The Django Cinematic Universe? Kinda.
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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 ten 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 WarCulture.com and here are 9 Actors You Didn't Know Played The
00:41Same Character In Different Movies.
00:449.
00:45Michael Keaton – Ray Nicolet Jackie Brown – 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
01:01one which features a memorably against-type turn from Michael Keaton as ATF agent Ray
01:06Nicolet.
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 Nicolet 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
01:35Nicolet.
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.
01:49Chris Van Winkle – Trent, Transformers and Friday the 13th
01:53You 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
02:10of the sequels.
02:11Though this might be explained by the fact that Trent secretly resurfaces – and dies
02:16– in 2009's Friday the 13th remake.
02:20In the movie, Travis Van Winkle plays another character called Trent, who exhibits all the
02:25same off-putting traits of his prior Transformers character – an antagonistic bully douchebag
02:31who viewers are actively encouraged to despise.
02:34Trent of course ends up as one of Jason Voorhees' victims, but given that Friday the 13th was
02:39itself produced by Michael Bay, there's absolutely no way in hell that this casting and namesake
02:45were a mere coincidence.
02:477.
02:48Dan Aykroyd – Ray Stantz – 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.
03:04Oh, and 1995's big-screen adaptation of Casper.
03:08While Carrigan and her assistant, Dibs, attempt to have the McFadden mansion purged of Casper's
03:13unruly uncles, better known as the Ghastly Trio, none other than Ray Stantz is seen running
03:19out of the house in full Ghostbuster regalia, no less.
03:23On his way out, he says to Carrigan and Dibs, who you gonna call?
03:27Someone else, before fleeing the scene.
03:29And to dispel any doubt about the cameo, Aykroyd's costume has a visible name tag bearing the
03:34moniker Stantz.
03:366.
03:37Michael Park – Earl McGraw – Kill Bill and Grindhouse
03:42The late, great Michael Parks played the role of Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in From Dusk Till
03:47Dawn's more restrained first half.
03:49And though he's quickly killed by bank robber siblings Seth and Richie Gecko, that was far
03:54from the last we saw of him on screen.
03:57McGraw makes a chronologically ambiguous reappearance in Tarantino's own Kill Bill, Volume 1,
04:03where he's seen investigating the wedding massacre which left the bride in a four-year
04:07coma.
04:08Apparently, Parks also plays a totally different character, Esteban Vigeo, in Kill Bill, Volume
04:142.
04:15But it doesn't end there.
04:17Parks reprised McGraw again in Robert Rodriguez and Tarantino's exploitation collaboration,
04:22Grindhouse, playing McGraw briefly in both of their movies, Planet Terror and Death Proof.
04:285.
04:29Jason Statham – Frank Martin – The Transporter and Collateral
04:33The Transporter franchise – the first three movies, anyway – starred Jason Statham as
04:37Frank Martin, a driver-slash-mercenary who will deliver any package to any location if
04:43enough greenbacks are on the table.
04:45For a time, Martin was Statham's signature character, enthusiastically dispatching the
04:50baddies while cutting a trim figure in a dark suit.
04:54And according to Louis Leterrier, who directed the first two Transporter films, Martin made
04:59an additional appearance outside of the series proper.
05:02You may well have forgotten that Michael Mann's terrific 2004 thriller Collateral begins with
05:08assassin Vincent swapping bags with a shady, unknown man at the airport, who just so happens
05:13to be played by the Statham himself.
05:16Though the character is credited only as Airport Man, Leterrier later confirmed that it is
05:22indeed a canonical appearance by Frank Martin.
05:25Given that he's absolutely in the business of dropping off packages and making anonymous
05:30trades, it fits like a glove.
05:324.
05:33Rob Schneider – Nazo the Delivery Guy, Big Daddy and Mr. Deeds
05:38Big 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.
05:49Most prominently among them is Rob Schneider, who makes surely his most memorable Sandler
05:54movie cameo as Nazo, the deranged best friend and delivery man of protagonist Sonny.
06:00Though Schneider actually received a Razzie nomination for his performance in the film,
06:05it's honestly one of his less grating performances in a Sandler film, even mustering a few honest-to-God
06:10chuckles.
06:12Yet all but the most ardent Sandler fans will likely have no idea that Schneider actually
06:17reprised the role a few years later in Sandler's remake, Mr. Deeds.
06:22Granted, he's in the movie for literally two short scenes, and because Mr. Deeds didn't
06:26make anywhere near the same pop culture imprint as Big Daddy, it's a revival that's been
06:31largely forgotten to time.
06:343.
06:35Jamie 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
06:45Django Unchained.
06:47And while it was pretty reasonable to expect the character to be a one-off, Foxx actually
06:51reprised the part in the most unexpected of films.
06:55Django actually showed up at the very end of Seth MacFarlane's western comedy, A Million
06:59Ways to Die in the West.
07:01After the movie proper has finished, but before the end credits actually roll, Django pops
07:06up for a tiny cameo where he murders the operator of a racist shooting game called Runaway Slave,
07:13and drops the film's recurring one-liner, people die at the fair.
07:172.
07:18Jamal Willard – Notorious B.I.G., Notorious and All Eyes on Me
07:23Though 2009's Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious received wildly mixed reviews, even those
07:29critics who dismissed the film generally agreed that it featured a spot-on performance from
07:34Jamal Willard as the ill-fated rap icon.
07:37Willard ended up unexpectedly reprising the part of Biggie eight years later, for 2017's
07:43Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyes on Me, albeit this time in a supporting capacity.
07:48Sadly, Willard's performance wasn't received quite so enthusiastically this time round,
07:53with many critics complaining that Willard, who was 41 years old when All Eyes on Me was
07:58being shot, no longer resembled Biggie, who of course died at just 24 years of age.
08:04Needless to say, Willard has now firmly aged out of playing the part ever again.
08:09But considering how the Tupac biopic came and went without a peep, you probably never
08:13even knew he was in it.
08:151.
08:16Ralph Bellamy and Don Amici – Randolph and Mortimer Duke – Trading Places and Coming
08:21to America
08:22In John Landis' beloved 1983 comedy Trading Places, the antagonists are Randolph and Mortimer
08:28Duke, the cruel commodity broker brothers who make a high-stakes bet to switch the life
08:34circumstances of a well-off broker with a street hustler.
08:38In the end, however, the tables end up turned as our hero sets up the Dukes to lose a staggering
08:43$394 million, resulting in their personal and corporate assets both being confiscated,
08:50leaving them bankrupt.
08:51Hilariously, the Dukes make a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance in another collaboration between
08:56Landis and Murphy.
08:581.
08:591988's Coming to America
09:00In the film, Prince Akeem Joffer walks past two homeless men and passes them a fat stack
09:06of cash.
09:07And it's revealed moments later that the two men are in fact none other than the Dukes
09:11themselves.
09:12The two even refer to one another by their first names, but the 30-second cameo is still
09:17so fleeting that it's easily forgotten for all but the most hardcore fans.
09:21And that's our list!
09:23Know of any other actors people didn't know played the same character in different movies?
09:28Let us know all about them in the comments section below and do not forget to like, share
09:32and click on that subscribe button.
09:34Also, be sure to head on over to WhatCulture.com and click on some more brilliant articles
09:38just like the one this video is based on.
09:40I've been Gareth from WhatCulture.com, thank you very much for watching and I'm sure I'll
09:44see you very, very soon.