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Movies where top billing actor only made brief appearance?

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robotrock

Banned
does this count

-dNk47qYG74l.jpg

I love this casting. Earlier today I was thinking about how Matthew McConaughey is in this movie, and all he does is throw a TiVo at a helicopter.

I love this movie.
 

Arkam

Member
Anthony Hopkins is only on-screen for something like 16 minutes in Silence of the Lambs

Maybe, but is in about 6 scenes. And you have to remember they are only a side character in the films plot. He just happens to be the best character.
 

Oersted

Member
Lawrence Fishburne in the newest Predator movie.

Yeah, I noticed that about Godzilla too. They used all his scenes for the marketing, basically.

This happens with Christopher Walken quite a bit.

The Godzilla/Cranston example is pretty egregious though.

Lee Byung-Hun
in Terminator Genisys
Featured pretty prominent in advertising, but those were all his scenes.

Drew Barrymore in Scream

Sam Jackson in Deep Blue Sea.
"A fuckin Shark ate me!"

Thats standard in these movies since Alien atleast.
Kill
the well-known actor to create a sense of anything could happen. But since they tend to be quite formulaic,
its quite clear who will survive.
 
Lee Byung-Hun
in Terminator Genisys
Featured pretty prominent in advertising, but those were all his scenes.

Sad too, because he's actually one of the best Korean acting imports out there, and I wish that he'd get more serious English roles, not balls to the walls action flicks.

too bad he's a reprehensible little asshole
 
Marlon Brando - superman

He invented phoning it in.

Edit fuck throw apocalypse now and a bunch of other stuff in there too. Brando was a master at this.

I hadn't seen this so I looked it up... I had no idea that Brando was in this, and saw him looking much younger than he looks in the Godfather, even though that was filmed in '72 and Superman, '78. So I just learned a new thing... that he was in his 40s filming the Godfather, and they put tons of makeup on him to look old.

I had no idea, I seriously thought Brando was in his 60s when this was filmed.

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Wag

Member
Marlon Brando in Superman a The Movie. Long film and he's barely in it but gets essentially top billing IIRC. His pay was huge - and if adjusted for inflation would likely remain huge today. Least he was pretty solid in the role.

latest


Fat Jor-El is best Jor-El? 😁
 

Platy

Member
mI8ryWw.jpg


"janet leigh as marion crane", the HUGE GIRL ON THE POSTER, is the girl who dies in the famous shower scene in THE MOVIE'S INTRO
 

lazygecko

Member
Not an actor/casting thing, but the principle behind misleading folks is the same. My dad really likes Quentin Tarantino movies and always drags me with him to see them in the cinema. There was this one movie called Hostel 2 which had his name attached to it as a producer or something. It was just a sleazy torture porn movie.
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
House of Wax. My friends rented it because Paris Hilton had a death scene in it. She was basically the main cover image and yeah that was quick!
 

truly101

I got grudge sucked!
mI8ryWw.jpg


"janet leigh as marion crane", the HUGE GIRL ON THE POSTER, is the girl who dies in the famous shower scene in THE MOVIE'S INTRO

Not sure if that counts. I always thought it was genius how the movie starts from her POV and she dies halfway through. Its like Hitchcock wanted the audience to feel abandoned and alone with Anthony Perkins once shit gets real.
 

EGM1966

Member
latest


Fat Jor-El is best Jor-El? 😁
Ironically yes I'd say. Funny thing about Brando roles like this or Apocalypse Now is how he seems to deliver what ends up a terrific performance while also seeming disengaged as though phoning it in.
 

tuffy

Member
Have to agree with this, expected a lot more action than I received, especially since Russell plays more of a nerd than a bad ass, if I recall correctly. Movie pissed me off.
That's exactly what I liked about Executive Decision. Having martial arts dude as part of the team makes one think it's going to play out like his "Die Hard on a Ship/Train" movies, but killing him off early defies expectations. Instead, the movie plays out as something more tense and interesting.
 

maxcriden

Member
Viola Davis won an Oscar for what I think was a single, pretty brief scene in Doubt. Or was nominated at least. I think she was nominated for Extremely Loud etc. and wasn't in that much either.
 

RedShift

Member
From the marketing for the first Expendables movie you'd think Bruce Willis and Schwarzenegger were in it for a lot more than their one scene. I didn't see the sequels but I guess they fixed that?
 
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