With their appearances in videos for Slow Club and Sigur Rós, Dan and Shia earn their spot alongside Chevy Chase and more.
By James Montgomery
Daniel Radcliffe in Slow Club's video for "Beginners"
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Daniel Radcliffe gets boozy in Brit duo Slow Club's new "Beginners" clip. Shia LaBeouf goes interpretive (and in the beouf) for Sigur Rós' latest "mystery film experiment." It seems that everywhere you look these days — or at least this week — some big-screen star is popping up in a music video, and the going logic seems to be: the more inexplicable the cameo, the better.
Perhaps celebs view these oddball roles as welcome respites from the more, uh, rigorous demands of their day jobs (memorizing lines, standing beneath lights, sleeping in air-conditioned trailers), or hey, maybe they're actually fans of the bands they're helping out. Either way, we're happy to welcome this trend back — after all, there was a time not too long ago (OK, sort of a long time ago) when bizarre celebrity cameos were commonplace in music videos. And, to be honest, we're sort of tired of seeing Megan Fox emote her way through another Eminem clip.
So, in celebration of this decidedly weird week, here's a look at some of the most awesomely odd celebrity cameos in music videos:
Aubrey Plaza in Father John Misty's "Hollywood Cemetery Sings"
In which our favorite googly-eyed indie actress (sorry, Zooey) wanders through a forest with a bloody nose, smashes funeral arrangements, eats a flower, gets naked on a porch, dirty dances with a lamp, kinda sorta makes out with a girl and then gets dumped in the back of a van. It's dark and daring, and Plaza is perfect as the girl on the edge (we are here for you in this turbulent time, girl). It doesn't hurt matters that the song is totally excellent, either.
Zach Galifianakis in Fiona Apple's "Not About Love"
Sure, we could have nominated his incredibly odd, tractor-filled tribute to Kanye West's "Can't Tell Me Nothing," but for sheer, blissed-out WTFness, you really can't beat his cameo in Apple's "Not About Love," which is chock-full of goofy lip-synching and spontaneous bouts of spirited dance. And, in a way, Galifianakis used the clip as a way of auditioning for even more video work, telling MTV News: "I'd like to keep trying to appear in videos, because I'm a complete whore." And a good dancer too.
Ron Howard in Jamie Foxx's "Blame It"
Ronnie H. hits the club (with Jake Gyllenhaal and Forest Whitaker in tow) in Jamie Foxx's lilting ode to inebriation. While Jake would go on to make another oddball cameo in Vampire Weekend's "Giving Up the Gun," this remains Howard's most head-scratching career choice to date — well, either this or "EDtv."
Christopher Walken in Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice"
He's sort of the Prime Minister of Peculiar, so it's little wonder that Walken's star turn in "Weapon of Choice" is probably the greatest weirdo role in music-video history. Over four epic moments — and at the insistence of director Spike Jonze — he rises from a chair, dances his way through an abandoned office building and miraculously takes flight, all while never changing his expression. Professionalism personified.
Chevy Chase in Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al"
Before he terrorized the set of "Community," Chase co-starred with Simon in this 1987 video. It's basically four-and-a-half minutes of him lip-synching and playing the trumpet, coupled with the occasional bit of hambone dancing, but, dude, what more do you need?
What's your favorite oddball celeb video cameo? Let us know in the comments!
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