Director David O. Russell has returned with the crime thriller sports a huge ensemble cast including Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Robert De Niro, and many more. Russell is known for his star-studded casts, but some other unlikely movies have huge A-list ensembles that leave audiences scratching their heads.
Whether it’s a schlocky B-movie-inspired release, a sketch comedy, or a quiet adaptation of a stage play, these casts threw Redditors for a loop. And, in some cases, it goes to show that not even the best actors in the world can save a bad screenplay.
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Batman. But just because he became one of the 90s' biggest directors doesn’t mean that he stopped working on niche projects. The 1996 release is an over-the-top B-movie-inspired alien invasion popcorn flick, which is why its all-star cast comes as such a surprise.
The movie stars Jack Nicholson as one of the funniest movie presidents, Danny DeVito, Michael J. Fox, Pierce Brosnan, and loads more. Maverick_24 points out, "All for a movie where they end up killing Martians with yodeling music. Just seems shocking to me there was that much star power!" But when a director has as many hits as Burton did at the time, it’s easy to throw together any dream cast they want.
True Romance (1993)
It isn’t hard to imagine that Tony Scott could bring together such an incredible cast, as he knew how to direct audience-pleasing blockbuster movies like True Romance is still impressive. The cast includes Christian Slater, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, and Samuel L. Jackson. It also featured some all-but-unknowns right on the cusp of stardom such as Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini.
The gangster movie was written by Quentin Tarantino, who is known for his unbelievable ensemble casts, but it just goes to show that actors knew how great his dialogue writing and character development were even before he was a household name. And True Romance is full of Tarantino’s classic trademarks.
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Lifesaboxofgardens points to the 2001 comedy Wet Hot American Summer as having a thriving cast full of renowned comedy actors. With Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks in the comedy, the Redditor notes, “Wet Hot American Summer is stacked.” However, many of the actors weren’t as huge back then as they are today.
While many are now SNL alums who constantly appear in each other's movies, Molly Shannon, Amy Poehler, Christopher Meloni, and the rest of the cast were still climbing the Hollywood ladder at that point. That might have something to do with why the movie bombed when it was first released but has since become a cult classic. If the film was released in the mid-2010s, it might have become the next Hangover.
The Towering Inferno (1974)
AncientAlienAlias recalls The Towering Inferno, which has just as much of a towered cast that includes Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, and a ton of others. But when a movie has several big names attached who have just as big personalities and egos, they’ll sometimes clash.
The Redditor explains, "I saw somewhere Steve McQueen and Newman had the same exact number of lines because they were huge rivals and didn’t want to be slighted." According to Express, McQueen requested that they both have the same amount of lines, and, in response, Newman called the Great Escape actor a “chicken s***.”
Heat (1995)
Everybody knows Heat for being the first movie that features both Al Pacino and Robert De Niro together, two actors who had often been in competition for the same parts in crime movies for two decades up to that point. And it was a dream come true for fans of crime thrillers, as the 1995 movie is an epic cat-and-mouse chase thriller between the two icons.
But Mnemosense points out that while that was the main event, the film has an unbelievable ing cast too. Heat also features Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, and Tom Noonan. But the Redditor also notes, "It has a stacked cast of top-quality character actors." The film sees Hank Azaria typically playing a cowardly sleazeball, Danny Trejo as a gruff gangster, and Henry Rollins as a henchman, as usual.
Movie 43 (2013)
When it comes to movies with star-studded casts, Movie 43 is by far the most bewildering. Masterchief3624 puts it best, explaining, "Doubly shocking considering how absolutely horrible it is." It has always been a mystery why Movie 43 roped in such a huge cast for a movie that couldn't have even read well when it was just a screenplay.
The film is an anthology of sketches, and those sketches are full of the most lowbrow humor imaginable. Nevertheless, the movie still stars prestigious actors like Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, and Julianne Moore. It’s hard to believe those actors are a part of a movie that’s often considered one of the worst of all time.
Knives Out (2019)
Clue was made up of the biggest movie stars of the time like Harrison Ford, Bill Murray, and Geena Davis.
The sequel will even put the first movie to shame, as Glass Onion will star Ethan Hawke, Jessica Henwick, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, and Kathryn Hahn, along with Craig returning.
Tombstone (1993)
Tombstone’s star-studded cast is shocking, as it features Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Bill Paxton, and even the smaller roles in the movie are made up of respected Hollywood actors. Given that the film came at a time when Westerns weren’t all that popular, it’s surprising that so many big names agreed to star in the project.
It’s amazing that audiences even saw the cast on screen together at all, as it had such a troubled production. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tombstone was ghost-directed by Kurt Russell after original director George P. Cosmatos couldn’t handle such a large project. But the final result is great, and it ended up being one of the greatest modern Western movies ever.
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Glengarry Glen Ross has an outstanding cast for the type of movie it is. The film is about a group of salesmen competing to not get fired, and it stars Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, and Jonathan Pryce. Esocharis comments, "The vast majority of people I know have never even heard of this movie, let alone actually watched it."
The movie is an adaptation of the David Mamet stage play of the same name, and very little has been changed to make the movie more cinematic. But nothing needs to be changed, as Mamet's snappy dialogue packs a punch just as hard as any set piece. And it's no surprise that so many actors signed on to the movie. The characters are so well-developed and the dialogue is perfectly written for each character, and there’s nothing more that an actor wants.
Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
Clerks. The film sees the two slackers on a Hollywood adventure, and despite being a simple stoner comedy, it is surprisingly full of huge stars. The movie features Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Carrie Fisher, a countless amount of cameos, and Mark Hamill even plays the movie’s villain, the Cock Knocker.
Writer-director Kevin Smith has always been able to wrangle together a huge cast, and often in creative ways. For the sequel, Smith used his recent heart attack to guilt movie stars into featuring in the film.
