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The 10 weirdest film cameos of all time

When they’re done correctly movie cameos have the power to make entire films.

Whether its Christopher Walken’s scene-stealing appearances in Pulp Fiction and Annie Hall or Judi Dench’s Academy Award-winning eight-minute turn in Shakespeare in Love, cameos can provide incredibly memorable moments and add brilliant, geeky details to captivate cinephiles.

That said, when done badly they can feel like unnecessary distractions which can single-handedly diminish the rest of the film — a result some of the entries in this list know only too well.

From Donald Trump to Michael Jackson and Kanye West, these are the weirdest cameos in film history.

Donald Trump in Home Alone 2

Cast your mind back to the 90s, decades before Donald Trump ever dreamed of becoming President of the United States. It was a simpler time then, when the business magnate was cameoing in family movies and body slamming wrestlers in the WWE, rather than provoking nuclear war on social media. His inexplicable appearance in 1992’s Home Alone 2 sees him give Macaulay Culkin directions to the lobby of the Plaza Hotel in one of the strangest cameos of the decade. He owned the grand venue at the time and reportedly only agreed to filming if he could appear in a speaking role — ever the narcissist, clearly. It’s not the only odd cameo he made in his younger years either, appearing as himself alongside Melania Trump in Zoolander and turning up as a rich father in Little Rascals.

Lance Armstrong in Dodgeball

At the time nobody batted an eyelid at this turn from Lance Armstrong in 2004 comedy Dodgeball. The surprise appearance fit with the zany nature of the film and it was actually Chuck Norris’s bizarre appearance as a dodgeball judge in the film that received more attention. However, the revelations about Armstrong’s performance-enhancing drug use and his disgraced status retrospectively gives his motivational talk about being a champion and not quitting a deeply cynical spin. “I’m sure this decision won’t haunt you forever,” he says to Vince Vaughan’s character as he departs. Quite.

(...The drug stuff does make it all pretty funny, though)

Peter Jackson in Hot Fuzz

Peter Jackson is known for cameoing in his own films, notably appearing very briefly as ‘carrot man’ in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. However, his split-second cameo as a man dressed as Father Christmas in Hot Fuzz did come as a surprise. He appears very briefly, stabbing Simon Pegg’s Sergeant Angel in the hand in the first few minutes of the movie. Interestingly, Cate Blanchett also appears in the film as Angel’s former partner Janine but remains hidden behind a crime scene face mask. Both Jackson and Blanchett are friends with director Edgar Wright and agreed to be in the film as they were fans of his 2004 movie Shaun of the Dead. It’s strange to see such high profile stars in such tiny roles, but the appearances definitely added a little extra to fans enjoyment of the film.

Bill Murray in Zombieland

Bill Murray’s short but sweet appearance in Zombieland is dead funny, if a little weird. He appears as a zombie apocalypse-surviving version of himself in the 2009 comedy and his A-lister status feels a little out of keeping with the introverted indie aesthetic of the rest of the film. When a guest appearance is as funny as this though, it’s always worth celebrating. He is fatally shot after playing a practical joke on Jesse Eisenberg’s character in the movie and when asked if he has any final regrets brilliantly replies: “Garfield, maybe.”

Murray is notoriously hard to get hold of and doesn’t even have an email address or manager to speak of. However, personal friend Woody Harrelson did enough to convince him to appear and the result is a weird and wonderful cameo that proves a highlight of the whole film.

Kanye West in Anchorman 2

The climactic fight sequence at the end of Anchorman 2 features some of the most brilliantly random movie cameos in recent years. Jim Carrey, Marion Cotillard, Liam Neeson, Amy Poehler, Tina Fay, Will Smith, Liam Neeson all appear, while John C Reilly turns up as the ghost of American Civil War general Stonewall Jackson and Harrison Ford plays a werewolf news anchor (obviously). However it was Kanye West as Wesley Jackson from the MTV News crew that marked the most surprising cameo in the film. Seeing the biggest rapper on the planet let his hair down and goof out was a pretty strange sight and was certainly out of keeping with what we’ve come to expect from West, given he normally takes himself incredibly seriously.

Michael Jackson in Men in Black II

Michael Jackson’s turn as Agent M in Men in Black II is a really odd one. He appears very briefly in extreme close-up to deliver a report in the 2002 film. His unexplained appearance is strange enough as it is, but what’s really odd is that Jackson thought he was signing up for a drama instead of a comedy. He reportedly told director Barry Sonnenfeld that was moved to tears after seeing the first film and wanted to be part of the follow-up.

"I had a lovely conversation with Michael in which he told me he had seen the first Men In Black in Paris and had stayed when all the other people left the theatre and sat there and wept,” Sonnenfeld said. “I had to explain to him that it was a comedy."

When it comes to odd cameos, you just can’t beat it.

Matt Damon in EuroTrip

The appearance of the Oscar-winning Matt Damon in cheapo comedy EuroTrip certainly raised a few eyebrows back in 2004, but there’s a good reason the actor made the unexpected cameo. Explaining during a reddit Q&A Damon said: “EuroTrip was written by three guys I went to college with, Alec Shaffer, Jeff Berg, and Dave Mandell.”

Damon ended up playing a punk rocker with a shaved head, tattoos and piercings, giving his buddies’ film an A-lister boost. His role sees him reveal he’d been sleeping with another guy’s girlfriend by performing the irritatingly-catchy song Scotty Doesn’t Know, which is the highlight of the otherwise fairly trashy movie.

Glenn Close in Hook

Steven Spielberg’s movie Hook is packed with celebrity cameos, not all of which are that easy to spot. Phil Collins gives a pretty stilted performance as a police inspector, while Gwyneth Paltrow plays the young Wendy. Star Wars pair George Lucas and Carrie Fisher (both personal friends of Spielberg) also appear uncredited as two people seen kissing on a bridge during one early scene. However, the weirdest is Glenn Close’s turn as a pirate, hidden under prosthetics and a fantastic fake beard. Her character Gutless is thrown in the ‘Boo Box’ and proceeds to have scorpions thrown in alongside her, which is one of the darkest moments of an otherwise family-friendly film.

Hulk Hogan in Gremlins 2

Legendary wrestler Hulk Hogan’s bizarre cameo in the theatrical release of Gremlins 2: The New Batch went a step further than most and broke the fourth wall to address the audience directly. After a handful of the monsters get into the projection booth of the film, the Hulkster turns around and screams: ”People pay good money to see this movie! When they go out to a theatre they want cold sodas, hot popcorn and no monsters in the projection booth!”

The whole thing is made all the weirder by the fact the black and white film playing in the background during the scene is supposedly an erotic movie called Volleyball Holiday. Given Gremlins 2 is a PG movie it’s certainly one of the odder cameos of the era.

Madonna in Die Another Day

The idea of Madonna cameoing in drab Bond movie Die Another Day isn’t that weird an idea in principle given she contributed the (admittedly pretty terrible) theme song for the movie. In practice though her appearance as fencing club instructor Verity is oddly pitched, totally pointless and only serves to take the viewer out of the action.

“I see you handle your weapon well,” Madonna says after fencing jovially with Bond. “I have been known to keep my tip up,” 007 replies, marking arguably the feeblest joke in the franchise’s history.