Though movie stars are looked up to more than anyone else and screenwriters don't get the credit they deserve, some actors have much more involvement in their movies than people think.
Most actors improvise here and there, but there's a huge difference between ad-libbing a funny line and completely throwing themselves into the writing process. Between a comedy actor-turned-superhero developing the MCU and Tom Hardy's mysterious writing credit on Venom: Let There Be Carnage, actors have written some of their highest-grossing movies.
Taika Waititi
Taika Waititi is one of the most consistent actors to write his own material. In fact, he's as much of a writer as he is an actor. The New Zealand filmmaker's breakthrough was the vampire mockumentary, What We Do In The Shadows, where he plays the head vampire, Viago, and he co-wrote the movie with Jermaine Clement. Though it's taking a while, Waititi is developing What We Do In The Shadows 2 too.
Even in Thor: Ragnarok, which he wrote and directed, he has a small comic relief-type role with Korg. Most recently, though he doesn't have an official writing credit, Waititi came up with so much material on the spot for his role of Antwan in Free Guy that it could fill out a whole movie.
Owen Wilson
There are some actors who have close-knit relationships with directors, and one example of that is Owen Wilson's connection with the celebrated auteur Wes Anderson. Though Anderson writes and directs all of his own movies, he has been known to collaborate when it comes to writing duties.
Bottle Rocket was Anderson's directorial debut and it stars Wilson in the lead role, but that actor is also credited as a writer on the movie too. The writer-director duo also collaborated on a screenplay a second time seven years later with The Royal Tenenbaums. And later this month, they'll be reuniting again as Wilson is returning in The French Dispatch, though he doesn't have a writing credit this time.
Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig became a well-known actor thanks to Saturday Night Live, but as the show isn't popular in most territories outside of the US, her breakthrough role for most of the world was in Bridesmaids. The actor wrote the movie with Annie Mumolo, and they were even nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Most recently, the writing duo also penned the newly released Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar. And even when she doesn't have writing credits on the movies, Wiig is best known for her incredible improv skills, as she essentially throws out a film's script and makes up so much of the dialogue on set.
Emma Thompson
Few actors are as talented or as creative as Emma Thompson, whether it comes to acting or writing. The British actor doesn't just have writing credits on her movies though - she's a fully-fledged screenwriter.
Thompson has written movies that she hasn't starred in, such as Bridget Jones's Baby, but she also wrote the screenplay for Sense & Sensibility, where she had a lead role. And though Thompson has had roles in Disney movies, she created her own warped version of Mary Poppins, Nanny McPhee.
Matt Damon
It's fairly well known that Matt Damon (and Ben Affleck) wrote Good Will Hunting, where the actor plays a janitor who happens to be a genius, and he has written a couple of other movies directed by Gus Van Sant too. But most recently, Damon (and Affleck again) wrote the screenplay with Nicole Holofcener for the upcoming Ridley Scott-directed movie, The Last Duel.
In the movie, Damon plays Jean de Carrouges, who takes place in the last legally sanctioned duel in France. Affleck has a small role in the film as well.
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen's best movies tend to be the ones he has writing credits on, as most of them have become classic 2000s movies. The first movie he had a writing credit on was Superbad, where he played an overly friendly police officer. That began the trend of stoner comedies that he both wrote and starred in.
Some of the actor's most notable movies include Pineapple Express, This Is The End, and The Interview. Although not all of his writing projects knock it out of the park, as he also wrote/starred in The Green Hornet, which was originally a crime-fighting 60s kung fu action series, but was turned into a slapstick comedy.
Paul Rudd
Marvel Studios has typically stuck to the working formula of casting comedy actors in major roles. Randall Park plays Jimmy Woo, J.B. Smoove plays Peter Parker's teacher, and, of course, Chris Pratt plays Starlord. But the most successful in terms of comedy is Paul Rudd's take on Scott Lang, a.k.a. Ant-Man.
Part of why his role as the superhero is so perfect is because the actor helped write the movie. Whether it was in the story or help with the dialogue, Paul Rudd has a writing credit on the film, and it set a precedent, as he was the first actor in the MCU to do that. The actor also helped write Ant-Man and the Wasp, but surprisingly, he's sitting Quantumania out when it comes to writing duties.
Will Smith
It's surprising that Will Smith doesn't have more writing credits, or even directing credits, in his career, as actors as prolific as him tend to get an itch to become more creatively involved with projects. Smith never seemed to properly get that itch, but he does have one writing credit, which is for the 2013 sci-fi flick, After Earth.
Though the movie was written by M. Night Shyamalan and Gary Whitta, Smith created the whole story and concept of the film. It became somewhat of a passion project for him and his son, Jaden Smith, and though the actor had planned out a trilogy, it didn't come to fruition after the film's poor box office performance.
Ryan Reynolds
The same things happen in every Ryan Reynolds movie, whether it's the sarcastic exchanges or the ridiculous tangents, but that's what makes his movies so much fun. Reynolds' fingerprints are all over his movies, and even when he doesn't have a writing credit on the film, it's clear how much of an influence he had on the dialogue at the very least.
That's no more true than with Deadpool, as he has completely thrown himself into the character. Though he didn't write the first movie, he has a writing credit on Deadpool 2 and the upcoming Deadpool 3 too. Not only that, but anything featuring the character, whether it's a short like No Good Dead or a commercial for Free Guy, is written by Reynolds too.
Tom Hardy
Tom Hardy is very much an actor's actor, as, unlike many other actors in this day and age, Tom Hardy isn't a "brand" and he rarely promotes himself. He plays extremely different roles and he puts everything he possibly can into each one, and that often means collaborating on the story.
Though Tom Hardy doesn't seem sure why he has a writing credit on Venom: Let There Be Carnage, he thinks it's because of how much he collaborates on the story and that he helped in "creating a sandbox" for the world.