Beverly Hills Cop 3 (1994)
The Cameo: Axel skips ahead of a slow-moving fairground punter to make his escape via a rollercoaster. Said punter is played by none other than George Lucas.
Why It’s Cool: Lucas comes off as the consummate chump. Nice jumper, George…
Seed Of Chucky (2004)
The Cameo: John Waters makes an appearance as sleazy tabloid paparazzo Pete Peters.
Why It’s Cool: In a crowd-pleasing move, Waters’ character is killed in gratifyingly nasty fashion, by having a load of acid dumped over his head.
Mystery Men (1999)
The Cameo: Michael Bay appears as a beer-swilling jock, flanked by a whole squadron of beer-swilling jocks. He looks right at home.
Why It’s Cool: “Dude,” drawls Bay to an irritated-looking Geoffrey Rush. “Can we bring some brewskis?” Lovely stuff.
Topaz (1969)
The Cameo: Hitch plays it for laughs as a wheelchair-bound invalid who suddenly leaps to his feet for a handshake.
Why It’s Cool: It’s a great little sight gag, as cribbed by Little Britain some decades later.
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948)
The Cameo: John Huston cuts a dash as The White Suited Gentleman, who tosses Humphrey Bogart’s character a handout at the beginning of the film.
Why It’s Cool: His sniffy disdain is note perfect as he tells Bogey, “from now on you have to make your way through life without my assistance.”
Mean Streets (1973)
The Cameo: Martin Scorsese turns up at the end of the movie as uncredited gunman, Jimmy Shorts. And what an entrance he makes…
Why It’s Cool: He guns down his two stars, Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. Talk about making an impact!
The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Cameo: Orson Welles appears as slippery producer Lew Lord, who hires Kermit with “the standard rich and famous contract”.
Why It’s Cool: Orson Welles meets the Muppets? What about that do you need explaining?
The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
The Cameo: Jonathan Demme plays the white trash husband who meets a sticky end at the hands of the titular creature.
Why It’s Cool: He goes out in gloriously grisly style! Pretty much all you can expect from a horror movie cameo.
The Fly (1986)
The Cameo: Cronenberg plays the doctor in Veronica’s horrifying dream sequence, delivering the grisly maggot baby with his own hands.
Why It’s Cool: If Cronenberg insisted on including such a stomach-churning scene, it only seems right that he should take the bullet of playing the doctor involved!
The Lost World (1997)
The Cameo: In one of the more obscure cameos on the list, Spielberg can be briefly spotted in the reflection of a TV screen, watching a news broadcast on CNN.
Why It’s Cool: He’s eating popcorn, as though he were in a movie theatre. Meta, right?
