9 Actors You Didn't Know Played The Same Character In Different Movies

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The Django Cinematic Universe? Kinda.

Transcript

00:00It's of course expected that the overwhelming majority of movies which fare well with critics

00:05will inevitably end up with a sequel, in which the surviving main characters will return

00:11to reprise their roles.

00:13But every so often, actors end up revisiting major roles in the most unexpected of movies.

00:20So unexpected in fact that you might not even know it, or may have since forgotten that

00:25it ever happened.

00:26These ten actors were all given the opportunity to reprise one of the biggest roles of their

00:31career, up to that point anyway, in a movie that absolutely nobody saw coming.

00:37I'm Gareth from WarCulture.com and here are 9 Actors You Didn't Know Played The

00:41Same Character In Different Movies.

00:449.

00:45Michael Keaton – Ray Nicolet Jackie Brown – Out of Sight

00:48Jackie Brown is unquestionably Quentin Tarantino's most underappreciated film.

00:54A star-studded and devilishly witty adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch, and

01:01one which features a memorably against-type turn from Michael Keaton as ATF agent Ray

01:06Nicolet.

01:07But while Jackie Brown was being shot, another Elmore Leonard novel was due to ramp up production,

01:13the Steven Soderbergh-directed Out of Sight.

01:16Ray Nicolet also appeared in that novel, and so Soderbergh managed to convince Keaton to

01:21reprise the role for a brief, uncredited cameo in his movie.

01:25Due to Miramax owning the screen rights to the character, however, it fell to Tarantino

01:30to insist that they didn't charge Universal, who distributed Out of Sight a fee to use

01:35Nicolet.

01:36As neat as a shared cinematic universe in which Tarantino and Soderbergh have both dabbled

01:41is, it's easily forgotten given how unassuming Keaton's tiny role is in Out of Sight.

01:488.

01:49Chris Van Winkle – Trent, Transformers and Friday the 13th

01:53You probably don't much remember the character of Trent in Michael Bay's original Transformers,

01:58but he was Michaela Baines' stereotypically obnoxious jock ex-boyfriend and Sam Witwicky's

02:04high school nemesis.

02:05The character was a one-off in the Transformers franchise, and made no appearances in any

02:10of the sequels.

02:11Though this might be explained by the fact that Trent secretly resurfaces – and dies

02:16– in 2009's Friday the 13th remake.

02:20In the movie, Travis Van Winkle plays another character called Trent, who exhibits all the

02:25same off-putting traits of his prior Transformers character – an antagonistic bully douchebag

02:31who viewers are actively encouraged to despise.

02:34Trent of course ends up as one of Jason Voorhees' victims, but given that Friday the 13th was

02:39itself produced by Michael Bay, there's absolutely no way in hell that this casting and namesake

02:45were a mere coincidence.

02:477.

02:48Dan Aykroyd – Ray Stantz – Ghostbusters and Casper

02:52Dan Aykroyd's signature role is surely that of Ghostbusters' Ray Stantz, a role he played

02:57in the first two movies, a number of animated TV series and video games, and also Ghostbusters

03:03Afterlife.

03:04Oh, and 1995's big-screen adaptation of Casper.

03:08While Carrigan and her assistant, Dibs, attempt to have the McFadden mansion purged of Casper's

03:13unruly uncles, better known as the Ghastly Trio, none other than Ray Stantz is seen running

03:19out of the house in full Ghostbuster regalia, no less.

03:23On his way out, he says to Carrigan and Dibs, who you gonna call?

03:27Someone else, before fleeing the scene.

03:29And to dispel any doubt about the cameo, Aykroyd's costume has a visible name tag bearing the

03:34moniker Stantz.

03:366.

03:37Michael Park – Earl McGraw – Kill Bill and Grindhouse

03:42The late, great Michael Parks played the role of Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in From Dusk Till

03:47Dawn's more restrained first half.

03:49And though he's quickly killed by bank robber siblings Seth and Richie Gecko, that was far

03:54from the last we saw of him on screen.

03:57McGraw makes a chronologically ambiguous reappearance in Tarantino's own Kill Bill, Volume 1,

04:03where he's seen investigating the wedding massacre which left the bride in a four-year

04:07coma.

04:08Apparently, Parks also plays a totally different character, Esteban Vigeo, in Kill Bill, Volume

04:142.

04:15But it doesn't end there.

04:17Parks reprised McGraw again in Robert Rodriguez and Tarantino's exploitation collaboration,

04:22Grindhouse, playing McGraw briefly in both of their movies, Planet Terror and Death Proof.

04:285.

04:29Jason Statham – Frank Martin – The Transporter and Collateral

04:33The Transporter franchise – the first three movies, anyway – starred Jason Statham as

04:37Frank Martin, a driver-slash-mercenary who will deliver any package to any location if

04:43enough greenbacks are on the table.

04:45For a time, Martin was Statham's signature character, enthusiastically dispatching the

04:50baddies while cutting a trim figure in a dark suit.

04:54And according to Louis Leterrier, who directed the first two Transporter films, Martin made

04:59an additional appearance outside of the series proper.

05:02You may well have forgotten that Michael Mann's terrific 2004 thriller Collateral begins with

05:08assassin Vincent swapping bags with a shady, unknown man at the airport, who just so happens

05:13to be played by the Statham himself.

05:16Though the character is credited only as Airport Man, Leterrier later confirmed that it is

05:22indeed a canonical appearance by Frank Martin.

05:25Given that he's absolutely in the business of dropping off packages and making anonymous

05:30trades, it fits like a glove.

05:324.

05:33Rob Schneider – Nazo the Delivery Guy, Big Daddy and Mr. Deeds

05:38Big Daddy is one of the better Adam Sandler comedies of its era, an unapologetically immature

05:43yet surprisingly sweet film stocked with Sandler's usual supporting cast of best pals.

05:49Most prominently among them is Rob Schneider, who makes surely his most memorable Sandler

05:54movie cameo as Nazo, the deranged best friend and delivery man of protagonist Sonny.

06:00Though Schneider actually received a Razzie nomination for his performance in the film,

06:05it's honestly one of his less grating performances in a Sandler film, even mustering a few honest-to-God

06:10chuckles.

06:12Yet all but the most ardent Sandler fans will likely have no idea that Schneider actually

06:17reprised the role a few years later in Sandler's remake, Mr. Deeds.

06:22Granted, he's in the movie for literally two short scenes, and because Mr. Deeds didn't

06:26make anywhere near the same pop culture imprint as Big Daddy, it's a revival that's been

06:31largely forgotten to time.

06:343.

06:35Jamie Foxx – Django Freeman, Django Unchained and A Million Ways to Die in the West

06:40Jamie Foxx played the central role of vengeful former slave Django Freeman in Tarantino's

06:45Django Unchained.

06:47And while it was pretty reasonable to expect the character to be a one-off, Foxx actually

06:51reprised the part in the most unexpected of films.

06:55Django actually showed up at the very end of Seth MacFarlane's western comedy, A Million

06:59Ways to Die in the West.

07:01After the movie proper has finished, but before the end credits actually roll, Django pops

07:06up for a tiny cameo where he murders the operator of a racist shooting game called Runaway Slave,

07:13and drops the film's recurring one-liner, people die at the fair.

07:172.

07:18Jamal Willard – Notorious B.I.G., Notorious and All Eyes on Me

07:23Though 2009's Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious received wildly mixed reviews, even those

07:29critics who dismissed the film generally agreed that it featured a spot-on performance from

07:34Jamal Willard as the ill-fated rap icon.

07:37Willard ended up unexpectedly reprising the part of Biggie eight years later, for 2017's

07:43Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyes on Me, albeit this time in a supporting capacity.

07:48Sadly, Willard's performance wasn't received quite so enthusiastically this time round,

07:53with many critics complaining that Willard, who was 41 years old when All Eyes on Me was

07:58being shot, no longer resembled Biggie, who of course died at just 24 years of age.

08:04Needless to say, Willard has now firmly aged out of playing the part ever again.

08:09But considering how the Tupac biopic came and went without a peep, you probably never

08:13even knew he was in it.

08:151.

08:16Ralph Bellamy and Don Amici – Randolph and Mortimer Duke – Trading Places and Coming

08:21to America

08:22In John Landis' beloved 1983 comedy Trading Places, the antagonists are Randolph and Mortimer

08:28Duke, the cruel commodity broker brothers who make a high-stakes bet to switch the life

08:34circumstances of a well-off broker with a street hustler.

08:38In the end, however, the tables end up turned as our hero sets up the Dukes to lose a staggering

08:43$394 million, resulting in their personal and corporate assets both being confiscated,

08:50leaving them bankrupt.

08:51Hilariously, the Dukes make a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in another collaboration between

08:56Landis and Murphy.

08:581.

08:591988's Coming to America

09:00In the film, Prince Akeem Joffer walks past two homeless men and passes them a fat stack

09:06of cash.

09:07And it's revealed moments later that the two men are in fact none other than the Dukes

09:11themselves.

09:12The two even refer to one another by their first names, but the 30-second cameo is still

09:17so fleeting that it's easily forgotten for all but the most hardcore fans.

09:21And that's our list!

09:23Know of any other actors people didn't know played the same character in different movies?

09:28Let us know all about them in the comments section below and do not forget to like, share

09:32and click on that subscribe button.

09:34Also, be sure to head on over to WhatCulture.com and click on some more brilliant articles

09:38just like the one this video is based on.

09:40I've been Gareth from WhatCulture.com, thank you very much for watching and I'm sure I'll

09:44see you very, very soon.

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