After analysing 38 million film credits, I found 11,827 movies where one person held all four creative roles. I'm calling this 'Egocore' and it's more common and more nuanced than you might think.
Are there any egocore movies where the multi-hyphenate plays more than one role? (as in Sinners or Dead Ringer) This surely would be the ultimate egocore move
I mean, Neil Breen played both lead roles in Twisted Pair.
(To be fair, the characters are identical twins and so trying to cast someone who looked like the writer, producer, director, and lead actor but who wasn't the writer, producer, director, and lead actor would have been made life tricky for the casting director and production manager, both of whom were Neil).
Appreciate the acknowledgement this is a very male-doinated sub-section but surprised there is no mention of Barbra Streisand here, as probably the most famous woman in this category. Wrote, produced, directed and starred in one film (Yentl), and directed, produced and starred in two more (Prince of Tides, which she actually also co-wrote without credit, and Mirror Has Two Faces), all of which were financially successful and Oscar-nominated (although she, famously, got a lot of flack for doing all these roles and was not nominated for Best Director for any).
Buster Keaton created a lot of two-reelers that would qualify as Egocore, as well as two feature-length films that meet the criteria — The General & Go West.
Fatty Arbuckle also wrote, directed, and starred in a majority of his early shorts and two-reelers and most likely would have continued to make Egocore if not for his wrongful prosecution for the death of Virginia Rappe in 1921-22, at which point he shifted to writing and directing under an alias: William Goodrich.
I loved this article, Stephen!
AI superintelligence will be the end of all human ego.
Are there any egocore movies where the multi-hyphenate plays more than one role? (as in Sinners or Dead Ringer) This surely would be the ultimate egocore move
I mean, Neil Breen played both lead roles in Twisted Pair.
(To be fair, the characters are identical twins and so trying to cast someone who looked like the writer, producer, director, and lead actor but who wasn't the writer, producer, director, and lead actor would have been made life tricky for the casting director and production manager, both of whom were Neil).
Only two roles seems quite modest for Breen. I'm still in shock having attempted to watch Twisted Pair last week. Thanks for the tip.
Appreciate the acknowledgement this is a very male-doinated sub-section but surprised there is no mention of Barbra Streisand here, as probably the most famous woman in this category. Wrote, produced, directed and starred in one film (Yentl), and directed, produced and starred in two more (Prince of Tides, which she actually also co-wrote without credit, and Mirror Has Two Faces), all of which were financially successful and Oscar-nominated (although she, famously, got a lot of flack for doing all these roles and was not nominated for Best Director for any).
With AI tomorrow's movies might be entirely created by egocores.
Buster Keaton created a lot of two-reelers that would qualify as Egocore, as well as two feature-length films that meet the criteria — The General & Go West.
Fatty Arbuckle also wrote, directed, and starred in a majority of his early shorts and two-reelers and most likely would have continued to make Egocore if not for his wrongful prosecution for the death of Virginia Rappe in 1921-22, at which point he shifted to writing and directing under an alias: William Goodrich.