Dont Upstage Me Bro

Posted on Sep 1, 2010

Don’t Upstage Me Bro!

The Appeal Of “Pop Up” Characters in Motion Pictures

Written By: Ken Knight
Mondo Film & Video Guide Feature Contributor

While there is no canon definition of “pop-up character” it is one I have used as a fiction writer myself to refer my brief “bit part” characters in my novels, particularly characters that come and go rather quickly but are integral to the telling of the tale nonetheless.

In Motion pictures, there is the basic acting school breakdown of Leading Actor/Actress, Secondary Actor/Actress, Bit-Players, and Extras, and if you like to keep it pigeon-holed in that 50’s-fashion, help yourself (and bring me a water cooler to dump over your head).

Having read about many an on-set scuffle between a “leading actor” and an actor with a “secondary” role on movie sets, suffice it to say it gets about as heated as a bad toss in a baseball game when it comes to an actor or actress seeing their secondary counterparts “stealing” a scene or “upstaging” them as the cameras roll! Alas, the “limelight” does that to some uppity thespians that cringe at the notion someone else might share their fans.  I have news for the beautifully-adorned Divas: More often than not, the secondary character or “pop-ups” have a larger appeal than the “Star” of the show!

To further explain this movie phenomenon, I’ll have to admit that the popularity of the secondary (and even briefer “pop-up”) characters in a film depend largely upon who is cast in the role and how they flesh-it-out by means of sex appeal, humor, and body language. Officially labeled “secondary characters” the Pop-Up as I call him or her with a small but intrinsic speaking-role in the film, is usually playing opposite or back-up to the main characters and are often expendable as far as characters getting killed or sidelined go in the storyline.

Nonetheless, the “Pop-Up” is integral to the storyline and as I will highlight in this article, occasionally becomes a bigger hit with fans of the film than the main characters do! Want a Mondo example??? Take the 1985 late night Cable TV erotic-comedy Young Lady Chatterley 2 where the main female lead is actress Harlee McBride as “Lady Chatterley” whose physique is excellent sans clothes, but the pop-up character of “Judith” (played by voluptuous actress Sybil Danning) in that film was the sexy one who made the cover of the VHS and latter DVD releases of that movie despite that character having only one sex scene and a small (but memorable) role throughout!

Another Mondo example of “pop-ups” getting primo fan-attention and face time is in the 1983 comedy film Easy Money where Joe Pesci’s character comes fresh from the anger management class he skipped displaying a care-free, kick-your-ass-and-laugh-about-it attitude throughout the film which would later become his watermark for kick-ass Mobster flicks that made him a Star. Pesci’s character was just secondary to Rodney Dangerfield’s character of “Monte” but integral as the wisecracking buddy with enough screen time to warrant a fan-following who remembers this film to this day as one of Joe Pesci’s most entertaining performances of the early 1980’s.

If you were a “leading actor” in a film, would you at least ponder for a minute how the minor characters played by other actors/actresses might somehow “upstage” your performance when filming wraps and the Director tells you good-night? Bet your ass!

Many times it is the “action” of a minor character that “pops up” to get a horseman’s share of the attention from the viewing audience. What happens to a pop-up character can leave a lasting impression and make for something that the entire movie is remembered for in years to come. Death Wish II is remembered for its dark city climate and gritty vigilante violence but chiefly for its graphic gang-rape scene where the lead character’s ill-fated maid gets ravaged by the thugs who broke into his home and then the lead character’s daughter is kidnapped and raped as well and then killed trying to escape!

Later VHS and DVD releases of Death Wish II censored the “rape” scenes which can only be found “un-cut” today on the Greek VHS version of the film.  In the classic Mobster flick Goodfellas it is actor Ray Liotta who narrates the story from the main character point of view (Henry Hill) but ask any fan of that film about it and they’ll likely do their best imitation of Joe Pesci’s character “Tommy” from that film:  “What…you think I’m funny…do I amuse you?!” which again proves my point about the secondary characters, but I wouldn’t exactly call Pesci’s character in that one a “pop-up”.  In “Buddy” films such as the Bad Boys I and II pairing two top-tier actors such as Martin Lawrence and Will Smith together in tandem, only the fans could argue about which one was the “Lead” and which one was secondary, with the cute blonde female sidekick being the “pop-up” character.

This type of film proves how contentious such a pairing could be! Even though they might be the best of buds off-camera, who wouldn’t buck for the better angles when there is another A-list actor starring right beside you??

Then there is the type of film where there is a “cluster” of actors/actresses all involved in the main plot in about as “equal” amount as possible, one such film being 1984’s comic romp Bachelor Party where a whole gaggle of buddies get together for a bachelor party and the storyline circulates through each of them though it primarily focuses on the lead character played by Tom Hanks who nowadays claims he took the part in Bachelor Party only because he “needed the money”. (Dude, you friggin’ rocked in that role!).

Arguably the best Director who has successfully pulled off this concept of “cluster” secondary characters in a movie has got to be Quentin Tarantino whose 2007 film Death Proof had a main character “Stuntman Mike” (Kurt Russell) preying on groups of women friends out on the town together using his car as a weapon. Tarantino’s cluster of female “secondaries” were made all-so-interesting as he took the time to give each of them a back-story and dialogue time so that the audience could “sympathize” with each of them, even as he made two sets of female cliques over the course of the two-part film.

The first group of femme-buddies was interesting, sexy, and ultimately victims to a deranged lunatic with a “death proof” stunt car, but the second group of ladies were not so easily made into victims and fought back against the nut trying to kill them with his muscle-car! The later half of Death Proof was the best part where the pop-up character of “Abernathy Ross” (played by Rosario Dawson) gave comical (and sexy) “tough chick” credence to her more bru-ha-ha female cohorts played by Traci Thoms and Zoe Bell.  “Abernathy” ran with her femme-buddies from the start of that portion of the story and is now one of the best remembered roles in there because of how actress Rosario Dawson portrayed the character behind the female lead of Traci Thoms and the stunt work of Zoe Bell out on the hood of the Dodge Challenger with Kurt Russell’s character furiously chasing them down.

Tarantino also focuses on character’s facial expressions and subtle mannerisms which add to the audience’s empathy toward the characters and so “pop-up” characters in his films tend to be better remembered after the credits roll.

Now anyone would have to admit that a female nude scene thrown into the mix of a film’s story gets audience attention even if they’re dozing-off in their seats. Unless the main character does a lot of nudity such as in the 1994 erotic-thriller Color of Night, many times it is a secondary or “pop-up” female character whose clothes come off first!

A Mondo example? Take the 2009 comedy-drama film Up In The Air starring George Clooney, with it’s very brief nude scene of actress Vera Farmiga walking naked across a Hotel room to the bed, showing her well-shaped bare ass with Clooney’s tie wrapped around her lean waist. Quick yes, but an attention-grabber for the audience and with Farmiga’s character being the main “pop-up” in that film, it proves my point here that a nude scene by a secondary character adds to the film when the audience might not need nor want to see the main character(s) get naked!

I liked that film almost solely for the secondary role played by Vera Farmiga, because her character was more interesting than the main one played by Clooney. (Yes, seeing her lovely bare ass helped in my decision).

Nudity and sexual play in motion pictures is far more common nowadays than prior to 1970 as the standards changed and censors took aim elsewhere, but oftentimes nudity and sex scenes portrayed in Hollywood films as well as B-movies to this day are delegated to secondary and pop-up characters when the script calls for gratuitous nudity or a casual sex scene, sometimes leaving the main characters out of the carnal communication so as to preserve their fictional “integrity”.

An example of this is in Friday the 13th series of films where it is always the pop-up characters having sex and getting slaughtered by Jason Voorhees (who gets pissed off whenever he sees a guy and a gal going-at-it).

All of us might agree that most of the time it is secondary and “pop-up” characters that are the most “expendable” as far as the storyline goes, whether it generally means the they get killed off, scandalized, minimized, or over-sexualized. Many times over the pop-up characters take it in the back for the main characters that aren’t so script-expendable!  So what are your favorite “pop-up” characters from your favorite films? I bet they’d thank you if they could just for remembering them…….

I had a dream awhile back where I was lying on the bed in a Hotel Suite and I looked up to see Vera Farmiga walking naked toward me wearing my tie around her waist, then I glanced over to the door and saw Jason Voorhees standing there wielding a machete.  “Wait a damn minute….movie characters can’t be real, so why the hell do I have a friggin’ machete sticking out of my chest?!!”

Ken Knight is a feature contributor here at, The Mondo Film & Video Guide.  He’s also the author of the book – The Midnight Show: Guy Flicks Of The 80′s, as well as the newest zombie novel ” Dirge.”  For more information on Ken Knight, please visit the Mondo “About Us”, or email Ken Knight at kenknight@mondo-video.com