The Django Cinematic Universe? Kinda.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
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 10 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 WhatCulture.com and here are 9 actors you didn't know played the same
00:41character in different movies.
00:449.
00:45Michael Keaton, Ray Nicolette
00:46Jackie Brown and 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 one
01:01which features a memorably against-tight turn from Michael Keaton as ATF agent Ray Nicolette.
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 Nicolette 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 Nicolette.
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. Travis Van Winkle – Trent – Transformers and Friday the 13th
01:52You 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 of
02:10the sequels. Though this might be explained by the fact that Trent secretly resurfaces,
02:15and dies, in 2009's Friday the 13th remake. In the movie, Travis Van Winkle plays another
02:22character called Trent, who exhibits all the same off-putting traits of his prior Transformers
02:28character. An antagonistic bully douchebag who viewers are actively encouraged to despise.
02:33Trent of course ends up as one of Jason Voorhees' victims. But given that Friday the 13th was itself
02:40produced by Michael Bay, there's absolutely no way in hell that this casting and namesake
02:45were a mere coincidence.
02:477. Dan Aykroyd – Ray Stant – 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. Oh, and 1995's big screen adaptation of Casper. While Carrigan and her assistant,
03:10Dibbs, attempt to have the McFadden mansion purged of Casper's unruly uncles, better known
03:15as the ghastly trio, none other than Ray Stantz is seen running out of the house in full Ghostbusters
03:22regalia, no less. On his way out, he says to Carrigan and Dibbs, who you gonna call? Someone
03:27else. Before fleeing the scene. And to dispel any doubt about the cameo, Aykroyd's costume
03:32has a visible name tag bearing the moniker Stantz.
03:366. Michael Parks – Earl McGraw From Dust Till Dawn – Kill Bill and Grindhouse
03:41The late, great Michael Parks played the role of Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in From Dust Till
03:47Dawn's more restrained first half. And though he's quickly killed by bank robber siblings Seth
03:52and Richie Gekko, that was far from the last we saw of him on screen. McGraw makes a chronologically
03:58ambiguous reappearance in Tarantino's own Kill Bill Vol. 1, where he's seen investigating
04:04the wedding massacre which left the bride in a four-year coma. Amusingly, Parks also plays
04:09a totally different character, Esteban Viejo, in Kill Bill Vol. 2.
04:15But it doesn't end there! Parks reprise McGraw again in Robert Rodriguez and Tarantino's
04:20exploitation collaboration, Grindhouse. Playing McGraw briefly in both of their movies, Planet
04:26Terror and Death Proof.
04:285. Jason Statham – Frank Martin – The Transporter and Collateral
04:33The Transporter franchise, the first three movies anyway, starred Jason Statham as Frank Martin,
04:39a driver-slash-mercenary who will deliver any package to any location if enough greenbacks
04:44are on the table. For a time, Martin was Statham's signature character. Enthusiastically
04:49dispatching the baddies while cutting a trim figure in a dark suit. And according to Louis
04:55Le Terrier, who directed the first two Transporter films, Martin made an additional appearance
05:00outside of the series proper. You may well have forgotten that Michael Mann's terrific
05:052004 thriller Collateral begins with Assassin Vincent swapping bags with a shady, unknown man
05:11at the airport, who just so happens to be played by the Statham himself. Though the character
05:17is credited only as Airport Man, Le Terrier later confirmed that it is indeed a canonical
05:23appearance by Frank Martin. Given that he's absolutely in the business of dropping off packages
05:29and making anonymous trades, it fits like a glove.
05:324. Rob Schneider – Naso – The Delivery Guy
05:35Big Daddy and Mr. Deeds
05:37Big 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. Most prominently
05:50among them is Rob Schneider, who makes surely his most memorable Sandler movie cameo as Naso.
05:56The deranged best friend and delivery man of protagonist Sonny. Though Schneider actually
06:01received a Razzie nomination for his performance in the film, it's honestly one of his less grating
06:06performances in a Sandler film, even mustering a few honest-to-god chuckles I tells ya.
06:12Yet all but the most ardent Sandler fans will likely have no idea that Schneider actually reprised
06:17the role a few years later in Sandler's remake Mr. Deeds. Granted he's in the movie for literally two
06:24short scenes, and because Mr. Deeds didn't make anywhere near the same pop culture imprint as Big
06:29Daddy, it's a revival that's been largely forgotten to time.
06:333. Jamie 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 Django Unchained.
06:47And while it was pretty reasonable to expect the character to be a one-off, Foxx actually reprised the
06:52part in the most unexpected of films. Django actually showed up at the very end of Seth
06:57McFarlane's western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West. After the movie proper has finished but
07:03before the end credits actually roll, Django pops up for a tiny cameo where he murders the operator
07:09of a racist shooting game called Runaway Slave, and drops the film's recurring one-liner People Die
07:16at the Fair. 2. Jamal Woolard – Notorious B.I.G – Notorious and All Eyes on Me
07:22Though 2009's Notorious B.I.G biopic Notorious received wildly mixed reviews,
07:28even those critics who dismissed the film generally agreed that it featured a spot-on
07:33performance from Jamal Woolard as the ill-fated rap icon. Woolard ended up unexpectedly reprising the
07:39part of Biggie eight years later for 2017's Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyes on Me, albeit this time in a
07:47supporting capacity. Sadly, Woolard's performance wasn't received quite so enthusiastically this
07:52time round, with many critics complaining that Woolard, who was 41 years old when All Eyes on Me
07:58was being shot, no longer resembled Biggie, who of course died at just 24 years of age.
08:04Needless to say, Woolard has now firmly aged out of playing the part ever again.
08:08But considering how the Tupac biopic came and went without a peep, you probably never
08:13even knew he was in it. 1. Ralph Bellamy & Don Amici
08:17Randolph & Mortimer Duke – Trading Places & Coming to America
08:21In John Landis' beloved 1983 comedy Trading Places, the antagonists are Randolph & Mortimer Duke,
08:29the cruel commodity-broker brothers who make a high-stakes bet to switch the life circumstances
08:34of a well-off broker with a street hustler. In the end, however, the tables end up turned as our
08:40hero set up the Dukes to lose a staggering $394 million, resulting in their personal and corporate
08:47assets both being confiscated, leaving them bankrupt. Hilariously, the Dukes make a blink-and-you'll-miss-it
08:54appearance in another collaboration between Landis and Murphy. 1988's Coming to America. In the film,
09:01Prince Akeem Joffer walks past two homeless men and passes them a fat stack of cash.
09:06And it's revealed moments later that the two men are in fact none other than the Dukes themselves.
09:12The two even refer to one another by their first names. But the 32nd cameo is still so fleeting that
09:18it's easily forgotten for all but the most hardcore fans.
09:21And that's our list. Know of any other actors people didn't know played the same character in
09:26different movies? Let us know all about them in the comments section below and do not forget to
09:31like, share and click on that subscribe button. Also be sure to head on over to whatculture.com and
09:36click on some more brilliant articles just like the one this video is based on. I've been Gareth from
09:41whatculture.com thank you very much for watching and I'm sure I'll see you very, very soon.