Expert: Popcorn Guy - 11/15/2004

Question
I'm teach a Pop Culture class in a Va. h.s.  Over the weekend I saw "The Polar Express" where Tom Hanks has 6 different roles in the film.  Last year I saw "Kind Hearts & Coronets" where Alec Guinness has 9 roles.  Can you think of any other examples where an actor/actress plays multiple roles in the same film?

Answer
Hi, Jim...

Boy, take your pick... Eddie Murphy has played multiple roles in "Coming to America," as did Arsenio Hall, for that matter. Eddie also played multiples in the two "Nutty Professor" films. Meg Ryan did a threesome of roles in "Joe Vs. The Volcano," a Tom Hanks film (six degrees of Tom Hanks?). And Jim Carrey does a threespot in the upcoming "A Series of Unfortunate Events," if the trailers are to be believed...

Personally, though, nobody will ever beat Peter Sellers doing three roles in "Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." He played President Muffley Merkin, Dr. Strangelove, and Lt. Mandrake. He had been scheduled to play a fourth, that of Capt. TJ Kong, bomber pilot, but had a heart attack and could not finish the role, so it went to Slim Pickens.

Let me know if you need more... tell me more about this class! It sounds very cool!

Thanks, and keep it "reel,"

PCG