Directors are the glue that hold a film together. Indeed, directors are responsible for bringing together the cast and crew and making creative decisions throughout the production of a movie. The best directors offer a unique vision on a theme or a subject. The Coen Brothers, for instance, use their movies to dissect American culture, while recent Oscar-winner Jane Campion explored gender and identity using the Western genre as her backdrop.Foremost, of course, directors provide entertainment to their audiences. Throughout the course of film history, directors have made cameo appearances in their own films, either as a small nod to the hard work that they've done, or for the purpose of adding a surprising and even pleasing element to their films. Here's a look at 9 directors who made cameos in their own movies.
9 George Lucas — Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars is one of the highest-grossing movie franchises of all time, and the brain behind the movies was George Lucas. He made a brief cameo in Revenge of the Sith, and he can be seen to the bottom left of the scene as Anakin runs to the opera house to meet Palpatine. It’s a slight nod to all the work he has done throughout his years developing the Star Wars franchise.
8 Martin Scorsese — Taxi Driver
Martin Scorsese is a legendary director who is known for his frequent collaborations with his favorite actors, including Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and Leonardo DiCaprio. In Taxi Driver, he makes a brief cameo appearance as a murderous husband who is watching his wife from a seat in Travis’ taxi. The scene is disturbing on purpose, and Scorsese delivers the creepiness himself, adding to the overall intense tone of Taxi Driver.
7 Quentin Tarantino — Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino is another director on this list who is well known and has cultivated a following with a directing style that is unique. He often makes cameos in his films as an artistic choice, and once such example of this is his role in Pulp Fiction. When Vincent and Jules need somewhere to hide a body, they and up calling their friend Jimmy, who is played by Tarantino. It’s a great scene in the movie, which is made even better by his appearance.
6 Peter Jackson — The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was one of the most expensive and successful franchises that has ever been created. The series was based on the J.R.R. Tolkien books of the same name and created a legion of die-hard fans. The director behind bringing this to life is Peter Jackson, who has first made a brief appearance in The Fellowship of the Ring as a drunken man with a carrot in a scene that most would look past at first glance.
5 Alfred Hitchcock — North By Northwest
Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most famous directors in history, and his brief cameo in North by Northwest is another one that is so brief, the viewer could miss it if they weren’t paying attention. He makes a brief appearance when the title credits roll at the beginning of the movie, during which you can see him attempt to board a bus, only to have the door slammed in his face.
4 Steven Spielberg — The Lost World: Jurassic Park
This cameo is the type where if you blink, you will most likely miss it. Steven Spielberg appears in a very subtle cameo towards the end of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, when a CNN news shot flashes on the screen showing the T-Rex and its infant being transported back to Isla Sorna. If you look very closely, you can see the reflections of Jeff Golblum and Julianne Moore’s characters who are watching a TV, however, sitting next to them is Spielberg himself.
3 Francis Ford Coppola — Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola’s cameo in Apocalypse Now is arguably one of the cleverest in cinematic history. He plays a TV director of a camera crew, which is self-referential, and he can be heard shouting at Martin Sheen to not look at the camera, focusing solely on achieving raw footage of the Vietnam War to the best of his abilities. The layers to this mean that he could be playing himself, or he could possibly become the embodiment of wartime propaganda, which is what the film is centered around. It’s a clever directing choice, which showcases the depths of Coppola’s talents.
2 M. Night Shyamalan — Signs
M. Night Shyamalan is famous for his plot twists as a director, and he took movie-goers by surprise when he had a cameo role in Signs, the famous alien horror which was massively popular upon release. He plays a frightened local, known as Ray, who has trapped an alien in his kitchen. He apologized to Graham for the death of his wife, making him a key element of the plot. It’s a scene that holds a lot of importance to the story, and a clever directorial choice.
1 Wes Craven, Scream
Wes Craven is behind one of the most iconic horror films of all time, that being the 1996 slasher film, Scream. The film depicts the fictional town of Woodsboro and a plague of murders that haunt it. The cameo Craven makes is notable for its self awareness, poking fun at the horror genre, as he appears as a janitor, sporting the classic red and green sweater that audiences would expect to see on Freddy Krueger. It’s a silly reference that feels true to Craven’s identity as a director.