After watching Jeopardy! tonight, they had a category about uncredited movie roles, which got me wondering why actors/actresses take “uncredited” roles?
Any ideas?
When it comes time to negotiate for the next role, the producers will want to know what the actor’s last movie was, what kind of role he played in it, what he got paid, and how much money it made. So having a string of small roles, or big roles in small movies, can actually hurt an actor. But if he keeps his name off the credits and his face out of the ads, those movies “don’t count.”
As to why he would want to do it in the first place, perhaps he owes the filmmaker a favor, or he thinks it would be fun.
I read somewhere that Colin Farrell had originally wanted his role in Crazy Heart to be uncredited so as not to take away any focus from Jeff Bridges (our next Best Actor Academy Award winner folks). Not that Farrel thinks he’s such hot shit that everyone would be talking about him, but the tabloids and paparazzi do tend to buzz around Farrell more than Bridges. Just as his character in the movie respects and reveres Bridges’s character, Farrell respects and reveres Bridges. He wanted to work with Bridges, but didn’t want the talk surrounding the movie to be about him (Farrell).
Of course, that gets people talking about Farrell when discussing why Farrell, a very important character in the movie, is billed so low (I guess the producers nixed the absolutely uncredited idea), but that’s not what Farrell intended.
Arliss Howard has never talked about, as least, not that I’m aware, of why he wanted to be uncredited for playing Kenneth Parnell in the TV movie I Know My First Name Is Steven, but he plays such a vile kidnapper/pedophile that I can’t blame him for not wanting credit.
In addition to all of the above already mentioned, I would wager that there’s a difference in credited vs uncredited where SAG is concerned.
The prime reason is that the actor wants to take a small role but doesn’t want to hurt his status as a star.
Sometimes, though, it’s to surprise the audience (e.g. Mel Gibson in Father’s Day).
The IMDB trivia for Se7en (I feel like an idiot spelling that title correctly) says that Kevin Spacey only wanted “end credit” billing to keep his appearance a surprise and to be excluded from the film’s (pre-)release marketing.
Steven Spielberg got Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman to lend their voices to Berke Breathed’s characters in “A Wish for Wings that Work”. They were working with him on “Hook” at the time. Hoffman was uncredited and Williams was billed as “Sudy Nim”. Presumably, the actors either took the roles as a favor to Spielberg, or out of fun, or just to keep the boss happy, or some combination of those reasons. Ironically, Spielberg is also uncredited as executive producer on that cartoon. That’s probably for the best, considering how poorly it was received…
And when Hoffman lent his voice to the Simpsons, he was credited as “Sam Etic,” a play on the word “Semetic.”
I had read (no cite) that Whoopi Goldberg had her name removed from the credits of the movie “Star Trek: Generations” because she had been led to believe that Nichelle Nichols would be in it as Uhura. Nichols had been a huge influence on Goldberg, to the point where Goldberg sought out her role on “Star Trek: TNG.” But when she found out she wouldn’t get to work with Nichols in the movie, she asked that her performance go uncredited. Which was probably moot, anyway, as she probably didn’t need it.
Yes, he had just started making a name for himself in villain roles like in Swimming with Sharks and The Usual Suspects so he said that if his name appeared in the opening credits or trailers and he hadn’t shown up in the film by a half-hour in, everyone would know he was John Doe.
I can’t recall if it was Young Guns I or II and it’s long enough ago I don’t have a cite, but I do recall an interview with Emilio Estevez where he said Tom Cruise came to hang out on the set and took an uncredited cameo as one of the cowboys who got shot outside an outhouse because he’d never worked with squibs (the exploding blood packs) and wanted to see what it was like.
Joseph Cotten appeared in “Touch of Evil” because he happened to stop by and Orson Welles decided to use him in a scene.
Sometimes film roles get reduced. Penny Marshall was supposed to be a credited role in “1941” but when she realized what a turkey it was, asked for her name to be removed. Her scene stayed in.
I love 1941 and think it’s hilarious. It’s not a turkey in my mind.
If Jack Nicholson had taken a credit for Broadcast News–or Robin Williams for Baron Munchhausen or Shakes the Clown–these movies would inevitably have been pitched as starring vehicles for these actors, without them getting star pay for them. This is not allowed. The alternative would be to cast somebody else (and lesser) instead. Who wants that?
I never understood why Bill Murray was uncredited in Tootsie. Anybody know the answer?
Appreciation for it has grown over the years. But when it came out, it was seen as an excessive mess and a disappointment.
I saw it shortly after it came out and liked it. Haven’t seen it since, though.
Word in the newspaper supplements at the time was that he didn’t want audiences expecting zany and being disappointed that his character was the straight man.
FWIW, according to IMDb, Murray was NOT uncredited. He was not in the OPENING credits for the reason given. Tootsie (1982) - Trivia - IMDb
Kenneth Branagh refused to be credited in Swing Kids for the same reason as Colin Farrell, above. Robert Sean Leonard and Christian Bale were both just beginning to be known at the time, and Branagh didn’t want to overshadow them. From Wikipedia: “he refused billing after being told he’d be billed above the younger stars, saying that the boys were the real stars of the film and it belonged to them only”.
Uncredited roles in Hot Fuzz:
Cate Blanchett went uncredited because her appearance was because she was a fan of Shaun of the Dead, and she donated her fee to charity; Garth Jennings wasn’t credited because he and Hot Fuzz director/co-writer Edgar Wright always do uncredited cameos in each others’ films; Edgar Wright wasn’t credited because his role was a Hitchcockian cameo; Peter Jackson cameo’d as a fan as well. I’m not sure why Steve Coogan wasn’t credited, since Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy (as his junior and senior officers, respectively) did take credit.
Thanks for the answers guys, makes sense!