10 Incredibly Sneaky Film Director Cameos You Totally Missed

8. Francis Ford Coppola In Apocalypse Now

The Hobbit Battle Of The Five Armies Peter Jackson
United Artists

Francis Ford Coppola is known to be something of a control freak on the movie set, and this brief appearance in his 1979 war-epic knowingly pokes fun at that fact.

At one point in the movie, Willard walks past an army film crew, the director of which can be seen yelling at Willard to walk past without looking at the camera, asking him to keep up his appearance as a soldier without acknowledging the presence of the film crew.

And that overly-pushy director is played by Ford Coppola himself.

Admittedly, the thick bushy beard is a bit of a giveaway, but it's nonetheless a quick moment that's easy to miss - and it's pretty hilarious when you realise that Ford Coppola is effectively playing himself.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.