# Same Actor: Different Roles / Different Movies – Same Scene **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2015, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245 "2015-06-11T10:18:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [June 15, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/41 "2015-06-15T01:57:19Z")
Ethan Hawke has a lot of scenes where he’s out in the snow. Probably a lot of actors do, but in his early career, it was almost obligatory. Stanley Tucci, early in his career, seemed to be tied to chairs a lot. Judy Davis has been in a couple of movies where she is killed via decapitation or head injury. Jean-Claude Van Damme is frequently seen kicking stuff. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/42 "2015-06-15T16:06:46Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Jean-Claude Van Damme is frequently seen kicking stuff. And when it was learned he could do the splits, most of his movies had scenes written in of him doing the splits. A sort of modern day version of the Marx Brothers trope where Harpo would inexplicably find a harp in each if his movies. ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/43 "2015-06-15T16:56:49Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > You got any idea how difficult it is to practice dying? It’s his most valued skill! Somewhat OT: A friend of mine from school is known for dying in his roles. He even got a NY Times article out of it: [TV Actor Chalks Up Dramatic Demise No. 7](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/arts/television/03doyl.html?_r=0). I know he’s died on TV a few more times since this was published in 2009. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/44 "2015-06-16T14:31:17Z")
Nobody’s mentioned yet that Mel Gibson is constantly getting tortured? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/45 "2015-06-16T15:44:23Z")
And John Cusack stands out in the rain in most of his movies. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/46 "2015-06-16T15:58:57Z")
This isn’t the kind of thing I’d prefer – I like when the situations and roles are unrelated – but this one is too weird not to point out. Duncan “Dean” Parkin’s entire acting career consists of playing one-eyed, brain-impaired, face-altered bald giants in Bert I. Gordon movies. He replaced Glenn Langan as Glenn Manning in **War of the Colossal Beast** (1958), and played a similar character in **The Cyclops** (1957). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/47 "2015-06-16T17:07:11Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Does Robert Morse singing “The Best Things in Life Are Free” in both _ **How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying** _ and _ **Mad Men** _ count? :dubious: No, since “The Best Things in Life Are Free” was not in _How to Succeed_. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/48 "2015-06-17T13:16:30Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > No, since “The Best Things in Life Are Free” was not in _How to Succeed_. Really? Huh! I thought that was the whole joke. Didn’t know, never saw the musical. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/49 "2015-06-17T13:41:17Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Tom Hanks urinating. No, seriously. Yes, he is a man who enjoys a good piss. > **[5 Actors Who Do the Exact Same Thing in Every Movie](https://www.cracked.com/blog/5-actors-who-do-exact-same-thing-in-every-movie)** > > Everyone assumes that directors and writers get to decide what goes into a movie, but a lot of times the movie star is the most powerful person involved with a project. For instance, when Jim Carrey wanted to make a movie about his favorite number,... ---
**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:** [June 21, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/50 "2015-06-21T01:31:03Z")
This one isn’t what the OP is looking for, either. But it’s close enough that I’ll put it here, rather than starting another thread. Similar scenes in movies released about the same time, even though there aren’t any actors in common. Consider this: In a science fiction film released in 2015 but felt to “bomb”, our heroine is somehow special, although she doesn’t know how. She is pursued by a team of assassins with super-science weapons and abilities, and is guided to to a lonely house well out in the country by a mysterious Protector who is More Than HUman. The house is in pretty sorry shape, badly in need of repairs and a paint job. Our heroine goes inside and asks help of the guy inside. He’s a good guy, but he’s grizzled and disillusioned and badly in need of a shave. Worse, he isn’t in a hurry to help the heroine and wants to know why he should. Not all that long after the heroine arrives, the Assassin team also arrives at the Lonely House and begins attacking, doing destruction to the house. But the grizzled Good Guy responds with unexpected super-science of his own, taking a toll on the pursuers. Eventually, Grizzled Hero and Heroine escape, although still pursued by some assassins, and are joined by the Mysterious Protector. **Jupiter Ascending** and **Tomorrowland**. You can argue that I’m cherry-picking, and I am a little, but those elements are in both films in just that way. I could add that Our Heroine shows off some of what makes her special while at the house, but that’s not that surprising. I sure can’t think of another movie where anything quite like all of this happens. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/51 "2015-06-21T03:01:17Z")
In fact, we’ve done that before: > **[Movies with the same plot.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=575188)** > > Surely Dopers can come up with more of these? > **[Name the Movies](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314388)** > > Sometimes, purely by chance, two or more movies appear at the same time with incredibly similar elements. See if you can name the films (without recourse to the Internet Movie data Base): 1.) In these 1988 movies the villain gets run over by a... My favorite example, which I mentioned in both threads, is that there are two mid-1980’s films about a young housewife, married a businessman husband who ignores her, who is fascinated by the adventures of a free-spirited young woman. When she falls and hits her head, she imagines that she is the young woman she has been fantasizing about. She gets into adventures where her life is in danger and falls in love with a more exciting man than her husband. Since she has amnesia, neither she nor this man realize that she is married. The adventures end happily with the crooks being caught, but the woman recovers her memories. Her boring husband wants her to come back home and the exciting new man is willing to give her up. She realizes that she actually loves the new man, so she leaves her husband for him. The two films are _American Dreamer_ (1984) and _Desperately Seeking Susan_ (1985) ---
**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:** [June 22, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/52 "2015-06-22T00:09:39Z")
Yeah, but these movies just came out, and wouldn’t be in the previous threads. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/53 "2015-06-22T19:44:44Z")
Max von Sydow plays chess in _The Seventh Seal_ (1957) and plays chess again in the horror film _The Night Visitor_ (1971). Sly allusion? Perhaps. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/54 "2015-06-22T20:38:58Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > Max von Sydow plays chess in _The Seventh Seal_ (1957) and plays chess again in the horror film _The Night Visitor_ (1971). Sly allusion? Perhaps. I haven’t seen _The Night Visitor_, but the “Death Plays Chess with Man” scene has to be one of the most copied and parodied in the world, with the short subject _The Dove_ (death plays badminton), Woody Allen’s playlet _Death Knocks_ (Death plays Gin Rummy), the National Lampoon article “Bobby Fischer Teaches you how to Beat Death at Chess”, and **Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey** (which was originally to be called _Bill and Ted go to Hell_) (Death plays Battleship, Clue, and Twister). I’m sure there are others\*. But I don’t know of any others involving Max von Sydow \*According to Wikipedia, it’s even parodied in _Muppets Most Wanted_, which I haven’t seen. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/55 "2015-06-22T20:56:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’m sure there are others\*. But I don’t know of any others involving Max von Sydow. In _ **Three Days of the Condor** _, Max the Assassin collects and paints miniature soldiers. Close, kinda. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/56 "2015-06-22T21:46:50Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > My favorite example, which I mentioned in both threads, is that there are two mid-1980’s films about a young housewife, married a businessman husband who ignores her, who is fascinated by the adventures of a free-spirited young woman. When she falls and hits her head, she imagines that she is the young woman she has been fantasizing about. She gets into adventures where her life is in danger and falls in love with a more exciting man than her husband. Since she has amnesia, neither she nor this man realize that she is married. The adventures end happily with the crooks being caught, but the woman recovers her memories. Her boring husband wants her to come back home and the exciting new man is willing to give her up. She realizes that she actually loves the new man, so she leaves her husband for him. In 1964 there were two films about the U.S. accidentally starting a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Both movies showed bomber crews while their planes ran a gauntlet of Soviet defenses. Both had scenes taking place in a military situation room complete with large, real-time displays showing the progress of the bombers. Both showed the U.S. President talking by phone with the Soviet Chariman, trying to convince him the attack is an accident, and an adviser recommending that the accidental attack be followed by an all-out first strike. Both movies are in black-and-white. One of them has Larry Hagman and Dom DeLuise; the other is a comedy. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/57 "2015-06-28T23:07:15Z")
If a motorist’s car breaks down in the rain, he’s heading for Tim Curry’s house. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245/58 "2015-06-29T02:37:34Z")
Michael Rooker had a sword for a hand in The Walking Dead. He played a treasure seeker on CSI: Miami (2003) and he had a hook for a hand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-actor-different-roles-different-movies-same-scene/722245.md?page=2)