Directors making cameos in their own movies is somewhat of a long-standing tradition, the most famous of which are associated with Alfred Hitchcock, who made a brief appearance in near-on each every one of his movies over the course of his long career. In the vein of Hitch, a whole bunch of directors have continued to include themselves in the frames of some of their most flicks from time to time, though it's true that some are more subtle than others. And the consensus on said cameos is generally mixed: is there any point in a directorial cameo, after all? Do they exist merely to play to a filmmaker's ego? Is it worth risking a movie-goer's immersion for the sake of a quick appearance? And whereas some directors insist on ham-fisting themselves into their movies (ahem, Mr. Tarantino), some filmmakers have shown a little restraint when it comes to cameos. To celebrate a far more refined type of directorial cameo, here's 10 that you probably didn't have any idea even existed (please note, spoilers for the movies mentioned are contained within)...
10. Bryan Singer Stands-In As The Real Keyser Soze - The Usual Suspects (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdeCPGNRjOU
The Usual Subject has become famous for its clever twist ending, in which Kevin Spacey is revealed to be a notorious and unparalleled criminal genius, and not the lame cripple that he has been pretending to be for the entire movie. The "twist" is achieved mainly through Bryan Singer's manipulative "flashbacks," which paint Soze as a sort of Antonio Banderas
Desperado character, and not at all like Kevin Spacey, who somewhat resembles that of a child molester. During the making of
Suspects, though, Singer found himself tight on cash and low on time, so instead of wasting precious resources hiring an actor to simply stand around in the darkness looking broody (and without his face ever being shown), the director stood in as Keyser Soze for up to 30 shots, many of which were used enigmatically in the film.