the list of 9 for february 22, 2004:
NINE DIRECTORS' FAMOUS ON-SCREEN PERFORMANCES
I maintain that every filmmaker must, at least once, experience life in front of the camera, inorder to better understand actors' needs and issues. But the "director-actor crossover" field is alarge and varied one: you have actors who quit acting to become directors (Ron Howard, PennyMarshall), actors who also direct (Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford), director-actor auteurs(Woody Allen, Spike Lee) and too many director's cameos to mention. This list, however, is aboutthose rare few who establish themselves as directors first, and then, somewhere down the line,decide to play a key role in a major film and wind up delivering surprisingly strong performances.
- FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT, Close Encounters of the Third Kind(1977). The French New Wave icon appeared in many of his own films, but this is theonly time he performed under someone else's direction - Steven Spielberg's, no less, which seemedan ill fit for Truffaut, but he carried it off.
- OTTO PREMINGER, Stalag 17 (1953). This German-bornproducer-director was the Oliver Stone of his day, making one "controversial" film in Hollywoodafter another in the 1950's. Alas, as with Stone's films, most of Preminger's have not aged well(Laura and Anatomy of a Murder have alone stood the test of time), but his portrayalof a gleefully sadistic POW camp commandant in Billy Wilder's World War II comedy/drama isunforgettable.
- SYDNEY POLLACK, Husbands and Wives (1992). Pollack, whoseown output as a director has become increasingly boring (how do you go from Tootsie toRandom Hearts?), has ironically grown into a very strong actor. Woody Allen was the first toreveal this in Husbands and Wives, and though Pollack has only sporadically acted sincethen, he's consistently good.
- EMIR KUSTURICA, The Widow of St. Pierre (2000). Serbiandirector known for a string of great art films (When Father Was Away on Business, Time of theGypsies, Underground) acted for France's Patrice Leconte as a condemned man saved byJuliette Binoche in this period drama.
- SPIKE JONZE, Three Kings (1999). Though Jonze is stillyoung, he's already proven his mettle as a filmmaker with Being John Malkovich andAdaptation, as well as scores of videos and commercials. In the middle of all this, heeffectively played a slow-witted but likeable private in David O. Russell's Gulf War flick.
- ROMAN POLANSKI, A Pure Formality (1994). One of cinema'smost legendary auteurs, Polanski has acted in his own films (he even starred in TheTenant), but it was his performance as Gerard Depardieu's interrogator in Giuseppe Tornatore'ssuspenser that proved he could take direction with the best of them.
- JOHN HUSTON, Chinatown (1974). Speaking of Polanski, oneof his best films gave us one of cinema's most memorable villains, played by none other than oneof America's greatest directors, John Huston. As Huston grew older, he started acting morefrequently, but none of his other parts hold a candle to his sinister water magnate, Noah Cross.
- DAVID CRONENBERG, Night Breed (1990). Though CliveBarker's Night Breed won't go down as a classic in any circle, it still showed thatCronenberg (who made the far more important The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, etc.) was agood sport who didn't mind hamming it up in cheesy movies from time to time. Gotta give the mancredit for that. (He does star in one decent film: the Canadian end-of-the-world drama LastNight).
- MARTIN SCORSESE, Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990). Scorseseroutinely has cameos in his own films, and has had small supporting roles in others such asQuiz Show and Guilty By Suspicion. Though no great actor, and though he has yet toland a central role like the other eight filmmakers on this list, his part as Vincent Van Gogh(!) inKurosawa's late-career epic is worth a mention for its eccentricity if nothing else.
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