The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent has proven that once again, we can have movies where a star can play a version of themselves, like Being John Malkovich, JCVD or My Name is Bruce have done in the past. This style of movie doesn’t happen too often, with most real performances being cameos for character motivations. For this list, I am going to look at stars who could easily get a movie bringing their larger-than-life personalities into the movie scene, usually in a more comedic tone.
Sarah Michelle Gellar – The Buffy the Vampire Superfan
Sarah Michelle Gellar became one of the biggest names in television history with the plucky vampire slayer Buffy Summers and while the shows creator has shown the darker side of how he operated, the character Buffy Summers will forever be loved. Sarah did step into the movie side of the industry, where she often went against the typecasting as Buffy, with ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’, ‘Scream 2’ and ‘Cruel Intentions’, she did struggle to make as big of an impact as she could, with her performances as Daphne in the Scooby Doo movies being the highlight. In Real-life Sarah seems to be happy away from the limelight not, doing voice work, and working on projects away from the industry. Where this concept could come, would be similar to ‘Mr Name is Bruce’ who has found themselves fighting vampires, who turns to her, believing she is the real Buffy who can fight evil, this could offer plenty of horror comedy, as we could see the damsel in distress figure she has in horrors, with the fighting side when needed of Buffy, as well as including a surprise cameo from Kristy Swanson as the wrong Buffy found by the fan. We can get plenty of laughs, we could have the cameos, for example Sarah phoning Anthony Head for help and after seeing Alyson Hannigan do comedy for years, she will bring that to the table for a bit of a Buffy reunion.
Tom Hanks – No Mr Nice Guy
Tom Hanks is known as one of the nicest men in Hollywood, everyone has only ever had good things to say about him, he always helps people. What if for the fun of this movie, we see how Tom Hanks isn’t a nice guy, he pays everyone around him to keep people quiet while terrorising everyone within his entourage with fear of being blacklisted if they go against him. This will be a very dark comedy, one that would get plenty of laughs along the way, while getting a message across that not everyone is who their public persona truly is.
Vin Diesel – Family Man
Vin Diesel with the backing of the juggernaut of the Fast and the Furious franchise behind him, has created one of the biggest meme lines of ‘Family’. Vin Diesel has always tried to do movies that aren’t going to be guaranteed success, constantly pushing for the Riddick movies to happen, letting the Fast movies finance his decisions. In this comedy, we will get to play heavily into everyone is Family elements of his persona, showing him meeting everyone who he is every going to work with and treating them like a family, inviting himself into their homes, like he has been there before, too much hugging, not showing any of the tough guy attitudes Dominic is known for.
Rowan Atkinson – Too Serious
Rowan Atkinson is known for his comedy presence, from Blackadder’s clever word play to the slapstick Mr Bean and dim-witted Johnny English. Outside of the world of acting Rowan did get degrees from Oxford University, which poses the big question, what is Rowan Atkinson like away from the spotlight. In this concept we will see how a journalist is looking to write a story about Rowan, following him around type of interview, only to learn he isn’t anything like his characters on screen, playing ever interaction straight, no comedy in sight, apart from the viewers laughing at the deadpan delivery to each line.
Ryan Reynolds V Hugh Jackman – Box Office Battles
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have one of the biggest inside joke rivals in Hollywood today, they always poke fun at each other when they have a new movie coming out, or birthdays etc, they know how to get a headline with the jokes without every getting into a position where they are offending each other. The twist in this film, will see the pair struggling to find the latest joke, putting the pressure on their teams to help them, seeing their loved ones neglected in their pursuit to get the flashy headline, boarding obsession over playful fun, with the pair needing to learn a life lesson over getting a playful headline.
Jackie Chan – I Will Just Do it All
Jackie Chan is known for doing all his own stunts, he has a huge reputation, what if for this movie we get to see him given a basic leading action man role, only to slowly take over the whole production of the movie, with his demands, styles and determination to get the movie made in his own vision. This would get to play into the roles and actors that are overly demanding on set, setting up a chance to Jackie Chan to do some silly stunts to prove to stunt performers how easy certain stunts are, casually doing them without any effort, as they escalate as the film rolls on.