Movies worth talking about

Thursday Movie Picks: Actors or Actresses Playing Themselves

Kat Impossible18 Comments

It’s Thursday and I’m back with a new Thursday Movie Picks feature post. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

Today’s theme is all about actors and actresses that played themselves. I think there’s room for interpretation with that theme. Is it people who mostly or only ever play characters that are super close to their own personality? Or are we talking about actors and actresses that literally played themselves (be it as a cameo or more) in a movie? Well, I decided for myself that I’m going to go with the latter, however, I didn’t just pick actors but also just celebs in general for this feature.

Keanu Reeves: Always Be My Maybe

I adore Keanu Reeves! He is an odd dude, but he never takes himself too seriously, which is why his role in Always Be My Maybe was simply brilliant. He briefly played the love interest for the main character and I laughed every time he was on screen. I miss him in more light-hearted stuff sometimes.

Julia Roberts: Ocean’s 12

This appearance was super meta and I was here for it! Basically, Julia Roberts’ character pretends to be Julia Roberts, so there’s always that!

LeBron James: Trainwreck

LeBron James having a friendship with Bill Hader’s character was so funny. I loved it and would have watched many more scenes with just the two of them.

Ed Sheeran: Yesterday

Confession time: I’m not the biggest Ed Sheeran fan. I get that many people love his music, but I’m just not that head over heels into it. However, it was fun to see him in Yesterday and become a mentor of the lead character in a way, while he was also baffled someone was a better songwriter than him.

Dustin Hoffman: The Holiday

It was so brief, blink and you might have missed it. But I love The Holiday and I felt compelled to mention it. What can you do?

Dustin Hoffman in The Holiday
credit: Universal Pictures

What are some cameos or full on roles of actors, actresses and celebs of any kind you liked in movies? Let’s talk about that!

18 thoughts on “Thursday Movie Picks: Actors or Actresses Playing Themselves”

    • I can highly recommend Always Be My Maybe – it’s definitely among the better Netflix RomComs (to which I also count Set It Up, if you haven’t seen that one either).
      I liked Yesterday, mostly because I think it’s just such a cute movie. Also, I got teary eyed when he met Lennon.

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  5. I’m 2 for 5. I’d forgotten about the Dustin cameo in The Holiday. I can’t say I loved the film, I liked the Kate Winslet segment much more than the Cameron Diaz but then I like her much more so that probably played into it.

    Oceans Twelve is my least favored of the trio of Ocean films, love the first one though, however that part about Julia Roberts impersonating herself is very meta.

    This was a tough one for me. I thought of my first instantly and had to poke around for my others.

    Airplane! -Kareem Abdul Jabar (1980)-Wacky spoof of disaster movies and in particular the 1957 Dana Andrews/Linda Darnell film Zero Hour! Kareem plays himself though for some reason he’s pretending to be co-pilot Roger Murdock leading to many puns.

    Wings of Desire-Peter Falk (1987)-Dreamy and cerebral fantasy from Wim Wenders about two angels, Damiel & Cassiel who float above Berlin offering rays of hope for the downtrodden without their knowledge. When Damiel falls for trapeze artist Marion and longs for a non-spectral existence he is given some unexpected advice from Peter Falk (as himself) who harbors a secret unknown to all.

    Zoolander-David Bowie (2001)-In this loony satire of the male modeling industry the legendary Bowie appears as the judge of a fashion runway “walk-off” between Ben Stiller’s Derek Zoolander and Owen Wilson’s rival male model Hansel McDonald.

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    • I also prefer Kate Winslet’s storyline to that of Cameron Diaz in the Holiday. But I think the movie is sweet.

      I’m sure I’ve seen Zoolander but even though it’s like a modern classic, I don’t remember much of it. So strange

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  6. Really great picks. I completely forgot about Lebron James. He and Bill Hader are my favorite part of that movie. Also love Dustin Hoffman’s brief cameo, especially since it wasn’t scripted! Keanu’s role as Keanu is epic as well!

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  8. Some fun picks here. We match with Ocean’s 12. I have not seen the one with Keanu Reeves but it looks funny. I still have to see Yesterday which looks good. Ed Sheeren needs to pull up his pants..he looks like he is carrying a load. I have seen Holiday a couple of times and don’t remember Dustin Hoffman at all. I should try and watch Trainwreck but I don’t like what’s her face.

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    • Always Be My Maybe and Yesterday are both fun and sweet movies, but probably not something that will stick with you forever. I like that kind of film though.
      Don’t watch Trainwreck just for them! I’m sure there’s a compilation of their scenes somewhere on Youtube!!

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