10 Great Directors Who Acted In Other Peoples' Movies

8. Roman Polanski - Rush Hour 3

Polanski had already cast himself in some of his pictures, most notably The Fearless Vampire Killers, Chinatown and The Tenant, so didn't lack confidence as an actor. But he must have been as confused as we were when Brett Ratner asked him to play a snooty policeman in 2007's Rush Hour 3. The mismatched, vaguely racist antics of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker had made it to instalment no.3, and it was decided Paris would be the next port of call for the squabbling duo. There they came up against ridiculously high profile adversary Max Von Sydow. Polanski's role was Commissioner Revi, the anal Parisian detective who lived up to his name in more ways than one when he subjected the leads to a full body search. Fans of the director had become accustomed to expecting the unexpected from him, though surely this was a surprise even for them.