cameo Tagged Articles at Cinematical

This is what cameos are all about. Sometimes an actor performs a cameo in heavy disguise, and it's up to the viewer to "find" him or her. But the best cameos are the ones that take into account the personality of the performer/writer/athlete/politician, and then make some kind of wry comment on it. If you're wondering how an upstart like Mike Myers could have coaxed the Oscar-winning legend and Shakespearian actor Charlton Heston into a less-than-one-minute scene in a comedy sequel, just check out this clip. I doubt any actor could have resisted.

The joke here is doubly cool. For a time, Heston was considered a kind of parody of a great actor. He had appeared in many big, important classics, including The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur and Touch of Evil, but before long, he was the star of some big-budget drive-in movies like Planet of the Apes (and sequels) and The Omega Man, yet performed them with the same rock-faced dignity. Was he aware of the course his career had taken? Was he remarkably clueless? Was his ego getting in the way? In 30 seconds, Myers cannily deconstructs Heston by taking a "bad actor" (Al Hansen) out of a totally meaningless scene and replacing him with a "good actor" (Heston). Heston reads a silly speech about a girl he once knew, and Myers leaves -- moved almost to the point of tears. We initially laugh at the idea of Heston as "good actor," but at the end of 30 seconds, we're ready to believe it.

Watch the classic cameo after the jump.

Some of the best celebrity cameo appearances in movies are rock stars, even if they're not actually playing music. One of my favorite moments with a musician appearing briefly onscreen is Bruce Springsteen in High Fidelity, the 2000 film directed by Stephen Frears. It's small even as cameos go -- less than a minute -- but The Boss adds a nice touch to a film centered on music and musical taste, based on the novel by Nick Hornby.

In the scene, which you can watch via YouTube after the jump, Rob (John Cusack) is ruminating about whether he should visit his five major ex-girlfriends in order to get some perspective on his recent break-up with Laura (Iben Hjejle). As Rob lies on his bed considering the idea, he imagines Bruce Springsteen giving him advice. Happily, we get to see and hear The Boss himself, strumming his guitar as he speaks. It's a low-key moment, nothing flashy, and maybe that's why it's so effective. A few lesser-known musicians have brief walk-ons or appear in bands in High Fidelity, and of course this is Jack Black's breakout film as an actor, but Springsteen's cameo was an instant classic. I believe this is the only narrative feature film in which the musician has appeared -- correct me if I'm wrong.

Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) are in a long line for a movie, trying not to fight about their sex life, and Alvy is continually annoyed by a guy in line behind him, who rants on pompously and erroneously about any number of topics. And eventually, Alvy is able to do the one thing we'd love to do when we encounter That Guy In Line. How is McLuhan involved? Watch the relevant part of the scene after the jump (YouTube link) and you'll understand why this cameo is still classic comedy, even though McLuhan is no longer as generally well known as he was.

I haven't been so nuts about Ben Stiller lately as an actor, but as a director the guy has shoveled out some pretty decent flicks. Reality Bites and The Cable Guy are two classics in my mind, and Zoolander -- eh, it had its moments. For his fourth pic as a director, Stiller will give us Tropic Thunder; a film that has already assembled a pretty wacky cast that includes Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Justin Theroux and Jay Baruchel. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Cruise may be stepping in for a super secret cameo that's just a tad -- shall we say -- ironic. The article in question talks up Hollywood's annoying "cameo code of silence;" how A-list actors will often appear in tiny roles for little to no money (because they're friends with the folks in charge or what have you), but then insist that their contract not allow the studio to market their appearance in any way, shape or form.

It's a catch-22; one one hand, it's awesome to have someone like, say, Tom Cruise in your film. Then again, what good is it if you can't use his appearance to sell tickets? And so it goes. But back to the topic at hand, which is, of course, Cruise's secret Stiller role. Apparently, he'll be playing a "despotic studio head" who, I take it, will be in charge of the big-budgeted war film Stiller and Co. are attempting to shoot in Tropic Thunder -- that is, until these actors playing actors are forced to become the soldiers they're portraying for real. Some are saying this role will give Cruise a chance to poke fun at folks like Sumner Redstone and Paramount who, just last year, canned Cruise because of his wild off-screen antics, saying, essentially, that Cruise was performing "career suicide." (Heh, I wouldn't be surprised if that exact quote is used as a line of dialogue spoken by Cruise's character.) The ironic (or moronic) part? Dreamworks (owned by Paramount) is putting out the film. I love it! Of course, we probably won't know whether Cruise is actually in the film until it screens for an audience (stupid cameo code!), but we'll keep our ears open and let you know what we hear. Currently, Tropic Thunder is scheduled to appear in your local theater on July 11, 2008.

Last week, a company called Halcyon (which sounds like a name that would be involved with a Terminator film) bought all merchandising, licensing and film rights to The Terminator franchise from former producing partners Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna. At the time, it was reported that Arnold Schwarzenegger would not be involved in the series going forward, what with being a Governor and all. In fact, that's been a known fact for quite awhile now, leading most fans to write off any and all potential future installments. Well, don't whip out the pen just yet; according to a few different sources, Arnold will be back ... just not in the flesh.

First off, Moviehole reports that Schwarzenegger has signed on as Executive Producer for the three Terminator pics Halcyon plans to churn out, so says the Governator's rep Annabelle Gross. Not only that, but The Post Chronicle reports Schwarzenegger has given Halycon permission to use his likeness in the fourth installment. Thus, we'll most likely see some cruddy digitally-created Arnold instead of the real thing. Halycon partner Derek Anderson said, "We'll be using computer altered stock images of Arnold. That way we can span his entire career, from the frightening '80s era Terminator to the ice cool T2 version." If used sparingly, I could see this looking fairly cool. I just hope they don't plan to use digital Arnold as a main character; it's one thing if we see his face, but once they start looping in old dialogue, I might be forced to throw something at the screen. "How many times is he going to say 'I'll be back!?'" Regardless, those who felt a Terminator 4 would be nothing without Arnold should be mildly pleased -- I mean, this is better than a five-second cameo, right?

UPDATE: Clint from Moviehole has emailed Cinematical telling us that this entire story may have been fabricated. According to Clint, Halcyon has told him that none of it is true. His source claims the quotes came from EW magazine in Australia; however, EW doesn't know a thing about it. Of course, should we hear otherwise, we'll let you know.

We've been back and forth on this a few times, but now it looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger might be appearing in the next Terminator flick after all. Empire tells us (via The Boston Herald) that MGM chairman Harry Sloan recently spoke about the (much-anticipated?) sequel and alluded to a certain aspect of Ahnold's contract that states he's required to appear in a fourth film. So, will he or won't he be back?

Here's what we know for sure: The script is done for Terminator 4, and if director Jonathan Mostow still plans to hit that (summer?) 2008 targeted release, then production on the flick should begin soon. While Nick Stahl is rumored to be playing John Connor, we still don't know for sure who will star ... but we do know it won't be Arnold. Can a new Terminator flick be successful with, well, the Terminator we all know and love appearing in only a cameo role, if that? And what kind of cameo would this be? A "killed off in the first scene" cameo or a "make you smile right before the end credits role" cameo? For me, the more important question is who do you get to replace The Man? The Rock?