20 Brilliant Sci-Fi & Fantasy Films Where Actors Play Opposite Themselves

20. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

Jeff Fowler’s live-action Sonic almost hit a brick wall before it had even started running back in 2019, when images and footage of the goofy, awkward, uncanny valley character design got out. Thankfully, they got it sorted out for the 2020 release, and a minor success was born, spawning a whole small universe of films and shows for the franchise.

2024’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 introduced Shadow the Hedgehog into the fold (appropriately voiced by Keanu Reeves), as well as Professor Gerald Robotnik, series antagonist Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s grandfather. Jim Carrey, who had made the Robotnik character his own, was therefore the natural choice for the man who spawned the man who spawned him.

Carrey played Gerald as a meaner, tougher, no-nonsense version of Ivo, with a ridiculously large white tache and facial and body prosthetics to give him a bit of heft. But, although Carrey proved he has the chops to manage such a similar dual role while still making the characters distinct, he wasn’t sure he could do it. It was a big physical commitment to play both the main antagonists, in full and elaborate costume, but also a psychological one, as the film already involved so much acting against imagined characters (spoiler: Sonic and Co. aren’t real), and now Carrey had to act against an imaginary version of himself too…