Who has stolen the most picture with the smallest part?
Grant McCracken offers up some nominations:
Holly Hunter in Time Code
Steve Zahn in Out of Sight
Selma Blair in Cruel Intentions
Siobhan Fallon in Men in Black
Jason Kottke points us to this list. Can I cite Andre the Giant in The Princess Bride?
Brad Pitt in True Romance? Steve Buscemi in Miller’s Crossing?
I would imagine none of Andre’s parts were small.
Matthew McConaughey in Dazed and Confused (1993).
The answer depends on whether you are implicitly requiring a virtuoso acting performance. Taken literally, the question as asked could be satisfied by a one-liner for which the screenwriter can take all the credit. For instance:
“I’ll have what she’s having” in When Harry Met Sally
Edward Norton, the altar boy in “Primal Fear” (Oscar nominated)
(IMHO the best actor of his generation; I challenge anyone to watch “Primal Fear”, “American History X” and “Fight Club” and then tell me otherwise. Seems to have fallen off the map later in career tho …)
Jackie Gleason in The Hustler. “Do you like to gamble Eddie? Gamble money on pool games?”
I’ll also take Christopher Walken in Annie Hall over Pulp Fiction.
Brian Cox: Adaptation (also, any other movie he has a small role in).
Murphy in Wild Things is a great call, though.
That’s Murray, rather. It was a long night…
Hugh Laurie in “Sense and Sensibility”
I almost forgot — Stifler’s Mom. (If you have to ask, you don’t want to know)
Alfred Molina in Raiders of the Lost Ark
Jack Benny in It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
Brian Blessed in Robin Hood
The answer is obviously
John Turturro – The Big Lebowski
The monkey, in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I don’t think Castaway would have been the same without Wilson. And “he” didn’t even have any lines!
Yeah, Orson Welles in The Third Man. Like bowling a 300, this will never be beaten.
But also Robert DeNiro in Brazil.
Yeah, Orson Welles in The Third Man. Like bowling a 300, this will never be beaten.
But also Robert DeNiro in Brazil.
Timothy Sandefur,
“An excellent likeness.”
Marlon Brandon Superman. 3 millions for 3 minutes.and he wanted not to appear but in voice.
Jodie Foster
Silence of the Lambs,
Janet Leigh. Phsyco
Elizabeth Taylor. Velvet something
Isabella Rosellini. Blue velvet.
All the crew of Star Treak.
Matt Dillon in In and Out (an otherwise awful film)
Robert Shaw in Jaws.
Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecter in “Manhunter.”
Glad to see someone mentioned Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross.
I’d also mention William Hurt in A History of Violence.
Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Peter Sellers as the title character in “Dr. Strangelove,” who appears only in the final scenes of the movie in the War Room. His line reading as he explains how civilization can be saved in underground caves is fantastically weird and funny. “Animals could be raised … UND SLAUGHTERED!!” is close to indescribable, but I’ll try. It’s as if contemplating this propsect brings Strangelove to orgasm. Of course, he plays two other, more prominent characters in the movie, but just as this one, he’s amazing.
Jack Nicholson as the smug uber anchorman in “Broadcast News”
Ray Liotta as the psycho in the third act of “Something Wild”
Bill Murray as the masochist dental patient in “Little Shop of Horrors”
I think it’s “essential” not “inevitable.”
Second John Turturro in The Big Lebowski.
Stanley Tucci was completely spot-on in The Devil Wears Prada.
Jack Nicholson as the smug uber anchorman in “Broadcast News” <- great one!
I second Alec Baldwin in GGGR for one of the best lines in cinematic history.
I further nominate Brett Favre in “There’s Something About Mary.”
I’ve never seen JFK, but I’d nominate either Kevin Bacon for “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,” or Ben Stein from the same movie (or Ferris Beuler’s Day Off).
John Tuturo in The Big Lebowski is my favorite for the category.
One almost couldn’t count a film like the Blues Brothers, being made up almost entirely of cameos.
Also in the same category but still worth mentioning is Charlton Heston in Wayne’s World Two (“Ah, yes. Gordon Street…”)
I have to agree with Alan Rickman. In Robin Hood they had to cut a bunch of his scenes, because he was so much more likelable than Consner that people were cheering for the bad guy.
The same thing happened to a lesser extent in Die Hard and to a much MUCH greater extent in Quigley Down Under. In the last one, it actually ruined the movie, as if it were not already ruined, because the scenes without him were so listless.
Mark Wahlberg in The Departed.
You do realize that the double superlative (most picture with smallest part) renders this question unanswerable until we have unless there is some contender that, with a smaller part than any other contender, steals more picture than any other contender, or until some equivalence scheme of movie-amount-per-minute-of-screen-time is introduced?
Having said this, Hopper in True Romance.
And the more cheap Final Fantasy XI Gold is very good for you.
Every success is based on continuous efforts. It is not possible be done over nigh.
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