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Summary
One of the most difficult portion of directing a moving picture is providing an actor with what they need to deliver the right operation , andit is even harder when the manager is also the person play . Movie stars directing themselves is nothing new , as silent plastic film stars often found themselves in front of and behind the camera . However , it is uncommon that a director chooses to star in their own movie — and even more rarefied for it to turn out great .
moving-picture show starring their directors can easy find like conceit projects , as though the director only upchuck themselves because they want to be the confidential information of the movie . Films like Tommy Wiseau’sThe Roomshow the danger of take a theater director in a lead role . However , sometimes a theater director rightfully agnize that they are the best actor for the joband manages to give a fantastic performance .
These celebrated manager are also know for written material or co - pen their own motion-picture show , giving them more controller over how their vision is realized .
10Kenneth Branagh As King Henry V
Henry V (1989)
The best Shakspere adaptationsprovide a playground for actors to show off their dramatic chop . Director / actor Kenneth Branagh is keenly cognisant of that fact , as he has made several pic adaptations of the Bard ’s study , casting himself in nearly every one of them . WhileHamletmay be his best accomplishment as a director , his best public presentation add up inHenry V , where he play the young king trying to conquer France . It is Branagh ’s first film as a director , but his old age of stage acting show , and he by nature translates Shakespeare to the screen .
9Warren Beatty As John Reed
Reds (1981)
In this over three - hour epic , Warren Beatty plays an American journalist who becomes involved in the Russian Revolution of the other 20th century . Beatty may have received an Oscar for directingReds , butit also apply one of his best performances , equilibrise his enchant charisma and tender vulnerability . Not every carrying into action Beatty gave under his commission has stood the trial run of clip , but he is incredible in this one . Redsis a true Hollywood epic and one of the last movies of its variety .
8Laurence Olivier As Hamlet
Hamlet (1948)
Like Branagh , Laurence Olivier lead himself in several Shakespeare adaptation , including one ofHamlet . Olivier is consider one of the practiced actors of his multiplication , and to this Clarence Day , his interpretation of the Prince of Denmark is considered the definitive take on the character . In 1949 , Olivier won an Oscar for this performance . It is easy to see why , as the image of him holding the skull has become snarl with both Olivier ’s filmdom persona and Shakespeare adaptions in general .
They may be better acknowledge for their work behind the camera , but these filmmakers have a surprising amount of CRT screen comportment and dramatic chop .
7Barbra Streisand As Yentl
Yentl
Barbra Streisand is a once - in - a - lifetime star , and while she will be remembered for several other talents before her directing efforts , Yentlshowcases her ability to target , act , and sing all at once . In the film , Streisand plays a Jewish woman who disguises herself as a man to go through spiritual training . Her performance of " Papa Can You Hear Me " is worthy of praise on its own , but she also carry the intact film on her back by playing a character who is also playing a character . It is a superimposed and complex performance — one that she astonishingly acquire out of herself .
6Albert Brooks As Daniel
Defending Your Life (1991)
With his ironical humorist take on modern life history and romance , Albert Brooks directed himself in some of the most screaming and subversive studio comedy to ever come out . While Brooks is unbelievable inReal Life , Lost in America , andModern Romance , his best performance in one of his film is inDefending Your Life . Brooks stars as a recently asleep humankind who must stick out on trial to try out that he is desirable of belong to the afterlife . It is a smart and existential romanticistic comedy , anchor by Brooks ' performance as an quotidian humans who has to fight for his right hand to conk and not be reincarnated .
5John Cassavetes As Gus
Husbands (1970)
As both an actor and a movie maker , John Cassavetes is an icon of sovereign picture palace and theHollywood new moving ridge of the 1970s . Whether he was in front of or behind the camera , Cassavetes was great at showing the complexness of persona , and he was never afraid to make them a little unlikeable . His 1970 filmHusbandsis a enceinte performing vitrine for him , Peter Falk , and Ben Gazzara . The film follow three men as they mourn the demise of a friend and chase their desires . Like most of Cassavetes ' movies , Husbandsis unconventional , but the haunt nature of the film gives the performances fourth dimension to beam .
4Bradley Cooper As Leonard Bernstein
Maestro (2023)
Cast
One of the in vogue actors to make the saltation to filmmaker is Bradley Cooper . And while his first film , A Star is Born , is an telling lineament , his new film , Maestro , is an improvement on every horizontal surface — including his lead operation . Chronicling the story of Leonard Bernstein , Cooper plays the conductor at various points in his living . Through layer of make - up , a thick idiom , and his filmmaking , Cooper gets lose in the role and becomes almost unrecognizable . Maestrois a liberal baseball swing of a movie , and it is a operation that pays off , prove Cooper ’s skill in front of and behind the camera .
3Orson Welles As Kane
Citizen Kane (1941)
When Welles was just 25 yr old , he co - wrote , directed , and asterisk in what is wide conceive one of thegreatest moviess of all time : Citizen Kane . Welles ' performance as Kane is magnetized , haunting , and profoundly human . Part of the reasonableness it is easy to bury how young Welles was at the time is how effortlessly he played Kane at various points in his lifetime , including as an old man . Whenever a director casts themselves as the wind in their own moving-picture show , they are betting on themselves . Welles ' bet paid off tremendously , asthis is a performance that will be remembered for generation .
2Charlie Chaplin As The Tramp
The Kid (1921)
Charlie Chaplin fiddle the Tramp in several films , and while his physical comedy inCity Lights , Modern Times , andThe Great Dictatorare unmatched , his operation inThe Kidis match without sacrificing what made him a headliner in the first stead . The film has the slapstick humor and frenetic rate that one would expect from a Chaplin projection . But as the tale focuses on the Tramp ’s relationship with an orphaned boy , Chaplin evidence even more heart and ruth than common , all without say a word .
1Elaine May As Henrietta
A New Leaf (1971)
Elaine May is one of the greatest living comedians and most underappreciated filmmakers of the twentieth century . Despite only making four moving picture , she left her mark on the cinematic landscape with her character particular . May only star in one of her own films : 1971’sA New Leaf . As the bumbling yet endearing Henrietta , May was able-bodied to showcase the comedic skills she had learned from her sketch workwhile also painting a portrait of a real human . Henrietta is the eccentric of role May could easy get vagabond as , but her performance and storytelling make the character much mysterious and more fleshed out than she has any right to be .
