10 Movies With Title Characters Who Aren't The Lead

You'd think we'd get to see them a little more. After all, the movie is named after them.

Godfather Marlon Brando
Paramount Pictures

Despite the old adage, you absolutely should judge a book by its cover. That's why they have covers. Artists work tirelessly to design the book's cover for you to decide if you want to read it or not.

Movies have covers, so they use titles to help audiences judge them. A title can say a lot in very few words. It can tell you what the film will be about, whether it will be more quirky or straight forward, and sometimes who the main character will be.

The title character is a common trope, but sometimes it can be manipulative. Sometimes, the characters' whose names appear in the titles aren't the main characters, or even have much bearing on the plot at all. It happens in horror and monster movies more than any - and it's such an established trope there, in fact, that it's worth avoiding them entirely - but which other movies pretended they were about someone they sort of weren't...?

10. Waiting For Guffman

Godfather Marlon Brando
Sony Pictures Classics

One of the most obvious title characters who isn't the lead is Godot, from, or not from, Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot. The play follows a clueless duo as they wait for the mysterious Godot to show up, but he never does.

Though there isn't a definitive film version of Waiting for Godot, Christopher Guest's parody of the play, Waiting for Guffman, also leaves its title character out entirely.

The mostly improvised mockumentary film follows a small town theater production putting on a musical celebrating their town's history. Corky, played by Guest, believes he can get famous critic Mort Guffman to attend the premiere. A positive review from Guffman could send their show to Broadway, so the cast are excited to see Guffman on opening night.

However, Guffman never shows up, but he still gets his name in the title.

Contributor
Contributor

Richard C. Kraus (Richie to pretty much everyone) is an American college student and world record holder for most views of the 2015 film Ant-Man. He aspires to be a screenwriter, actor, and not tired.