Wearing the Most Hats in Movies

Cafe Society
1

Sure, there are plenty of director/producer/writer/stars out there, and occasionally they do things like their own music (John Carpenter). But who gets into the real nitty-gritty?
Luke Halpin (who played the son, Sandy, in the original movie and TV Flipper)

         actor
          stage manager
          marine coordinator
          electrician
          grip
           stunts
          boat driver (for **The SpongeBob Squarepants** movie!)
          special effects

I suspect he was doing all this because he needed the workm, but, still, I’m amazed at the range.
Dan O’Bannon

          writer
           director
           story consultant
            visual design consultant
            editor
           special effects supervisor
           computer animation and displays (for **Star Wars** -- he did the Death Star graphics when they were targeting the Rebel Base, for instance)
            actor (Pinback in **Dark Star**, and a bit part in his own **Return of the Living Dead**

Orson Welles

          Writer
          Producer
           Director
            Actor
             Editor
            Music Arranger (!)
         Production Designer
         Costume Designer (!!)
         Art Director
         Set Designer
          Cinematographer (!!!)
        Consultant
2

Well, don’t know how much of this is ego driven, but for The Brown Bunny , Vincent Gallo is listed as:

Written by
Vincent Gallo

Directed by
Vincent Gallo

Starring
Vincent Gallo

Produced by
Vincent Gallo

Cinematography by
Vincent Gallo

Film Editing by
Vincent Gallo

Production Design by
Vincent Gallo

Art Direction by
Vincent Gallo

Set Decoration by
Vincent Gallo

Costume Design by
Vincent Gallo

Makeup Department
Vincent Gallo

Art Department
Vincent Gallo

He’s also been credited as a musician in a movie or two.

Again, with him, it’s likely as much ego as anything, but still pretty unusual to do that much in a mainstream film.

3

IMDb has credits for Chaplin as composer, arranger, and choreographer, as well as actor/director/writer/editor.

I thought John Sayles had done crew work, but they only list him as a/w/d/e and an occasional songwriting credit.

4

And, of course, we can’t forget Marv Newland, who did damned near everything in Bambi Meets Godzilla. But I suspect that was tongue in cheek.
The guys listed in the above two posts have more things listed as accomplishments than

**Buster Keaton
Charlie Chaplin
Kirk Douglas
Mel Gibson
**

or even the low-budget, have-to-do-it-all-themselves specialists

Bruce Kimmel
Ed Wood
Bert I. Gordon
Roger Corman

5

But beside Gallo, how many do it all in the same film? I would imagine that Clint Eastwood has probably produced, acted in, directed and wrote music for the same film (or films).

Let me look…

Yep- Million Dollar Baby- produced, directed, starred and wrote music.

ETA- Space Cowboys too- produced, directed, acted and wrote music.

ETA again- Clint’s IMDB credits include Actor, Director, Producer, Composer, Soundtrack, Miscellaneous Crew, Camera and Electrical Department and Writer. Whew! :wink:

6

Robert Rodriguez’s listing on IMDB lists him as

Director
Editor
Producer
Writer
Cinematographer
Composer & Music Dept.
Sound Dept.
Camera & Electrical Dept.
Actor
Visual & Special Effect
Production Designer
Second Unit/Assistant Director
Animation Dept.
and Miscellaneous Crew (“chef”)

7

Holy crap!

:smiley:

Busy guy.

8

Marv Newland was conceived by Mr. and Mrs. Newland.

9

You missed “Misogynistic Psycho,” although that may not have been the official name of his position during Alien.

10

More of a nickname or term of endearment, perhaps?

11

Kevin Smith, in various films:

Writer
Director
Producer
Actor
Editor
Casting Director
Production Manager
Consultant
“Phase One Instigator”
Executive album producer
Executive advisor
Puppeteer