Being a movie star sure seems great. They get to make a lot of money, travel the world, and enjoy the perks of being famous. Sometimes they don’t even need a particularly wide range as an actor to be a movie star. There are plenty of actors who essentially make a living by playing themselves. Some of these actors are extremely popular, and as well they should be. They do their job to perfection which is to entertain us. They have excellent tastes in scripts and end up working with directors who get the best out of them. And they have such natural charisma that we don’t mind paying money to see them play the same character over and over again. Let’s take a look at five actors who play themselves in every movie.
Bruce Willis
It’s interesting to think that the most dynamic role Bruce Willis has ever played was at the beginning of his career in Moonlighting. And even then it wasn’t that much of a stretch. Bruce Willis is basically a cool guy with a smart mouth. He keeps calm even under the direst of circumstances and we’ve seen that demonstrated in his personal life when his ex-wife, Demi Moore, remarried a man half her age. Bruce Willis firmly established his on-screen persona with Die Hard and he’s been playing a variation of John McClane, which is a variation of himself, for decades since. Somewhere around Pulp Fiction, Willis’ characters became a lot quieter and they’ve grown progressively solemn ever since. If you knew your wife was going to marry Ashton Kutcher, you’d probably get a lot more solemn too.
Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn came to our attention with a bang. In Swingers, he played a character who stole the movie. He was handsome, smooth, and spoke in a frenetic pace that was both charming and mesmerizing. It would take a couple years and a few projects later, but it soon became obvious that he was playing himself. Vince Vaughn made some interesting decisions after Swingers and he actually took on some roles that required some stretching. Return to Paradise and the infamous Psycho remake are two movies where he actually didn’t play himself. And of course there was Domestic Disturbance where he took on the role of an evil stepfather. But then Old School came around and it seemed that would be the last time he would look for a script where one of the characters wasn’t “Vince Vaughn”. Since then he’s unabashedly played himself in every movie for close to a decade. The good news for him is that there is no one else like him. And even though he’s grown significantly more bloated, audiences still love to watch him talk up a storm.
Robin Williams
Robin Williams is one of the most accomplished stand-up comedian-turned-actors in history. No matter what you think of his movies, it’s hard to ignore his Oscar win. And admit it, he’s starred in some of your favourite movies which may include Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society, and Aladdin. Lately however, his appearances in movies seem stale and tired. It’s probably because he’s always doing the same thing over and over, and audiences have finally caught on. And when it comes to Williams, it’s not that he plays himself all the time. In real life Williams can be quite shy and introverted. But he’s usually playing a version of himself that we first saw with his stand-up act. That’s a long time to be playing the same character. But don’t lose faith in the talents of Williams. All it will take is one role in a completely unexpected direction to put him back on track.
Julia Roberts
It’s only fair to have one female on this list and while there are several choices like Cameron Diaz or Sharon Stone, Julia Roberts is the biggest actress who always plays herself in every movie. While having a huge smile is not actually a personality trait, it comes into play with every character Roberts portrays. Julia Roberts is bubbly and friendly and her open mouth can consume a solar system. She played a version of herself in Notting Hill and strangely enough, played herself directly in Ocean’s Twelve. Her most distinct role came with Erin Brockovich for which she won an Oscar. But in retrospect, Brockovich was just Pretty Woman all grown up. Roberts doesn’t act as much nowadays so it seems she’s content to just play herself in real life.
George Clooney
If you are a woman then you love George Clooney – that’s basic science. You might not even like the suggestion that he always plays himself because the slightest hint of analysis may seem like criticism. But there is no criticism here. George Clooney is a movie star to the millionth degree and the world of cinema is a lot more exciting with him in it. But let’s face it, he always plays himself. Clooney is a charming scoundrel who knows he can get away with anything by flashing his smile. When he gets upset he stops smiling and that’s when you know he means business. That pretty much sums up Clooney and every character he’s ever played. When he played Batman he was George Clooney in a bat suit. When he played a sea captain in The Perfect Storm, he was George Clooney on a boat. But Clooney is the ultimate example of how picking great scripts will keep audiences coming back for more. Check out Clooney in Up in the Air or Michael Clayton to see him playing himself so well that we forget about all the other times we’ve seen the exact same performance.
Related posts: