Cameo

Ya know what I love? When actors play themselves in movies.

Most of the time it’s a humorous cameo where he or she is poking fun at him or herself, playing an exaggerated version of how the world imagines that person to behave. The first example that comes to mind is Topher Grace (and the other actors Brad Pitt’s character teaches poker) in Ocean’s 11 (2001). They’re slightly dim, they’re greedy, and they’re out to have a good time in a strip club.

Sometimes it happens as an over-the-top, ridiculous cameo that is so fictionalized it goes beyond the knowing nod and pushes into farcical territory. I would put Neil Patrick Harris in the Harold & Kumar movies in this category, although I’ve never seen any of them all the way through. But crazy Neil Patrick Harris is always a good idea. And in Harold & Kumar he’s especially off the walls because the first one was pre-out-of-the-closet and he just wants to get it on with women the whole time he’s tripping.

But on the rarest, and most wonderful, of occasions the actor is a major character. Of course the most famous example of this is Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovich (1999), which features — you guessed it! — John Malkovich. I’m a terrible movie buff, and I have to confess I haven’t seen the entire film. What I saw of it intrigued me, though, mostly because of this actor-as-fictionalized-version-of-himself aspect and the fact that it’s the device that the plot of the film revolves around.

My favorite occurrence of this, however, is in Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (Der Himmel Über Berlin) (1987). It is quite revolting to think that the awful Nicholas Cage/Meg Ryan movie City of Angels (1998) was a remake of this gorgeous film. It’s like finding out they remade Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) as a comedy with Ashton Kutcher. And that would just be too ridiculous to fathom, amiright? Oh wait. Quick, let’s get back to Wim Wenders before I forget there’s still good in the world.

So, Wings of Desire. Peter Falk playing himself…as a fallen angel. Brilliant. In this beautiful scene he’s convincing another angel to take the leap, too. It’s not heavy-handed, it’s not saccharine, it’s just Peter Falk.
 

What are your favorite moments of an actor paying him or herself? Inquiring minds want to know.

-Rachel