Strange movie apperances.

[ProvanFan]

John Barrowman in Oscar-nominated 'Zero Dark Thirty'.

and Jason from Renford Rejects

[zomgmouse]

Leon Trotsky got some extra work while exiled in the USA in the 1910s - there's a still of him in "The Official Wife" floating about but I've been unable to find it.

I've just looked this up because I was curious, and there is a clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JZfla3dWmM

Apparently it's not actually him, though, just a look-alike. But I want to believe that it is.

[Ignatius_S]

Jeff Bridges in Cold Feet – no, not the ITV series, but an off-beat comedy-thriller. Bridges is uncredited in an memorable cameo as a bartender – I once read that this was because he has starred in Rancho Deluxe and one of the writers of that also worked on Cold Feet – I rather hope that was true; however, when I did some research, one of the Bridges clan was involved in the production.

For me, it's the parts are greater than the sum (and the ending, rather disappointing) but there's a lot to enjoy in the tale of three criminals hiding emeralds in the stomach of the horse to smuggle into the US and one deciding to double-cross the others. One of the criminals is a charming crooked cowboy played by Keith Carradine and the other is psychotic ex-marine played by Tom Waits – if that's just sold you the film, I salute you!

Ah, bollocks, it is too! And I was even thinking about how Sid James was in that. I meant The Lavender Hill Mob, I swear!

Hee, actually because of all the talk about James, I thought you might have been acting subconsciously.

Although it's not what I would call an unusual appearance for James, he's very good in the Stanley Baker film, Hell Drivers – which also has lots of familiar faces, like Herbert Lom. Also, any excuse to post this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eVms_tAN0E – Bermondsey from Three Hats for Lisa, where Sid as Sid the Cabby joins the young stars of Three Hats for Lisa in in a song and soft shoe shuffle routine. Actually, I've quite a soft spot for this musical-comedy, which revolves around three young Londoners (Joe Brown, Una Stubbs and Dave Nelson) who show a foreign film star the sights (such as the GPO, which IIRC, was just being finished). I saw the film during the 'Cool Britannica' period of the Blair years and thought that this film actually made London look like it was vibrant and full of promise, rather more than what was happening at the time!

In any case, lots of familiar faces in the film and I'm very fond of this clip I linked – when I first watched it I was wowed by how nifty James was on his feet.

...More non-Allens, Willem Dafoe in Cry-Baby. I also remember seeing Darren E. Burrows (Ed from Northern Exposure) in it and being pleasantly surprised....

Iggy Pop is also in that one. For a moment, I mixed up Johnny Depp with Brad Pitt and was going to mention Johnny Suede (again) –  Samuel Jackson has a small role as the band's drummer.

Of course, Iggy had a memorable cameo in Dead Man (a film that owes a huge debt, to put it politely, to a Rudy Wurlitzer script that did the rounds in Hollywood).

[Bobby Treetops]

Tom Baker in Pasolini's The Canterbury Tales.

Mr Baker is seen flapping his todger about in this role, not as big as I'd expected, it must have been a cold day. It also features Robin Askwith, playing a bawdy punter in a brothel, pissing from a first floor balcony. Who can also be found in the rather wonderful Bartleby, playing a bawdy office worker.

Nothing like a bit of typecasting.

[Benjaminos]

Yeah, Cotten plays the senator who gets

Spoiler alert

killed

[close]

right at the beginning.

This is the most brilliantly pointless spoiler tag. What could possibly be hiding under that black box?!  Laid? Fat? Chips?

[oneinchhospital]

Leon Trotsky got some extra work while exiled in the USA in the 1910s - there's a still of him in "The Official Wife" floating about but I've been unable to find it.

I became really excited and intrigued when I read that, but according to IMDB "Many sources mistakenly claim that Russian Communist icon Leon Trotsky was in this film as an extra. In fact, Trotsky was not yet in the United States when this was filmed. There is an extra who resembles him.".

As for the original topic, I'm sure Cathy Burke was in Sid and Nancy, and it took me about three viewings to realise that Benedict Cumberbatch was the negotiator in Four Lions.

[oneinchhospital]

Yeah, Cotten plays the senator who gets

Spoiler alert

killed

[close]

right at the beginning.

Piles?

[Dusty Substance]

This is my kind of thread but a lot of the examples I thought of have already been mentioned.

I had zero expectations for and knew nothing about Bridesmaids so was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the film, but was very taken aback when Matt Lucas turned up in his slightly pointless but enjoyable brief appearance.

Larry David appears off screen in Woody Allen's brilliant Radio Days which came as a shock when I last revisited it.

Terrence Stamp pops up in The Phantom Menace which always seemed odd but he justified his role in some recent interviews where his agent sold the role as being "President Of The Universe".

The 22 year old Chris Rock has a tiny role as a Valet in Beverly Hills Cop II but he is brimming with such confidence that in retrospect it seems more like a cameo rather than a pre-fame bit part.

There's also the now strange pairing of Bryan Cranston and Dean Norris in Little Miss Sunshine. Norris I recognised immediately, as he was playing a bald cop. Cranston, however, I didn't recognise at all until his name came up in the closing credits.

One last weird one. Although I didn't know the face, I knew the name Charles Fleischer as the voice of Roger Rabbit and was very surprised to see him as a doctor in A Nightmare On Elm Street.

[QDRPHNC]

One last weird one. Although I didn't know the face, I knew the name Charles Fleischer as the voice of Roger Rabbit and was very surprised to see him as a doctor in A Nightmare On Elm Street.

He was also in one of Zodiac's best scenes, as the weird old guy who takes Jake Jillinhall down to his basement.

[Dusty Substance]

He was also in one of Zodiac's best scenes, as the weird old guy who takes Jake Jillinhall down to his basement.

Crumbs, I did not realise that was him. Such a bloody good film that Zodiac. It wasn't until my second viewing that I realised that their prime suspect was played by Marge's husband from Fargo.

[Frazer]

Jim Carrey's part in the Dirty Harry film Dead Pool looks a bit strange in retrospect.

[Andy147]

Scoop had Julia Deakin, Phil Cornwell and Alexander Armstrong.

Alexander Armstrong being it was coincidentally mentioned on today's Pointless.

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

Mark Heap and Kevin Eldon in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

For a second I thought that was a fantastic early double bill of the 2 of them in the Gene Wilder version. But then I remembered Johnny Depp did another one.

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

I was surprised when I saw Eric Sykes pop up in a serious role in The Others. Wasn't aware he'd done a lot of theatre earlier.

Did plenty of old films as well, eg. Very Important Person, about POWs starring James Robertson Justice.

Sid James' performance in the WW2 thriller The Small Back Room is strange, simply as he plays a surly pub landlord getting angry with the alcoholic lead character. Resolutely unchummy and uncomic (and probably nearer to what he was in real life).

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

Woody Allen's Match Point featured Paul Kaye (of Dennis Pennis fame).

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

As for the original topic, I'm sure Cathy Burke was in Sid and Nancy, and it took me about three viewings to realise that Benedict Cumberbatch was the negotiator in Four Lions.

Of course Courtney Love appears as Gretschen Hofner in the film, and she wasn't famous as a singer then. There was a 90s indie band called Gretschen Hofner as a tribute to this.

[Brundle-Fly]

Hammer horror star, Peter 'Grand Moff Tarkin' Cushing ( fourth from left) with Laurel & Hardy in A Chump At Oxford (1940)

He's one of those people (ie- John Laurie, Thora Hird, MacKenzie Crook) that have always looked ancient.

[Chichester Cathedral]

Elijah Wood is in Back to the Future Part II.

[Glebe]

As for the original topic, I'm sure Cathy Burke was in Sid and Nancy

Courtney Love auditioned for the role of Nancy, she has a background role in the film.

He was also in one of Zodiac's best scenes, as the weird old guy who takes Jake Jillinhall down to his basement.

Pixes fan David Fincher apparently wanted Frank Black to cameo in the film... my guess is the shadowy  cab driver killer, who kind of resembles him. In the Pixies doc LoudquietLoud, Frank reveals he was asked to play a psycho killer in a film with Liv Tyler, can't remember the name of it.

Let's see... there's Arthur Lowe being decapited in his sleep by Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood... Price also popped up in Bloodbath at the House of Death with Kenny Everett.

A few Scorsese ones... Miriam Margolyes in The Age of Innocence, Jim Broadbent, John Sessions, Stephen Graham, E.T.'s Henry Thomas and Finbar Furey in Gang's of New York. Oh, and Eddie Marsden, as somebody may have pointed out already. John C. Reilly wasn't that weird, although aside from his P.T. Anderson appearances he's usually associated with comedy. Oh yeah, Kevin Eldon has already been mentioned in Hugo, but of course there's also Sasha Baron Cohen, Richard Griffiths and Frances de la Tour, who also appears in the Harry Potter series and Burton's Alice in Wonderland... which also features Barbara Windsor as the Dormouse and Matt Lucas, Stephen Fry etc.

Actually, Christopher Lee makes his belated Scorsese debut in Hugo, apparently they've been friends for years... of course Lee aso popped up in Spielberg's 1941, along with a load of SNL folk.

[gmoney]

Nigel off of Eastenders and Maureen Lipman are both in The Pianist, taking me out the drama momentarily.

[another Mr. Lizard]

It also features Robin Askwith, playing a bawdy punter in a brothel, pissing from a first floor balcony. Who can also be found in the rather wonderful Bartleby, playing a bawdy office worker.

Nothing like a bit of typecasting.

Robin also makes a brief appearance in wartime sub epic U-571, billed as (you couldn't make it up) 'British Seaman'...



The aforementioned Frances de la Tour also played a cannibal in BOOK OF ELI.

Pete Walker's 1978 horror film THE COMEBACK has an extraordinary cast, as does the David Sullivan-produced psychokiller/horse racing/mucky mag publishing classic THE PLAYBIRDS. I won't spoil your fun, look both up on imdb. You won't believe some of the names involved.

[Deanjam]

Eastenders Tom Watt aka Lofty in Patriot Games

[Mark Steels Stockbroker]

Isn't John Sessions in Lock Stock And 2 Smoking Barrels? One of the gunmen in the raid on the cannabis plantation? I definitely had a "isn't that..." moment.

For that matter, the same with spotting David Baddiel in Filthy Rich & Catflap. (not a film)

[Bored of Canada]

Isn't John Sessions in Lock Stock And 2 Smoking Barrels? One of the gunmen in the raid on the cannabis plantation? I definitely had a "isn't that..." moment.

For that matter, the same with spotting David Baddiel in Filthy Rich & Catflap. (not a film)

Oh speaking of Lock Stock. Rob Brydon as the Ticket-Inspector who gets repeatedly beaten by the gang after the weed heist.

[BeardFaceMan]

Lock, Stock also had Danny John Jules in it of course so it's not unusual for him to be in films but I remember the first time I saw Blade 2 and there's a showdown with Blade and some serious ninja-type vampire badasses and one of them takes his mask off and it's the fucking Cat. Aaaaaaaaow..........did that happen?

[Ignatius_S]

John Lydon in Corrupt AKA Copkiller AKA The Order of Death – essentially a two-hander between him and Harvey Keitel, and is something of a forerunner to the latter's Bad Lieutenant.

I had been trying to see this one for quite a few years and had thought I probably I never would. Then, queuing up the shop at Butlins during a Tidy Trax weekender at Prestatyn, whilst idling looking at the bargain basement DVDs for sale, there it was...

Although I eagerly bought it, there was some trepidation about actually watching it – was my previous effort for something that was, frankly, a load of old pony? Happily, it's an interesting oddity that I feel deserves to be better known.

Ah, but the Internet has removed so much from trying to obtain little known work.

...As for the original topic, I'm sure Cathy Burke was in Sid and Nancy...

Yes, and she became something of an Alex Cox regular as Burke also appeared in his next two films, Straight to Hell and Walker.

Of course Courtney Love appears as Gretschen Hofner in the film, and she wasn't famous as a singer then. There was a 90s indie band called Gretschen Hofner as a tribute to this.

She would also play the main female lead in Straight to Hell, which has all manner of curious casting.

...Let's see... there's Arthur Lowe being decapited in his sleep by Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood...

Mmm, that film is chockfull of established character actors, though – worth mentioning Lowe's roles in The Ruling Class and If...  some of the leftfield stuff he was in! No mention of Theatre of Blood should go without the mention of Eric Sykes.

[Famous Mortimer]

I became really excited and intrigued when I read that, but according to IMDB "Many sources mistakenly claim that Russian Communist icon Leon Trotsky was in this film as an extra. In fact, Trotsky was not yet in the United States when this was filmed. There is an extra who resembles him.".

Ah, balls. I saw a photo of him in the film in a book years ago, and it was a pretty good likeness. The information about the film to refresh my memory came from a website which was not friendly to yer man Leon - "the sailor murdering bastard was in a film" - so I ought to have to taken it with a pinch of salt.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Lock, Stock also had Danny John Jules

He's in Scum also.

I also find it weird watching Leslie Nielsen in his pre-comedy roles.

[VegaLA]

I also find it weird watching Leslie Nielsen in his pre-comedy roles.

The disco scene in Terror Train is a sight to behold.

[Sam]

Arnold Schwarzenegger was in Terminator 2.