Sci-fi movies come with their fair share of surprises, from uniquely mindblowing concepts to breathtaking worlds beyond our imagination. Surprises can even come in the form of long-awaited crossovers of famous sci-fi characters and creatures. For instance, Alien vs. Predator is a horror movie that gets a lot of flack, but it offers viewers a chance to see the two iconic creatures from their franchises meet up in a large-scale blockbuster event. Similarly, the Monsterverse movies featuring Godzilla and King Kong provide viewers with the surprising match up of two of the most famous monsters in the genre’s history.
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Another common way in which sci-fi movies surprise us is through casting. It isn’t rare for sci-fi movies to have incredible ensemble casts with well-known actors playing the lead characters. However, the best surprise to receive as a sci-fi movie buff is when an unexpected person appears in a movie, like when Jamie Lee Curtis appeared in Star Trek: Section 31, a movie rightfully panned because of its confusing creative choices. Curtis’ cameo is perhaps the only hidden gem in an otherwise forgettable film. Such surprise cameos in sci-fi movies we never see coming enrich the viewing experience.
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Gene Hackman
Young Frankenstein (1974)
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Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein is among the most frequently adapted stories for horror movies. Few adaptations have stuck to the material, though, as there have been innumerable reinterpretations and extrapolations of the experiences of Frankenstein’s monster over the years. Most of these pay homage to her seminal work and merely adopt the premise to tell similar stories. Among these unique adaptations is Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.
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Young Frankenstein is a comedic parody of the classic Universal Monsters era of filmmaking, and specifically of Frankenstein (1931), a black-and-white horror movie that still holds up today. Among the various goofy moments is a short scene featuring an unrecognizable Gene Hackman as a blind man who tries to introduce Frankenstein’s monster to cigars, but lights his finger on fire instead. The scene ends with an iconic line that was improvised by Hackman and left in the footage as is, because its hilarity prevented him from repeating it with a straight face again.
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Brad Pitt
Deadpool 2 (2018)
David Leitch’s Deadpool 2 is a hilarious superhero movie that often misses its narrative beats in favor of its comedy. However, the funny scenes are so memorable that the drawbacks don’t have a major negative impact on the viewing experience. The R-rated goofiness of the character, buoyed by one of Ryan Reynolds’ best performances ever, elevates the film by introducing further hilarity into the already funny scenes with his commentary.
Ryan Reynolds has a cameo in David Leitch’s Bullet Train, which stars Brad Pitt as the protagonist, and his cameo is exactly as long as Brad Pitt’s cameo in Deadpool 2.
One of the most memorable moments in Deadpool 2 is when his newly formed group of heroes are deployed for missions. Deadpool lands perfectly and waits for his teammates’ parachutes to show up on the horizon. Among the first people to jump is the invisible man, who has neither spoken nor shown us his face until now. When he hits a live wire, it is revealed that Brad Pitt played the character, giving him a two-second cameo in the film.
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John Hurt
Spaceballs (1987)
Mel Brooks’ parodies of iconic movies have enthralled audiences for years, and among the best of them is Spaceballs, a spoof of Star Wars, a perfect non-animated action movie for kids. It features caricatures of iconic characters who go on a similar adventure in a world where the Force is known as the Schwartz. Rick Moranis stands out in the movie with his performance as Dark Helmet, a parody version of Darth Vader.
Another common trait of Mel Brooks’ parodies is the stellar casting, particularly the trend of celebrity cameos and surprise movie scenes featuring Hollywood stars. While Spaceballs is a Star Wars parody, it features an unexpected cameo from John Hurt reprising his role from the Alien movies. It’s impossible to predict that the famous birthing scene from Alien will be spoofed in Spaceballs, and it gets me every time I watch the movie.
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Jimmy Buffett
Jurassic World (2015)
The Jurassic World fandom, which is a spin-off from the Jurassic Park trilogy, has evolved into a major blockbuster franchise, with a new movie slated for release in 2025. Among the many memorable moments in the franchise is Laura Dern’s cameo in Jurassic World Dominion as her famous character from the Jurassic Park trilogy. It was a sweet moment of nostalgia for fans who grew up watching the original movies.
He can be seen balancing two Margaritas and running when the dinosaurs break free.
However, the funniest and perhaps the most memorable cameo in the Jurassic World franchise is in the first movie. The legendary rock star Jimmy Buffett has an unexpected cameo in Jurassic World as a bartender. His iconic song, Margaritaville, serves as the inspiration for the bar his character runs. He can be seen balancing two Margaritas and running when the dinosaurs break free and start wreaking havoc.
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Matt Damon
Thor: Ragnarök (2017)
Among the biggest names to not have played a major character in the MCU is Matt Damon. However, he has appeared in an MCU film in a fan-favorite scene. Back in 2017, when the MCU had already grown into a global blockbuster cinematic phenomenon, its growing roster of eminent actors was expanding quickly. For instance, Thor: Ragnarök gave Cate Blanchett her major MCU role as the antagonist.
The casting choice that stands out in the film, though, is Matt Damon’s. In a stage play which dramatizes Loki’s adventures from Thor: The Dark World, the disappointing second movie the Thor franchise bounced back from, Matt Damon plays the actor portraying Loki. It’s a short and hilarious scene that showcases Damon’s comic timing and is a fun nod to Damon’s experience as a stage actor during his high school years.
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Daft Punk
TRON: Legacy (2010)
This might be an unpopular opinion about a famous movie, but TRON: Legacy is an underrated sci-fi classic. With gorgeous special effects and memorable action sequences, it expands on the world introduced in the 1982 TRON film. The writing may leave much to be desired, but the set pieces will live on in the hearts and minds of fans for years to come, which explains the hype for the upcoming TRON: Ares.
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TRON: Legacy has a uniquely futuristic world design with motifs of white, yellow, red, and blue drawn across black walls, floors, and ceilings. The visual aesthetic is perfectly complemented by the futuristic background score composed by the musical duo Daft Punk. No one could have seen it coming, but Daft Punk have a cameo in the movie during a fight scene set in a club. The duo can be spotted playing their iconic score from inside a DJ booth as the fight starts.
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Chris Evans
Free Guy (2021)
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Free Guy has one of the most imaginative video game movie premises in recent years, and squanders that potential in favor of talking points and memorable scenes. It follows Ryan Reynolds as an NPC in a video game, who unexpectedly gains free will and decides to break out of the routine decided for him by the code. He is able to influence the game and interact with the online players, who are taken aback by the apparent glitch in the system.
Among other celebrity cameos, Free Guy features an appearance by prominent video game streamer Ninja and a host of other prominent figures in the field.
Throughout the film, Free Guy drops references to popular video games and franchises and cashes in on people’s love of existing franchises while attempting to tell a story about the creative bankruptcy of an industry that relies solely on the popularity of franchises. However, there are a few cool moments to cherish, like when the protagonist taps into the code and starts arming himself with iconic memorabilia like lightsabers and Captain America’s shield. In a surprising and hilarious blink-and-you-miss cameo, Chris Evans is shown watching the game’s livestream and reacting to this moment.
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Craig Lamar Traylor
Renner (2025)
Frankie Muniz of Malcolm in the Middle fame stars as the protagonist in the recent sci-fi thriller movie Renner. His character is a computer genius who creates an AI to help him find a suitable romantic partner. He unintentionally codes the consciousness of his mother into the AI, which affects its behavior, and soon, the character is torn between choosing what the AI dictates and his sexual attraction towards his neighbor.
Muniz has largely been focusing on his car racing career, having practically quit acting for a while, but even if the movie’s not memorable, he delivers a solid performance as the lead. In one of the most surprising sci-fi movie cameos in recent years, Craig Lamar Traylor, who plays Malcolm’s friend Stevie in Malcolm in the Middle, makes an appearance as a neighbor who the protagonist walks past. They don’t really interact, but as a reunion for fans of the sitcom, it’s a sweet surprise!
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Steven Spielberg
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Filmmaker cameos aren’t uncommon, with directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino frequently appearing in their own movies. Other creatives are also known to make cameos in films based on their work, with the famous example of Stan Lee, who appeared in most of the MCU films made during his lifetime. However, a surprise director cameo can be found in Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky, where Steven Spielberg appears for a couple of seconds.
[Steven Spielberg] he had been visiting the set one day and Crowe had requested him to make an appearance.
Spielberg wasn’t involved with the film in any capacity and his cameo exists simply because he had been visiting the set one day and Crowe had requested him to make an appearance. The scene in question depicts Tom Cruise’s character, the protagonist of Vanilla Sky, celebrating his birthday. Among the people who walk up to wish him is Steven Spielberg. The two of them would later work together on Minority Report, a movie to avoid if you’re nervous about AI.
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Bill Murray
Zombieland (2009)
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Comedy movies often feature celebrities playing themselves. It’s particularly common in parody and mockumentary-style movies, like The Interview and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. Actors, musicians, and eminent figures from other fields make small appearances as themselves, reacting to various circumstances in such movies. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, a 1990s horror movie that was ahead of its time, features many actors, directors, and producers playing themselves on a movie set.
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However, the smartest and most hilarious cameo of an actor playing himself is perhaps in the zombie comedy movie Zombieland. It follows a group of people who have survived a zombie apocalypse and are looking for shelter. They take refuge in actor Bill Murray’s house, which is seemingly abandoned. Murray has disguised himself as a zombie so he doesn’t get attacked by other zombies, but in an unfortunate event, one of the team members shoots him after mistaking him for a zombie. The scene is made funnier by one of the other teammates being a die-hard Bill Murray fan.
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Category: Entertainment