Movies & TV

25th Jan 2017

13 of the best sporting cameos in movies

Conor Heneghan

Casting sports stars in movies doesn’t always work, but when it does…

Considering that they’re accustomed to performing under pressure in front of big, expectant audiences, the best athletes in the world should, in theory, make for the perfect candidates for the big screen.

In practise, however, the reality is very different.

There are countless examples of cringe-inducing cameos by some of the world’s most recognisable sports stars in film over the years, some of the most glaring of which have been in movies about the world’s most popular sport: football.

You don’t believe us? Check out the entire Goal trilogy and the clip below from arguably the most embarrassing of Pele’s many forays into movies and you’ll see where we’re coming from.

Clip via rodkimbleparty

Thankfully, plenty of sporting cameos in movies have worked over the years, thanks to a combination of the right role and the humility of the stars involved in playing a part that’s not exactly commensurate with the size of their ego.

In no particular order, here are some of our favourites.

Kareem Abdul-Jabaar

Movie: Airplane!

Character: The basketball legend plays Roger Murdock, the co-pilot of a plane that goes perilously close to disaster. A young passenger on the plane persistently urges him to reveal his true identity, but he’s determined to keep it a secret.

Best bit: THAT tongue-twisting communication with his fellow flight crew as the plane prepares to take off.

Clip via bencemage

Dan Marino

Movie: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Character: Marino plays himself in the movie, where he is the victim of a kidnapping by a former teammate who blames him for a missed field goal that destroyed his career.

Marino’s cameo is a small one, but he does play a key role in allowing Ace to reveal the most startling piece of information in the entire movie.

Best bit: Dan’s face when Ace makes the big reveal.

Clip via moviescenes4u

Vinnie Jones

Movie: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Character: These days, Jones is probably known more for his acting than his football career and his breakthrough performance as gangster Big Chris in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels has a lot to do with it.

Bar an intentional car crash, Big Chris is one of the few characters in the movie to avoid harm and ends up pocketing a tidy sum of money for himself and his son come the end.

Best bit: “It’s been emotional.”

Clip via avirajsalujah

Eric Cantona

Movie: Looking for Eric

Character: Eric Cantona. It’s not really a surprise that the man affectionately known as ‘The King’ by Manchester United fans ended up in movies, nor is it a surprise that he ended up playing a hallucinatory version of himself in a movie, essentially, about himself (in a roundabout way).

Best bit: His retelling of his favourite moment, a glorious pass to set up a goal for the great Denis Irwin.

Clip via puds13

Lee Trevino

Movie: Happy Gilmore

Character: Lee Trevino. Trevino’s part in the greatest golf movie of all time (you heard us, Caddyshack and Tin Cup) is as minor as you’re going to get, in that all he does is shake his head a few times and utter a single line.

Brief though his screen time might be, however, it works a treat.

Best bit: “Grizzly Adams did have a beard.”

Clip via TruCon2016

LeBron James

Movie: Trainwreck

Character: LeBron James. It would be doing a disservice to call LeBron’s role in the Amy Schumer romantic comedy a ‘cameo’; as one of the best friends of Amy’s love interest, Dr. Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), he’s one of the movie’s principal characters.

Le Bron’s is the most impressive of a string of sporting cameos in the movie – the likes of Tony Romo, Amar’e Stoudemire and Chris Evert also feature – and a fine performance as an ultra-sensitive and surprisingly tight best friend bodes well for a future career in Hollywood.

Best bit: One of the richest sportsmen on the planet haggling over a lunch bill.

Clip via Movieclips

OJ Simpson

Movie: Naked Gun trilogy

Character: Officer Nordberg. Before he was a suspect in one of the most famous murder cases of all time, former NFL Star OJ ‘The Juice’ Simpson played a loyal colleague of Detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) in the Naked Gun series.

Seemingly always involved in incidents that involved extreme misfortune and serious injury, Nordberg was centrally involved in some of the funniest moments in an extremely funny trilogy. They don’t make ’em like this anymore.

Best bit: His role in an immaculately scripted and acted exchange that showed the writers and the Naked Gun cast at their very best.

Clip via Movieclips

Ronda Rousey

Movie: Entourage: The Movie

Character: Herself. Rousey’s cameo as an object of Turtle’s affection might not open the door to a career in movies when her time in the Octagon comes to an end, but it certainly wasn’t the worst thing about a movie that reflected poorly on what was an excellent TV series.

Best bit: “You couldn’t last 30 seconds with me if your life depended on it.”

Clip via MovieClips Coming Soon

Mike Tyson

Movie: The Hangover

Character: Mike Tyson. It says a lot about the chaotic nature of The Hangover that the theft, and subsequent return, of a tiger from Mike Tyson’s house probably wasn’t the most ridiculous thing about the movie.

Best bit: As if you had to ask…

Clip via Atanas Djananov

Reggie Jackson

Movie: The Naked Gun

Character: Himself. Jackson was the player remotely programmed to take out Queen Elizabeth (“I must kill the Queen”), but his inclusion here owes much to the fact that Frank stopping him in his tracks led to an inadvertent salute to one of the greatest Naked Gun characters, Enrico Palazzo.

Best bit: Jackson himself doesn’t feature in this clip, but it comes just after Frank accosted him and prevented him from committing regicide.

Clip via MuckKills

Brett Favre

Movie: There’s Something about Mary

Character: Brett Favre. The only one of Mary’s admirers who doesn’t rely on any dirty tricks in order to win her over, the legendary quarterback is the epitome of the perfect gentleman, even though it does him no good in the end.

Best bit: “I’m in town to play the Dolphins, dumbass.”

Clip via cottonmouthblog

Cam Neely

Movie: Dumb and Dumber

Character: Sea Bass. Perhaps the most unexpected inclusion here, Hall-of-Famer Cam Neely, who played for the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins and is currently the president of the latter outfit, played Sea Bass, a disgruntled trucker who ruined Harry’s dinner.

Best bit: “Kick his ass, Sea Bass.”

Clip via LEOTUSTYLE3232

John McEnroe

Movie: Mr. Deeds

Character: John McEnroe. A night on the booze with Mr. Deeds led to an easy opportunity to parody McEnroe’s bad boy persona and grossly exaggerate his athletic ability.

Best bit: “What kind of driving is that? You’re a fu**ing disgrace.”