The Academy Award for Best Picture is just about the biggest accolade Hollywood can give a movie, and a select few directors not only helmed their Oscar-winning film but also actually appeared in it. This can range from a surprise cameo appearance to full-on leading roles, as some filmmakers leave their mark on their work by actually showing up in their own movies. While this is a feat that has not been achieved for more than 20 years, some notable directors have popped up in their award-worthy films.
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Some of the greatest Best Picture winners of all time have featured their directors in one form or another. While there are obvious examples, such as Woody Allen’s historic win for Annie Hall, which he not only directed and starred in but also wrote himself. Other appearances were so brief that many viewers may not even realize the director was in them at all. With the history of the Academy Awards dating back almost 100 years, it’s incredible to think that this achievement has only happened on nine different occasions.
You are watching: These 9 Best Picture Directors Actually Appeared In Their Oscar-Winning Movies
9
Alfred Hitchcock
Rebecca (1940)
The first time a film director ever appeared in their own Best Picture-winning movie was Alfred Hitchcock in Rebecca. While this all-time great romantic psychological thriller represented Hitchcock’s breakthrough success in Hollywood and American filmmaking, this only came after decades of work through the silent era and British sound films. While Hitchcock would go on to make many more acclaimed classics, like Rear Window, Vertigo, and Psycho, Rebecca would stand as his lone Best Picture-winning film.
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Rebecca
PG-13
Drama
Mystery
Romance
Release Date
March 23, 1940
Runtime
121 minutes
Cast
See All
-
Laurence Olivier
-
Joan Fontaine
-
George Sanders
-
Judith Anderson
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In typical Hitchcock fashion, his appearance in Rebecca was a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo as a man walking past a phone booth near the film’s ending. While Hitchcock was not an actor himself, he did consistently appear in his own work, with his first appearance dating back to The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog from 1927, when an actor failed to show up, and he filled the role himself. This started an ongoing tradition, and Hitchcock appeared in 40 of his own films.
8
Laurence Olivier
Hamlet (1948)
Laurence Olivier was the driving force behind the 1948 adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a movie he not only directed but actually starred in as the tragic title character. Olivier was truly one of the greatest British actors who ever lived, and his astounding body of work included many more Shakespearian productions as he excelled on stage and screen. As the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, Hamlet was a historic win and one of the crowning achievements in its director’s career.
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Hamlet
NR
Drama
Release Date
December 10, 1948
Runtime
153 Minutes
Cast
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-
Laurence Olivier
-
Jean Simmons
-
John Laurie
-
Esmond Knight
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While Olivier rightfully gained the highest accolade Hollywood can offer for Hamlet, the truth was Oscar records were much more far-reaching than just that. While Olivier also took home the Oscar for Best Actor for Hamlet, this was his lone win in that category, although he was nominated an astounding nine times, tying with Spencer Tracy for most nominations. As a true icon of stage and screen, Olivier’s Hamlet remains the definitive film adaptation of this iconic tragedy.
7
Woody Allen
Annie Hall (1977)
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While many take issue with the fact that Woody Allen’s Annie Hall was awarded Best Picture above its fellow nominee, Star Wars, there’s no denying this historic moment in Hollywood history. As the only Best Picture to feature the same writer, director, and leading star, Annie Hall was one of the few comedies to take home the coveted award. While Allen has received 16 nominations for screenwriting, Annie Hall remains the film for which he will be eternally remembered.
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Annie Hall
PG
Comedy
Documentary
Romance
10/10
Release Date
April 19, 1977
Runtime
93 minutes
Cast
See All
-
Woody Allen
-
Diane Keaton
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While this New York filmmaker has become a divisive figure in the years since, Annie Hall still remains a trailblazing rom-com that redefined the genre and was a major influence on everything that came after it. With an incredible performance from co-star Diane Keaton, the self-referential humor and risky edge of Annie Hall tapped into the modern sexual politics of the 1970s. As a landmark film in Allen’s transition from slapstick-based, fast-paced humor toward a more thoughtful, introspective style of filmmaking, Annie Hall was an essential release in his vast filmography.
6
Oliver Stone
Platoon (1986)
As a veteran of the Vietnam War, Oliver Stone imbued his Best Picture-winning film Platoon with aspects of his real-life experience. With Charlie Sheen as a U.S. Army volunteer, this intense and thought-provoking narrative saw sergeants and leaders in conflict over the morality in the platoon and their viewpoints on the war itself. Stone made Platoon in response to the version of the Vietnam War depiction in John Wayne’s controversial movie The Green Berets, which was widely viewed as propaganda made to stir anti-communist sentiments.
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Platoon
R
Drama
War
9.8/10
Release Date
February 6, 1987
Runtime
120 Minutes
Cast
See All
-
Tom Berenger
-
Willem Dafoe
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While Stone did not have a major role in Platoon, he did make a brief cameo appearance as the commander of the 3rd Battalion, 22d Infantry, during the final battle. This battle was based on the real New Year’s Day Battle of 1968 that Stone was actually a part of during his time in the war (via Defense.gov.) This personal connection between Stone’s military service and battle sequences in Platoon helped add to the depth and accuracy of its depiction.
5
Kevin Costner
Dances with Wolves (1990)
While Kevin Costner rose to prominence in Hollywood through movie roles such as The Untouchables, in 1990 he entered a new phase of his career as a filmmaker with an extraordinary directorial debut, Dances with Wolves. An adaptation of a novel by Michael Blake, Dances with Wolves starred Costner as Lt. John J. Dunbar, a man who encounters a tribe of Lakota Native Americans while traveling the American frontier. As a rare Best Picture-winning Western, Dances with Wolves’ 12 Oscar nominations and seven wins were a record for the genre.
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Dances With Wolves
PG-13
Adventure
Documentary
Drama
Romance
Western
24
8.8/10
Release Date
March 30, 1990
Runtime
181 minutes
Cast
See All
-
Kevin Costner
-
Mary McDonnell
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While Dances with Wolves has been criticized for inaccuracies in the way it portrays indigenous culture, it was also an example of the Western genre trying to honor native peoples who had been historically treated so poorly. Costner gave a strong leading performance and signaled himself as a new major voice in Hollywood filmmaking, although he never achieved the same level of accolades and success as he did with this first film.
4
Clint Eastwood
Unforgiven (1992)
After a long career starring in Western movie classics like Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy or revisionist triumphs such as The Outlaw Josey Wales, it was only appropriate that Clint Eastwood’s first Best Picture win was Unforgiven. This astounding Western deconstructed themes of revenge and the morality of the Old West in a way that bookended Eastwood’s career and summed up the complexities of every gunslinger he ever played. Eastwood himself was aware of the profound nature of Unforgiven and asserted it would be his last traditional Western, as any future projects would only rehash old plot points.
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Unforgiven
R
Western
Drama
16
9.4/10
Release Date
August 7, 1992
Runtime
130 Mins
Cast
See All
-
Clint Eastwood
Bill Munny
-
Gene Hackman
Little Bill Daggett
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Eastwood not only directed Unforgiven but actually starred in the leading role as William Munny, an outlaw-turned-farmer who returns to his violent roots for one last job. With a horrific past as a drunken murderer and gunfighter, Munny carried the weight of those he killed, and Unforgiven reflected the nature of Wild West violence in a realistic environment. The characterization of Munny was a clever commentary on the Western genre as a whole, as he did not necessarily represent a heroic figure, but was just the one who survived.
3
Mel Gibson
Braveheart (1995)
While Mel Gibson’s directorial debut came with The Man Without a Face in 1993, it was the release of Braveheart that truly signaled his transition from Hollywood movie star to major filmmaker. With Gibson in the role of William Wallace, Braveheart told the story of the First War of Scottish Independence against King Edward I of England. Through a blend of fact and fiction, Braveheart was also informed by the epic poem The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace to tell a semi-fictionalized account of the Scottish warrior’s story.
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Braveheart
R
Biography
Drama
History
8.5/10
Release Date
May 24, 1995
Runtime
178 Minutes
Cast
See All
-
Mel Gibson
-
Sophie Marceau
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Braveheart was a major success that not only earned the Academy Award for Best Picture but has also had an undeniable impact on pop culture as a whole. Through his iconic speech where Gibson’s Wallace powerfully asserted, “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!” Braveheart earned its status as an all-time great historical war movie. As the most recent time that a Best Picture-winning director was also the movie’s lead star, Braveheart was an incredible achievement.
2
Peter Jackson
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy was truly one of the most spectacular cinematic events in the history of fantasy filmmaking. With all three films shot simultaneously, Jackson’s ambitious plan to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s series to life came to fruition in such a powerful way that the final installment, The Return of the King, earned not just the Academy Award for Best Picture, but eleven Oscar nominations that it won in every category.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
pg-13
Adventure
Fantasy
Action
10/10
26
9.5/10
Release Date
December 17, 2003
Runtime
201 Minutes
Cast
See All
-
Elijah Wood
-
Ian McKellen
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While Jackson did not have a leading role in any of The Lord of the Rings films, he did make brief cameo appearances in each entry. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Jackson played Albert Dreary, the drunken man of Bree seen eating a carrot. In The Two Towers, Jackson portrayed a Rohirrim warrior during the Battle of Helm’s Deep. Finally, in The Return of the King, Jackson popped up as one of the Corsair of Umbar pirates seen onboard the Black Ships.
1
Clint Eastwood (Again)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
More than two decades have passed since a Best Picture-winning director appeared in their Oscar-winning movie. Clint Eastwood repeated the feat he first pulled with Unforgiven by also appearing in Million Dollar Baby. As an emotional rollercoaster of a movie, Million Dollar Baby began as a female answer to Rocky, where Hilary Swank’s Maggie Fitzgerald was being trained by the gruff elderly Frankie Dunn, played by Eastwood. However, a sudden tone shift after an accident caused Million Dollar Baby to switch gears and turn into a heartbreaking drama around the nature of loss, disability, and what makes life worth living.
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Million Dollar Baby
PG-13
Drama
Sport
8/10
Release Date
December 15, 2004
Runtime
132 minutes
Cast
See All
-
Hilary Swank
-
Mike Colter
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Million Dollar Baby received widespread acclaim for the emotional intensity of its story, which caught many viewers off guard due to its sudden thematic shift. Eastwood gave an incredible performance as Frankie Dunn, a man whose hard exterior was informed by tragedy and was revealed as a deeply thoughtful and complex man. While it remains to be seen who the next Best Picture-winning director to appear in their own movie will be, it’s a testament to Eastwood’s legacy that he’s the only filmmaker who managed this achievement twice.
Source: Defense.gov
Source: https://dinhtienhoang.edu.vn
Category: Entertainment