Actors & Actresses with Top Billing That Don't Really Appear Much

[InformationGeek]

With the recent story about Jesse Eisenberg going against Lionsgate for false advertising the cover of Camp Hell, it brought to my attention an interesting question: how often does this happen?

The case is that an actress or actresses appears in a movie for only a cameo and yet gets some top billing or get a lot of attention in the poster/trailer/cover for the film.  How many times have you've seen that before?

I believe I have seen this happens with Christopher Llyod to some extend in Piranha 3D even though he wasn't a big player in the film (He has a purpose, but not a big one).

[Flick James]

Logan's Run (1976) - Farah Fawcett (then Fawcett-Majors) had a small role in this sci-fi classic. When she participated in the film, it was literally just months before she began to break out as a major sex symbol via Charlie's Angels and her famous pinup poster. Once the film began seeing television runs circe 1978 or so, she was an established star. Promos for airings of Logan's Run would feature shots of her so much that you would almost think SHE was the star and not Michael York. Then when you would tune in to watch it thinking she was going to be all over it, it turns out she has about 5 minutes of screen time. The joke continued during commercial breaks when you would hear "Logan's Run, starring Farah Fawcett, will be back after this commercial break."

[Chainsawmidget]

Sunburst aka Slashed Dreams

The movie was renamed to cash in on Robert Englund's popularity.  He appears in maybe the last ten minutes of the film, as one of the good guys. 

[The Burgomaster]

Robert DeNiro in BORN TO WIN (aka ADDICT).  This has been released on VHS and DVD by several companies over the years and DeNiro's name and picture are always proudly displayed on the box cover.  The reality is, a very young DeNiro appears in this movie and has minimal screen time as a cop.  The real star is George Segal.  Overall, the movie isn't nearly as bad as the treatment it has received from cheapo distributors.

[The Burgomaster]

Actually, there were quite a few movies made in Europe during the 1970s that gave heavy billing to actors such as Henry Silva, Woody Strode, Telly Savalas, and James Whitmore.  These actors generally had small to moderate roles but received prominent billing to increase interest in English-speaking markets.

[HappyGilmore]

Vince D'Onfrio in The First Turn-On!

From what I remember, they touted this as his first movie and such, then you watch it, and he had like, one scene, as a guy with a borderline mental deficiency. He broke out a year or two later with Full Metal Jacket.

[66Crush]

Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne both made cameo appearences in the 1986 film "Trick or Treat." The DVD has both of them on the cover with their names above the title, dispite that fact that they aren't even in more than five minutes of the movie. I'm sure they thought they could sell more DVDs that way.

[Ozzymandias]

Ozzymandias speaks: I can't remember the name of the movie from the 80's that Jimmy Smits made shortly before L.A. Law made him a star (Much like Farah and Logun's Run). The funny part is his part was so small, he wasn't mention in the trailers or on the posters, but the TV ads were tagged with a different announcer say "also staring Jimmy Smits" (Or something like that). It was so awkward sounding that MST3K began using it as a gag in some shows.

Ozzymandias has spoken!!!

[Chainsawmidget]

Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne both made cameo appearences in the 1986 film "Trick or Treat." The DVD has both of them on the cover with their names above the title, dispite that fact that they aren't even in more than five minutes of the movie. I'm sure they thought they could sell more DVDs that way.

As a bonus, the pictures used on the DVD are NOT how they appear in the movie. 

[Criswell]

All the public domain dvds of Corman's Little Shop of Horrors all say "Staring Jack Nicholson" even though he is in the movie maybe 10 minutes or less.

[tracy]

I certainly expected to see more of Arnold in The Expendables.

[JPickettIII]

From Dusk to Dawn II.  Bruce Campbell and Tiffany Amber-Thesian were listed as the only stars when I watched it on Sci-Fi.  They were killed in the first five minutes.  A big let down. 

The other is House of Bones.  This had Neil Patrick Harris listed as the main star but was in about twenty minutes of the movie.

Also a let down about Trick or Treat too.  It was fun to see Ozzy as a preacher :)

Later,

John

[muckhappy]

Drew Barrymore in Scream