3. Brad Bird The Incredibles
Directors have acting in their films before, but its usually either in a blink-and-youll-miss-it cameo (Alfred Hitchcock), a terrible piece of self indulgence (M. Night Shyamalan) or if theyre already established actors (George Clooney). For my money, I dont believe Brad Bird fits into any of these categories, yet he still managed to waltz off with the most memorable parts of Pixar megahit The Incredibles with his role as fashion designer Edna Mode. What made it so great was that it was so unexpected granted, if a director could pop up anywhere and not be noticed, it would be in an animated film. Yet Bird didnt seem to be cameo-ing he was taking on established actors at their own game and
winning. His Edna was hilarious, full of Milan dahling culture vulture-isms and possessing an acid tongue (my god, youve gotten fat) like few other animated creations before her. Birds vocal work made her hilarious, creating a caricature that was a joy to watch throughout. Really, in my opinion the most memorable part of that film was Ednas explanation of why capes were no longer recommended for superhero costumes, and describing the various suits to Helen Parr (and machine washable darling, thats a new feature). Such a performance makes me wonder why Bird doesnt lend his vocal pipes to more animations in the future hes clearly got the talent to make it into a proper career rather than occasionally cameoing on other films but I guess when youve managed to make the successful jump into live-action films (he directed the excellent Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) then you dont really have to frequent the voice-recording booth all that often.