Is it common to see directors acting in their own films?

Question

There are a few movies I can note where their directors also played a role in their films. Orson Welles tended to star in many of his films, but that was during the 40's. Roman Polanski played the role of the man who cut Jack Nicholson's nose in Chinatown, but Chinatown was released in 1974. The most recent film I can think of where this happened was when Quentin Tarrantinto played Jimmy in Pulp Fiction, which was released in 1994.

I can't really think of any recent movies where directors did this. Is it common to see directors acting in their own films these days?

Answer 1

It is a very common occurrence. To quote a recent instance, Jon Favreau played the chauffeur in both Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Quentin Tarantino acted in Grindhouse, From Dusk Til Dawn, and had several other films. Clint Eastwood appeared in Gran Torino and Million Dollar Baby. I could cite even more if I could recollect year by year.

This Wikipedia article could be of some help.

Answer 2

Speaking as a director-

To step back, one has to consider what the job of directing is. It's a story teller who sees the big picture. Directors have to be able to create the scene and the tone with picture, framing, editing, and of course acting.

Some directors are stronger at pulling the best performance out of an actor; some are better at setting the scene. But inevitably, everything you see they've had their hand in.

Being part of the final product, even for just a split second lets them take the ride they are building. Chris "X-Files" Carter went so far as to have Ten-Thirteen Production's Logo include a voice saying, "I Made This!"

Finally, who better to figure out where to put a little bit of self-homagistic fun into a film than the person directing it.

Not every director will have the desire to do so, and there may be many cases of directors in films that haven't been caught; but it's very common and very likely to continue.