20 Famous Directors Who Acted in Other People’s Movies

Peter Bogdanovich, director of the critically acclaimed “Last Picture Show,” played Brooks Otterlake, a director much like himself, in “The Other Side of the Wind,” a satire never finished by Welles, but completed with input from Bogdanovich and released after Welles’s death.

In this parody of the classic thriller “Silence of the Lambs”, “Silence of the Hams” features John Carpenter, known as the director of such horror films as “Halloween” and “The Thing,” in the role of Trench Coat Man. Although the title parodies Hannibal Lecter’s famous film debut, the film’s plot borrows more from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”

French film director Claude Chabrol, a leading filmmaker in France’s New Wave in the late 1950’s and ’60s, had a role in fellow French director Joann Sfar’s “Gainsbourg,” based on the life of the iconic French singer Serge Gainsbourg. Chabrol plays the part of a producer – one of some 47 on-screen roles he played over the course of his career!

The ultimate B-movie producer (and mentor to countless actors and directors, from Jack Nicholson to Francis Ford Coppola) and director of the original “The Little Shop of Horrors,” among many other popular classics, has also dipped his toe into the world of acting. The proclaimed “Pope of Pop Cinema” had a part in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather Part II”, portraying Senator Weekler – a role Coppola gave him as a tribute.

In a movie filled to the brim with cameos and special appearances, it should be no surprise that Kevin Smith’s “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” includes an appearance by famous horror film director Wes Craven. Craven plays himself, returning a favor to Smith, who had a bit part, with his cohort Jason Mewes, in “Scream 3.”

American film director Samuel Fuller, known for “The Big Red One” and “Shock Corridor”, among many other low-budget but generally well-reviewed films, had a cameo in French New Wave alum Jean-Luc Godard’s “Pierrot le Fou”, playing himself. In the film, Fuller says “Film is like a battleground. There’s love, hate, action, violence, death…in one word: emotion.”

German film director Werner Herzog has appeared in a number of films and TV shows. This includes the 2012 film “Jack Reacher,” directed by Chistopher McQuarrie, in which Herzog plays the main antagonist, The Zec. He’s perhaps best-known currently for his memorable line in Jon Favreau’s “The Mandalorian,” asking to see Baby Yoda: “I would like to see the…director.”

Actor and director Spike Jonze, known for such films as “Her” and “Being John Malkovich,” appeared in David O. Russell’s “Three Kings” as one of his first significant film roles. Jonze auditioned for the part since he knew the director. Russell apparently wrote the part with Jonze in mind, and only later asked if he could act!

Independent filmmaker, performance artist, and author Miranda July plays the title character’s overbearing mother in this experimental drama.

John Landis, well-known for his popular comedies, took a more kid-friendly direction when he played a role in Frank Oz’s “The Muppets Take Manhattan.” Being friends with Oz, this was not Landis’s first appearance in their fun-filled adventures. He has also appeared in “The Muppet Movie” as a puppet manipulator, and has incorporated clips of the Muppets in his own works, such as “An American Werewolf in London.”

Fritz Lang, director of the influential German sci-fi film “Metropolis,” appeared in the Jean-Luc Godard film “Le Mépris” alongside Godard himself. The two play themselves, with Lang taking a role of the director of the movie within a movie around which the plot revolves.

David Lynch, known for such unique films as “Blue Velvet,” “Dune,” and “Eraserhead,” was cast in John Byrum’s equally unorthodox film “Heart Beat”, which tells the tale of a married couple engaging in polyamory with writer Jack Kerouac. Lynch plays only a bit part.

Sam Raimi, director of the original “Spider-Man” trilogy and the upcoming “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” has also starred in a film as himself: When the character played by J.K. Simmons (husband of director Michelle Schumacher) researches the life of the elderly for a role, he comes across “Sam,” a film director played by Raimi.

Known not only for the labor drama “Norma Rae,” which earned Sally Field a Best Actress Oscar, but for such ’60s and ’70s classics as “Hud” and “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold,” director Martin Ritt had a featured role in this German crime drama – which, in a turnabout, was directed by Austrian-born actor Maximilian Schell.

John Sayles, a noted independent film director, has acted in several films for other directors, including Jonathan Demme’s “Something Wild.” He has also appeared in many of his own works, and in French films such as “In the Electric Mist” by Bertrand Tavernier.

One of the greatest cinema directors of the last few decades, Martin Scorsese has made hit after hit with films like “Taxi Driver,” “Goodfellas,” and “The Departed.” He also played Vincent Van Gogh in famous Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa’s “Dreams.” The film is a series of eight vignettes said to be based on recurring dreams that Kurosawa had.

Don Siegel, director of such films as “Dirty Harry” and “Escape from Alcatraz,” cameos in his star Clint Eastwood’s first film as a director, “Play Misty For Me”. In the movie, Siegel plays a bartender. Eastwood included a dedication to Don Siegel in his movie “Unforgiven”.

Speaking of the French New Wave, François Truffaut is highly regarded as being one of the its best and most influential members. When Steven Spielberg, a fan of his, asked him to appear in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” he was hesitant at first, finally accepting the role as part of his research for a book about acting. Unfortunately, the book was never written.

Gus Van Sant, best known for films like “Good Will Hunting” and “My Own Private Idaho,” appeared in Kevin Smith’s “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” in 2001. The film, focusing on the Miramax production company and its money-grabbing need for sequels, includes a scene wherein “Good Will Hunting” is getting a fake sequel, directed by Van Sant.

Known for his wit and his charm, both in filmmaking and life, Taika Waititi of “Jojo Rabbit” and “Thor: Ragnarok” starred in Marvel Studios alum James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad,” portraying a lead character’s late father. He also had a part alongside Ryan Reynolds in 2011’s “Green Lantern.”