10 Best Times Actors Played Themselves

The endlessly inventive Charlie Kaufman started as he meant to go on with his debut script Being John Malkovich, a high concept comedy in which a puppeteer discovers a portal into the brain of the titular bald actor.

The script was written with Malkovich in mind, due in combination to his screen presence and the aural quality of his name, and while the thespian was shocked to learn someone had written such a bizarre film about him, the script was too good to turn down.

Malkovich makes the premise work through sheer deadpan sincerity. Like much of Kaufman’s work, the otherworldly concept masks serious themes of power and identity, and it’s Malvovich’s stately, dignified performance that allows the other actors - John Cusack, Catherine Keener, Cameron Diaz - to run wild.

Best of all is the scene in which Malkovich enters his own mind, finding himself in a Malkovich multiverse wherein everyone has his face and can say only his name. The temptation would be to ham it up, but he sells the craziness all the more with his quiet incredulity.