Beginning with Hitchcock's legendary trademark of cameoing in his own films, there have been numerous filmmakers who have stepped out from behind the camera to appear in their own work. However, what is much rarer is when a director acts in another filmmaker's project.
Whether it's a cameo, a bit part, or a full-on role, there is something electrifying and unique when a director places themselves in the position of being directed by a whole other director with their own set of rules and preferences in manifesting their vision.
Quentin Tarantino - From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
The famed renegade director took time off from his busy post-Pulp Fiction career to appear in friend and collaborator Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn.
A campy and fun take on both the Western and vampire genres, the film, which was written by Tarantino, casts him as the scumbag sidekick and brother to George Clooney's calm and smooth bank robber, Seth Gecko. The film's gory and roller-coaster-like sense of pace provides the perfect playground for Tarantino's onscreen verbal acrobatics and scene-chewing in just the right spots.
Rob Reiner - The Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)
Martin Scorsese directed one of his wildest and youthful films in 2013 when he paired with frequent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio to bring the debauchery-soaked story of Jordan Belfort to the big screen. Throughout the film's three-hour runtime, a bevy of recognizable faces parade across the screen in roles ranging from one-scene cameos to integral players, the latter of which applies to the frequently hilarious turn by famed director Rob Reiner, as Belfort's foul-mouthed and hot-tempered father.
Reiner appears in a handful of scenes throughout the midsection and end of the film, proving to be one of the best supporting players in the whole film.
Vincent Gallo - Trouble Every Day (2001)
Infamous French auteur of the freaky and surreal, Claire Denis had come off of a great run of acclaimed films in the 90s when she put out her bloodiest and most straightforward horror film yet with Trouble Every Day. The film, which begins in an offset way and never lets go of the weirdo energy that is promised with that early scene, is about an American couple who endure cannibalistic horrors on their honeymoon.
Buffalo '66 helmer Vincent Gallo is the male lead in the film and his signature brand of neurotic charisma helps keep the film in check. A deeply weird and unsettling film from a modern master that uses its unconventional lead performance to its full advantage.
Sylvester Stallone - Creed (2015)
Stallone returned once more to his most beloved and breakout role, Rocky Balboa, for this reboot/sequel from director Ryan Coogler. In Creed, the son of Apollo Creed seeks training from an aging Balboa when he decides he wants to be a boxer.
Not only does Stallone have immaculate chemistry with lead, Michael B. Jordan, but he turned in one of his best performances ever, and the best incarnation of the character since the 1976 original. Stallone would go on to be nominated for an Academy Award for his role, which he reprised in the film's sequel.
Sydney Pollack - Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
The late, great icon Stanley Kubrick's final film before his death was this transgressive discourse on romance and existentialism in relationships. An alternately erotic and bizarre film from one of the best to ever do it, Eyes Wide Shut is a troubled entry in the director's canon, but a fascinating one at that.
Sydney Pollack, an Oscar-winning director in his own right, stars in a large supporting capacity as a wealthy man with whom Tom Cruise's character becomes intertwined throughout the film's many unforgettable sequences.
Eli Roth - Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Similar to Robert Rodriguez, horror maestro Eli Roth is a close friend and collaborator with Quentin Tarantino. Their partnership has resulted in some highs, like the original Hostel, and some lows, like Hostel II.
Perhaps the greatest thing they've done together in Tarantino's 2009 revisionist romp Inglourious Basterds, which features Roth in a prominent role as a Nazi-killing, bat-swinging, street-tough soldier named Donny Donowitz, otherwise known as "The Bear Jew." Roth is funny and intimidating in the performance and holds his own against masters like Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz.
Francois Truffaut - Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
It's still hard to believe that a relatively fresh Steven Spielberg was able to get renowned French auteur Francois Truffaut to appear in his science-fiction film as a UFO specialist. Truffaut appeared in only this one film as an actor when he didn't direct, and his performance is so excellent it makes one wish he had done it more often.
Still, it is one of the stranger casting choices in a Spielberg film, pairing one of world cinema's greats with the emerging blockbuster style that Spielberg was riding after the success of Jaws. The result is one of very Spielberg's best.
Sean Penn - Dead Man Walking (1995)
Sean Penn was able to make a transition into film directing with some moody thrillers like The Crossing Guard and The Pledge, both of which feature stunning Jack Nicholson performances. However, he gives one of his most acclaimed performances in Dead Man Walking, a film directed by fellow acclaimed actor Tim Robbins.
In the film, Penn plays a convicted murderer on death row who strikes up a profound friendship with a visiting nun, played by Robbins' then-wife Susan Sarandon. Though Penn is one hell of a filmmaker, his performance in this film showcases his immense onscreen talent.
Clint Eastwood - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)
While the first two films in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy" are genre classics and brilliant on their own, it is the final chapter, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, that represents the director's greatest onscreen vision, as well as providing star Clint Eastwood with one of his most iconic performances ever.
One of the finest Westerns ever conceived, the nearly three-hour-long odyssey is a stylistic tour-de-force that pulls out all the stops along the way. Eastwood's intense and effortless cool would pave the way for the rest of his acting and directing career.
Orson Welles - The Third Man (1949)
Carol Reed brought the world one of, if not, the best noirs of all time with The Third Man, a gritty British crime thriller about a man who begins an investigation into the mysterious death of his friend Harry Lime, played by Welles.
Reed smartly elects to keep Lime hidden for a majority of the film, only revealing him, and Welles, after the halfway mark. Welles, an enormous personality both in front of and behind the camera, brings an insurmountable kind of gravitas to the role, giving the noir genre one of its finest villains and an eternal testament to the "less is more" approach.