Actors I Believe Played Themselves In A Role

There’s always that one actor that has played a part too well in a film. Sometimes it's the type of character you’d punch in the face in real life, pee your pants at sight, or give a great big hug to. This usually occurs when it's the actor’s most known role and they played it damn good. The one thing you ask yourself when this happens is, are they like this in real life?

The industry is full of high quality actors that satisfy our need for entertainment. Many of them have their very specific ways of playing a character, like Owen Wilson with his “wow”s or Al Pacino and his extreme outbursts. This is just how we recognize a specific actor and what we expect to see when we see that actor in a film. It gives us a sense of enjoyment similar to an inside joke. Here, we will discuss certain performances that seem far too real for the actor to not behave in a similar way.

Florence Pugh in Midsommar

Midsommar is a story about a young woman going on a trip with her friends to a rural Scandinavian village during the height of the midsummer activities, but they all soon realize that the community is a horrific cult. Florence Pugh plays this role tremendously well, in fact she won a Gotham award for best actress in 2019 for it. There was no romanticizing or dullness in the role which makes every move she made in the film seem authentic. While watching her reaction after one of the most terrifying scenes, I reluctantly thought that this is exactly what I would do in this scenario, walk away and cry, silently freaking out. It made me relate more to the character and view her as an actual living person that has gone through these traumatic events.

Everyone in The Sopranos

Films that reside in a certain community involved in anything painfully terrifying is extremely hard to pull off and should only be made if the creators fully immerse themselves in the product. Films on a specific community during a time period like The Godfather, Do The Right Thing, and The Pianist are good examples of showing authenticity respectfully in a film. The creators are not trying to make fun of the community, they’re just trying to tell a similar story in a different medium. In The Sopranos, much like The Godfather, I’m not able to dissociate James Gandolfini from Tony Soprano, nor Federico Castelluccio from Furio Giunta, or Nancy Marchand from Livia Soprano. All of them would probably make me freeze up if I saw them in real life.

Brooklyn Prince in The Florida Project

It’s hard to believe that a seven year old could pull off such a role that would make everyone watching go on an emotional rollercoaster. Brooklyn Prince is truly magnificent, inspiring young creatives to start their passions young and use opportunities every way they can to do what makes them happy. The Florida Project is about a six-year-old that lives with her young mother in an extended stay near Disney World, where she is so engulfed in her innocence that she does not understand about the harsh reality around her and her friends. Her presence in the film is intimidating, seen as a rebellious kid spiraling down from her rebellious mother, but as she starts to comprehend real life situations, we are shown the small, helpless yet ambitious kid inside. It’s heartbreaking but Brooklyn Prince understood the assignment and is seen as a loveable, determined young actor.

Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder in Edward Scissorhands

This one is difficult because the two were actually engaged during the filming of this movie. Edward Scissorhands is about a human created in a science experiment that ended up having scissor blades replacing his hands. The character is taken in by a suburban family and falls in love with the daughter. So the question would be, were Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder using their real love for each other to portray the characters’ connection, or was it created purely by the filmmakers themselves. Impossible to know, but I would assume that it was a mix of the two. An alternate answer would be that their relationship was a stunt for the movie (maybe to make more money or get more audience attention). I still think that their love for each other resonates to this day because it feels so real in the film and everywhere else you see them. 

I‘d recommend watching every film or show mentioned in this article because they truly all have ground-breaking performances. We should try to remember to not link an actor to their character obsessively because these are real people and probably want nothing to do with the personalities they’ve been a vessel for. This should also be the same for all storytelling artists; we have no idea where the story originates from or what it’s actually about, so it’s better just to experience it in the moment.