breaking the tension with sarcastic one-liners. > Sam Rockwell must not have gotten the memo since he goes over the top cartoony thinking he’s in a Joel Schumacher batman flick. I thought this was on purpose to show that his character is a socially awkward loser that tries too hard to be cool and charismatic like Tony Stark. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/30 "2012-08-07T16:52:00Z")
In every one of these cases I can only as “where was the Director in all of this?” Same as John Schuck as Draal on Babylon 5. Just way over the top hammy acting like he thinks it’s an episode of _Lost in Space_ or something. Nails on chalk board every time I watch it, takes me completely out of the story. Every bloody time I have to wonder why the Director and other actors didn’t reign him in. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/31 "2012-08-07T17:02:44Z")
Blazing Saddles. The whole cast wanders into the set of a Busby Berkeley musical being directed by Dom Delouise. Hilarity ensues. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/32 "2012-08-07T17:16:17Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It’s not in a bad way, but Stephen Stucker’s flamboyant (indeed, flaming) character in _Airplane!_ is wildly incongruous to the overall deadpan theme. Apparently, all of his lines were pseudo-improvised. The writers would ask how he would respond to a line and then they wrote it into the script. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/33 "2012-08-07T17:29:45Z")
In _The Phantom Menace,_ Jar Jar Binks seemed to think he was in an episode of Ren & Stimpy. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/34 "2012-08-07T17:30:47Z")
_Starcrash_ is often considered to be one of the worst movies ever made. Christopher Plummer is obviously phoning it in for a quick paycheck. And yet he is still better than the rest of the cast combined. According to [Starcrash (1978) - Trivia - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079946/trivia) all of his scenes were shot in one day. According to [Christopher Plummer - Biography - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001626/bio) he got paid $30,000.00 for that one day’s work. Pretty good money in 1978. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/35 "2012-08-07T17:38:12Z")
This probably isn’t fair of me, but in _Plan Nine From Outer Space_ Bela Lugosi looked like he was making a home movie of him doing his Dracula schtick in the back yard. You know, a little something for the grandkids. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/36 "2012-08-07T17:38:57Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Kevin Kline in _Prairie Home Companion_ Completely on purpose. He’s playing Guy Noir! His entire role in the movie is incongruous with the rest of what is happening. Heder and Rogen as the two cops in “Super Bad.” The movie is tipped a little dark but they are a pair of screwball cops. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/37 "2012-08-07T17:58:55Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Phillip Serymore Hoffman in Along Came Polly. Every once in a while, he would wander into a scene like he just came out of a much better, funnier movie. I remember thinking it was actually Jack Black who wandered into the movie wearing a Philip Seymour Hoffman skin suit. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/38 "2012-08-07T18:02:44Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Completely on purpose. He’s playing Guy Noir! His entire role in the movie is incongruous with the rest of what is happening. > Heder and Rogen as the two cops in “Super Bad.” The movie is tipped a little dark but they are a pair of screwball cops. Yeah, it always seemed like their cop characters were written by someone other than the screenwriter. Didn’t mesh with the rest of the semi-autobiographical feel to the movie. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/39 "2012-08-07T18:43:45Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Donald Sutherland’s “Oddball” in _Kelly’s Heroes_ springs to mind: a late '60s hippie in WWII France. Along with the music from the beginning credits IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666/40 "2012-08-07T19:02:10Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > In every one of these cases I can only as “where was the Director in all of this?” > > Same as John Schuck as Draal on Babylon 5. Just way over the top hammy acting like he thinks it’s an episode of _Lost in Space_ or something. Nails on chalk board every time I watch it, takes me completely out of the story. Every bloody time I have to wonder why the Director and other actors didn’t reign him in. At first I misremembered the character’s name and thought you were talking about Zathros and was about to get all :mad: YOU TAKE THAT BACK. Zathros is great! “Zathros stay, Zathros die. Zathros go, Zathros die. Either way, very bad for Zathros.” Then I looked it up and remembered who Draal actually is. Ugh. Yes. I am in complete agreement with your post. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-where-one-actor-obviously-wandered-in-from-another-movie-altogether/630666.md?page=3)