In some films or television series, an especially well-known character appears unexpectedly among the public, playing a totally secondary and irrelevant role. When this happens, there is talk of a cameo. This character may be an actor, but it is usually someone who is very popular and does not act, for example, a well-known cook, a television presenter, a famous footballer or a well-known writer.
A fleeting appearance that aims to surprise the viewer
Each cameo has its own intricacies. Thus, sometimes it is the director of the film himself who appears for a few seconds on the scene (directors Quentin Tarantino and Alfred Hitchoock have participated in some of their productions).
Sometimes the cameo is made as a hallmark of a type of film, as it happens with Stan Lee in the Marvel heroes saga. In most cases, these brief appearances on the screen are intended to promote a film or series and for this reason famous athletes are used to represent themselves (remember the appearance of Zidane in "Asterix at the Olympic Games ").
In the movie "Taxi Driver," director Martin Scorsese portrayed a neurotic passenger getting into a taxi. In Steven Spilberg's famous film "Shindler's List" the director himself wanted to appear in a scene to honor the Jews who were exterminated in the Nazi Holocaust.
In television series, cameos are also very common and they are intended to attract the attention of viewers. In any case, this type of special intervention adds a special touch to a movie or even a chapter in a television series.
The origin of the term
The origin of the word cameo is very curious. In the nineteenth century in some theatrical performances in Great Britain, fleeting interventions by famous people began to become popular and were called cameos. In English cameo is the word used to refer to a cameo.
The question is obliged, what does a cameo (or cameo in English) have to do with a short intervention in a play, a movie or a television series? If we think about it, there is a relationship, since the cameo is a carved stone that is normally adorned with a human figure inside and the cameo of the cinema, television or theater is also an ornament that serves to decorate a work scenic.
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