15 times celebrities made cameos in movies that poked fun at themselves — proving that even A-listers can take a joke
It is easy to assume that celebrities take themselves a little too seriously, or that they can't take a joke.
But these celebs prove that they're in on it when they appeared in movies as themselves — or fictionalized versions of themselves — like Justin Bieber in "Zoolander 2" posing for a selfie before he's murdered, or Eminem coming out as gay in "The Interview."
Keep scrolling to see what famous faces have poked fun at themselves in movies.
Harris steals the show in "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" when he makes his first appearance, high on ecstasy and begging Harold and Kumar for a ride. He goes on to steal their car, and generally plays a terrible version of himself. In real life, Harris is a happily married man with two children, and no ecstasy habit to speak of.
The first installment of the "Harold & Kumar" saga was released two years before Harris came out as gay— but the third installment, 2008's "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas," addresses this by claiming that Harris and his husband David Burtka (who also appears as himself) are faking their relationship, and that Harris is pretending to be gay to take advantage of women.
Harris' role in the movie, which is about two stoners who desperately want to get to White Castle to grab some munchies, can directly be attributed to his current success. Before "Harold & Kumar," he was only known for his role as Dr. Doogie Howser in "Doogie Howser, MD.," when he was just a teen. The roles just weren't coming in, according to Harris.
So, without "Harold & Kumar," we probably wouldn't have Barney Stinson, his iconic opening number at the Tony Awards, or the newest iteration of "A Series of Unfortunate Events."
"The Big Short," which details the events leading up to 2008's financial crisis, introduces the typical movie-goer to many complex financial terms and situations, which is where Robbie, Gomez, and a few other celebrities come in.
Gomez appears at a blackjack table next to Nobel Prize-winning economist Richard Thaler. She's tasked with explaining what a synthetic CDO is, by using the simple metaphor of a blackjack game.
Robbie's scene is her in a bubble bath drinking Champagne, and explaining what exactly the mortgage crisis was — that banks were issuing riskier and riskier mortgages in order to keep profits up.
Obviously, no one would expect Robbie or Gomez to have extensive knowledge of the financial crisis — people still believe that beautiful women are inherently dumb.
To be fair, everyone plays a pretty terrible version of themselves in "This Is the End," which depicts what would happen to a bunch of Hollywood stars during the apocalypse, but Cera's performance as an angry coke-head who screams at all his friends and gropes Rihanna is pretty hilarious.
It goes directly against the nerdy persona he established in "Scott Pilgrim vs The World" and "Superbad." No one wants to think that the sweet Paulie Bleeker from "Juno" is actually a mean-spirited maniac.
Fittingly, Cera goes on an embarrassing note. He accuses all of his friends of stealing his cell phone, gets impaled by a fallen street light, and then realizes he had his phone the whole time. He then meets his demise by descending into a fiery sinkhole.
The plot of "Being John Malkovich" is just bizarre — an employee of a shady company finds a tunnel that leads to the inside of Malkovich's mind. Anyone who crawls through the tunnel can take over Malkovich's body — so when Malkovich himself crawls through the tunnel, things get a little weird.
He enters a strange world in which every single person has his face, and the only word anybody can say is "Malkovich." In a movie full of memorable moments, this scene takes the cake.
Malkovich himself has said that he doesn't feel connected to this version of himself: he told the director to, "'Turn it up.' Who better to make fun of yourself — your impotence, your vanity, your ridiculousness — and say it's okay? I am ridiculous — I mean, I am a celebrity."
"Zoolander" is about a model, Derek Zoolander, who has to deal with becoming a has-been (and also thwart a conspiracy that brainwashes models into killing political figures).
Zoolander and his rival, Hansel, have trouble deciding who is the better model and seem to be at an impasse — until the "Space Oddity" singer and fashion icon steps up to the plate to judge their runway walk-off.
The fact that Bowie, one of the most famous people in the world, would know how to decide which model is better, and have the time and interest to judge such a contest is laughable.
Ben Stiller, the film's star, writer, and director, called working with the rock star "a high point in my career."
Eminem is no stranger to controversy. He frequently uses slurs and problematic language in his raps — look no further than his newest album, "Kamikaze"— and has been called on it many times. The rapper has maintained that while he does use the word "f----t" in his raps, he is not actually homophobic.
His willingness to make fun of his public persona and come out as gay during "The Interview," an already controversial movie for its plot (two Hollywood stars are tasked with assassinating North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un), proves that the real Slim Shady isn't quite as scary as he seems.
The final "Austin Powers" movie is 2005's "Goldmember" which, as usual, parodies multiple "James Bond" movies. In an extra-meta moment, "Goldmember" opens with the filming of a movie about Powers' antics, called "Austinpussy" (a play on Bond film "Octopussy").
In the film, many celebrities make an appearance as the cast of "Austinpussy,' like Danny DeVito, Gwyneth Paltrow, and John Travolta. But the titular role of Powers goes to none other than Cruise, who gamely rocks a Powers wig, and velvet bell bottom suit.
Remember: this was years before Cruise proved his comedic chops in "Tropic Thunder." Up until this point, he had been exclusively playing heroes in prestige films and dramas, like "Top Gun," "Mission: Impossible," and "A Few Good Men." It was a true surprise to see the actor known appearing in a comedy like "Austin Powers."
The sequel to "Zoolander" is just as full as celebrity cameos as the first one. But it's "No Brainer" singer Bieber that gets to play a secret agent-esque version of himself that dodges bullets, does back flips, and takes down bad guys.
Bieber ends up dying in a blaze of glory — but not before he takes a final selfie before biting the dust.
The Daily Beast called "Jack and Jill," a comedy in which Sandler plays both Jack and his twin sister Jill, "the worst film ever made."
But Pacino's performance as a love-struck version of himself wasagreed upon as the movie's high point. He falls in love with Jill, (Sandler in drag), and even gets a good jab in at his own expense, when he makes fun of his lone Oscar win.
Pacino is known as one of the toughest guys in Hollywood — maybe you've heard of "The Godfather" or "Serpico" — so to see him as a lovesick puppy was jarring to say the least.
During their cross-country road trip to escape zombies, the main characters of "Zombieland" arrive at Murray's Hollywood mansion. At first, the crew believes that Murray has been infected with the virus, but Murray sets them straight — he's just pretending to be infected so he can play golf in peace, clearly making fun of his reputation as a curmudgeon.
Murray gets to go out on a hilarious note — after a prank-gone-wrong, he ends up getting shot in the chest. One of the characters asks if he has any regrets, and his last words are "'Garfield,' maybe..." referencing one of his worst IRL movie flops.
"Tropic Thunder" is about a group of actors who get stranded in Vietnam while filming a war epic. When establishing the careers of each actor, they all get a fake trailer of a movie that they "starred" in.
Robert Downey, Jr.'s character, Kirk Lazarus, stars in "Satan's Alley," a melodramatic romance between two monks, clearly making fun of "Brokeback Mountain," a romance between two male ranchers. One of the monks is Lazarus, and the other is Maguire, who hilariously commits to the part.
The "trailer" came just a year after Maguire starred in his final "Spider-Man" movie, so it was a definite surprise when he popped up — and clearly was a reference to his infamous "emo" version of Peter Parker in "Spider-Man 3."
Damon and Affleck's relationship with Kevin Smith, the silent half of Jay and Silent Bob, goes back to before their big break with "Good Will Hunting." They appeared in "Chasing Amy," which was written and directed by Smith, just a few months prior.
In "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," Jay and Silent Bob wander onto the set of "Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season," while they are trying to regain the rights to their comic book, "Bluntman and Chronic," which is being adapted into a movie by Miramax (the studio that produced the real "Good Will Hunting"). They come across Affleck and Damon, who play money-hungry versions of themselves that are willing to sell out for a big paycheck — which is how they end up making "Hunting Season."
In "Happy Gilmore," the titular character played by Adam Sandler is a hopeful hockey player who discovers he has a talent for golf. When he qualifies for a professional-amateur tournament, he's partnered with "The Price is Right" host and TV institution Bob Barker.
When Gilmore starts choking and losing the game, Barker gets increasingly angry, and eventually the two end up in a physical altercation — which Barker easily wins.
Seeing Barker, someone who has comforted every kid who had to stay home sick and watch daytime TV all day, play this aggressive (but admittedly amazing) version of himself, resulted in gut-busting laughter.
"Free Enterprise" is a 1999 rom-com about two self-proclaimed geeks who are each experiencing mid-life crises — until they come across "Star Trek" legend Shatner in a bookstore.
Shatner plays an exaggerated version of himself — the real Shatner is a ham, but not to this extent — that wants to write, direct, and star in a one-man musical version of the Shakespeare play "Julius Caesar." He even raps!
In "Knocked Up," a movie about a one night stand between a career-driven woman and a stoner/slacker, Katherine Heigl's character Alison works at E!, where she routinely interacts with Ryan Seacrest, who's known for his positive demeanor.
Except that in the film he's not that chipper. He complains about the softball interview questions he has to ask, drops f-bombs left and right, and claims to be more famous than the celebrities he interviews.
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