Hidden Gems: The 13 Greatest Movie Cameos

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Hidden Gems: The 13 Greatest Movie Cameos
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A good movie is filled with memorable moments, but occasionally the simple and unexpected appearance of a familiar face makes a few minutes – or a few seconds – unforgettable. When done right, a great movie cameo can surprise and delight, and often be the thing people best remember when they leave the cinema. Here are some of our favourites, but a brief warning: some of these scenes contain spoilers, and some feature adult language.

By Victoria Luxford

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Hidden Gems: The 13 Greatest Movie Cameos .
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Bill Murray (Zombieland, 2009) – We start with one of the most surprising and fun cameos in recent history. In the middle of this chaotic zombie comedy (zombedy?), our quartet of survivors (Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Abigail Breslin) come across none other than the real Bill Murray. In a brief appearance filled with references to his stunning career, it’s a wonderful moment of self-awareness that ends with an unforgettable joke: Stone asks Murray if there were any regrets in his life, to which the deadpan actor replies “Garfield maybe”. Comedy gold.

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Hidden Gems: The 13 Greatest Movie Cameos .
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Hugh Jackman (X-Men: First Class, 2011) – Matthew Vaughn’s bold revamp of the X-Men Universe imagined the younger Charles Xavier and Magneto (James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender) putting together a team of gifted mutants in the 1960s. A prequel to the 2000s films, one anomaly had to be addressed: Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine was alive in that time and, due to his powers, looking more or less the same. So why didn’t he join the team? The answer comes in this cameo, where he gives a short and typically abrupt answer to their approach. He would of course team up with them later, in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.

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Glenn Close (Hook, 1991) – It takes a special actor to be so convincing in a role that even a close-up doesn’t reveal who they really are! Oscar winner Glenn Close is unrecognisable in a beard and wig as a male pirate whom Hook (Dustin Hoffman) punishes. It’s the most celebrated cameo in a film full of them: Star Wars legends Carrie Fisher and George Lucas appear in silhouette as a couple, and a teenage Gwyneth Paltrow briefly appears as Wendy.

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Donald Trump (Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, 1992) – Yes, that Donald Trump. The future president of the United States has a small cameo in the second Home Alone movie, where he gives directions to star Macaulay Culkin in a swanky hotel. It’s obviously taken new significance since the start of Trump’s political career, but it’s far from the first time the 45^th president has dipped his toe into the acting pool. He also has cameos in Hugh Grant romcom Two Weeks Notice, as well as Zoolander and Woody Allen’s 1998 film Celebrity.

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Daniel Craig (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 2015) – An important scene in the seventh Star Wars film involved Rey (Daisy Ridley) discovering her Force powers by performing a Jedi mind trick on an unsuspecting Stormtrooper. Fans thought the ‘Trooper’s voice sounded familiar, and deduced that it was none other than 007 himself, Daniel Craig. The James Bond actor revealed that he was preparing to film Spectre at the same studios that were filming The Force Awakens, and through a mutual acquaintance ended up in the film. He’s not the first famous person to cameo in the films, however: Ed Sheeran and Tom Hardy reportedly appeared as Stormtroopers, too, while Lin-Manuel Miranda had a cameo as a part of the Resistance.

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Charlton Heston (Wayne’s World 2, 1995) – Charlton Heston was an icon of cinema, thanks to movies such as Planet of the Apes and Ben-Hur. The two-time Oscar winner was not known for his comedy chops, yet in Wayne’s World 2 he delivers one of the standout moments: He appears in a meta moment in the comedy sequel, where Wayne (Mike Myers) asks the crew for a better actor to deliver a speech. Heston is brought in and duly delivers, bringing tears to Wayne’s eyes and laughter to the audience.

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Stan Lee (The Marvel Cinematic Universe, 2008-2019) – When the word ‘cameo’ is used, one man immediately springs to mind: Stan Lee, the mastermind behind Marvel’s success, made cameos in Marvel adaptations before the MCU started (most notably Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and Ang Lee’s Hulk), but it was his presence in the biggest franchise of all time, the Avengers Universe, that made him an icon to a whole new generation. He sadly passed in 2018, but not before he had completed his cameo in Avengers: Endgame, a fitting final bow for a legend of the comic book genre. He made more than 60 cameos over the years, playing everything from a general to Playboy magnate Hugh Hefner.

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David Bowie (Zoolander, 2001) – The dearly missed musical legend made an appearance in Ben Stiller’s terrific fashion satire, and it was every bit as cool as you think it would be. Bowie had an interesting acting career, starring in movies like Labyrinth and The Man Who Fell to Earth at his height, but also taking small roles in movies like Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige and The Last Temptation of Christ. In Zoolander, he plays the judge in an underground fashion ‘walk off’, a cheeky nod to his status as a fashion icon.

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Carrie Fisher (Scream 3, 2000) – In the 32 years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, Carrie Fisher had a long and varied career in Hollywood as an actor, writer and mentor to a number of young stars. However, her most famous role always lingered, and Fisher makes a witty reference to Princess Leia in a very meta cameo in the third Scream movie, as a secretary who happens to look a lot like Carrie Fisher. She also manages to create some humorous slander about herself, implying she got the role because she slept with George Lucas. Not true as far as we know, but a hilarious example of how the late legend never took herself too seriously.

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Tom Cruise (Tropic Thunder, 2008) – Tom Cruise isn’t generally a name that appears low down in the credits – his only other cameo is in the third Austin Powers movie. However, he made an immediate impact in a tiny role as a foul-mouthed movie producer named Les Grossman. While not suitable for polite company, Cruise’s energetic freak-outs were all anyone could talk about when Ben Stiller’s 2008 comedy came out, despite the character having minimal time on screen. Cruise was very involved in the creation of the character, insisting on two things: that he would have large prosthetic hands, and he could dance. The end sequence showed that his requests were warranted.

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Christopher Lloyd (A Million Ways to Die in the West, 2014) – Few films are as beloved by audiences as Back to the Future, and cinema fans around the world cheered when Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) was uncovered in Seth MacFarlane’s Western comedy, clearly having travelled back to the Old West and working on his famous DeLorean time machine. With director Robert Zemeckis adamant that a fourth Back to the Future film will never be made, this may be the closest to a return for Doc that we’ll ever get.

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Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, 1988) – Trivia pop quiz: What’s the one and only time Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse have appeared together on screen? The answer is this ode to hand-drawn cartoons, starring Bob Hoskins as a detective investigating the set-up of a beloved cartoon rabbit. Bugs and Mickey, the symbols of two animation empires, appear together in a scene where Hoskins is falling and begs them for a parachute – with hilarious consequences. Other than history-making, the two share a scene for contractual reasons: Warner Bros and Disney stipulated that their marquee characters would have exactly the same amount of screen time, making it easier for filmmakers to simply put them in the same scene.

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Dame Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love, 1998) – It’s up for debate whether Judi Dench’s performance as Queen Elizabeth I is a cameo or just a small part (although fellow list member Tom Cruise has around the same time in Tropic Thunder). Still, the role remains one of the most successful bit parts ever, as Dench was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for less than eight minutes of screen time. The veteran British star even made light of it in her acceptance speech: “I feel for eight minutes on screen, I should only get a little bit of him,” Dench joked while looking at her golden statuette.

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Hidden Gems: The 13 Greatest Movie Cameos

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