- 19 hours ago
Unpacking the surprising ways the characters with tiny roles had huge effects on some of our favorite films and shows - like The Substance, Mean Girls, The Avengers, Twin Peaks, Stranger Things...
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00:00We've all heard the saying, there are no small parts,
00:02and if we take a closer look at many of our favorite movies and shows,
00:06we can see that it really is true.
00:09Some of the tiniest roles have managed to have a major impact
00:12on their stories and pop culture at large.
00:14So what is it that makes these characters that we barely even get to see so special?
00:20Though the definition can get blurry,
00:22there is actually quite a difference between characters
00:24who are considered supporting and those who are minor.
00:27Supporting characters have more scenes with main characters,
00:30are more involved in the plot, and have their own goals and storylines.
00:34Minor characters have less screen time, usually only one or two scenes,
00:37but still manage to move the plot forward and impact the main characters.
00:42For example, WandaVision's Agatha Harkness is a supporting character
00:45who helps and hinders the protagonist, Wanda,
00:48and made such a huge impression that she got her own show.
00:52Look, it's the star of the show!
00:54However, the beekeeper, a sword agent transformed while trying to infiltrate the hex,
00:59is a minor character with no lines and limited screen time,
01:02but acts as one of the big clues that something's going on.
01:06Sometimes a character only has a single line of dialogue,
01:09but it becomes so iconic that they're solidified in the film or show's history forever.
01:14I'll have what she's having.
01:16Minor characters can serve a variety of different functions within a narrative.
01:20They can move the plot along by revealing important information.
01:23In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
01:26a Gryffindor student named Bem has less than a minute of screen time,
01:31aside from popping up in the background a few times.
01:33Though he isn't the only character with this knowledge,
01:36Bem delivers two key pieces of information.
01:39In Divination Class, he reads from the text about a Grimm.
01:42Later, he speaks about Sirius Black.
01:44It's among the darkest omens in our world.
01:47It's an omen of death.
01:49Black could be anywhere.
01:51It's like trying to catch smoke.
01:53Like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands.
01:56The camera lingers on Harry's reaction both times,
01:58showing how absorbing the information affects his actions.
02:01In Captain America Civil War,
02:03it's the very brief interaction with Miriam Sharp,
02:05a mother grieving the death of her son killed during the battle in Sokovia,
02:09that sets Tony Stark's stance on the Sokovia Accords,
02:12which puts the whole plot in motion.
02:14Who's going to avenge my son?
02:17While this isn't true of all minor characters,
02:19many of them help guide or inspire the main character to take action.
02:23In Shaun of the Dead,
02:24Shaun runs into his old friend Yvonne three times.
02:27The first scene has them catching up,
02:29and she unintentionally reminds him about making reservations
02:32for his and Liz's anniversary.
02:34In the second scene, their run-in is more of a sight gag.
02:37The final scene they have comes at the end,
02:39when she shows up with the military and helps rescue them.
02:41On his first day as a stockbroker,
02:44the Wolf of Wall Street's Jordan Belford
02:46has a boozy, expletive-laced lunch with a senior broker, Mark Hanna,
02:50who imparts some wild wisdom about the job.
02:53Matthew McConaughey improvised some of the dialogue,
02:55and his own pre-take ritual was used in the scene.
02:59While only in a few short scenes of a three-hour movie,
03:01Hanna's character makes a massive impact on Belford,
03:04so much that he modeled his whole lifestyle of excess after him.
03:08Through their interactions,
03:10minor characters show more of the main character's personality
03:13and impact their character development, for better or worse.
03:16There's a prime example in Doubt,
03:17the 2008 drama about a principal of a parish school
03:20and her suspicions of a priest harming students.
03:23Sister Aloysius approaches Mrs. Miller,
03:25the mother of one of the boys.
03:27Their intense conversation only lasts about seven minutes in the film,
03:30but the importance of the context,
03:32along with the powerhouse acting of Viola Davis,
03:34is the most memorable moment.
03:37Davis even earned her first Oscar nomination for this single scene.
03:41You'd hurt my son to get your way.
03:43It won't end with your son.
03:44Throw the priest out then.
03:46I am trying to do just that.
03:48Then what do you want from me?
03:50A popular method of influencing or guiding a protagonist's journey
03:53is through posthumous minor characters,
03:56whose deaths happen before or even at the beginning of a story.
03:59In Promising Young Woman, we never see Nina Fisher,
04:02but it's her tragic death that motivates her friend Cassie Thomas
04:05to seek vengeance on the people who hurt her.
04:07When the ghost of young Keira Collins appears to the Sixth Sense Cole Sear,
04:11he helps her by showing a secret video of being poisoned by her stepmother,
04:15which subsequently saves her younger sister from the same fate.
04:19The whole plot of Twin Peaks revolves around the murder of Laura Palmer.
04:22She's dead.
04:25Wrapped in plastic.
04:27Although Cheryl Lee appeared in the show as Laura's cousin,
04:29Maddie Ferguson, Laura is only shown in photos, videos, and sometimes dreams.
04:34So we learn about her troubled private life through her diary,
04:37as well as several minor characters like Harold Smith.
04:40The aftermath tells a lot about the main characters,
04:42including secrets, conspiracies, and other murders.
04:46Even after the mystery was solved, halfway through season two,
04:49Laura was still involved in other subplots.
04:51The late, great David Lynch had a knack for bizarre and intriguing minor characters,
04:55especially in the world of Twin Peaks, where everyone has a strong presence
04:59that leaves a lasting impact.
05:02One day, my log will have something to say about this.
05:06No matter how small their role is, minor characters can still manage to reach cult status.
05:11All it takes is one exceptional line of dialogue to become immortalized.
05:15Ooh!
05:16The chick's a MILF!
05:17What the hell's that?
05:19M-I-L-F.
05:20Mom, I'd like to f***!
05:22John Cho's role in 1999's American Pie essentially launched his acting career,
05:27all because of one quote that has stood the test of time.
05:30I introduced, my apologies, I introduced the word MILF into the vocabulary.
05:37In Friday, the character Felicia had a little over three minutes of screen time,
05:41but was at the center of what has become one of the most quoted lines in modern cinema history.
05:46One that many people are aware of through cultural osmosis,
05:49even if they haven't even seen the film itself.
05:51Cree.
05:53Bye, Felicia.
05:54Todd and Margot Chester just had a couple of scenes in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation,
05:58a movie full of hilarious characters and moments,
06:01and still managed to stand out with their yuppie aesthetic
06:04and deep frustration with neighbor Clark Griswold.
06:07And why is the carpet all wet, Todd?
06:10I don't know, Margot.
06:12Similarly, Bronson Pinshot's character Serge was a scene stealer
06:15in Beverly Hills Cop, a movie starring comedy legend Eddie Murphy.
06:19Their interaction in the art gallery was improvised,
06:22and lasted a little over two minutes,
06:24but made such an impression that Pinshot became an overnight celebrity.
06:27Run a time, Ms. Summers, that Mr. Ahmed Foley is here to see her.
06:30No, Axel Foley.
06:31Axel.
06:32Ahmed, Achwell.
06:33Axel.
06:35Foley is here to see her.
06:36The actor later reprised his role in Beverly Hills Cop 3
06:40and Beverly Hills Cop Axel F.
06:42The endlessly quotable Mean Girls has a slew of memorable parts
06:46from minor characters, like iconic anecdotes from Bethany Bird
06:49She punched me in the face.
06:51It was awesome.
06:53to lines spoken by a main character about a minor character.
06:56You go, Glen Coco.
06:58Glen Coco doesn't even speak in the movie,
07:00yet their name instantly became an oft-quoted line.
07:03In the age of the internet, fans can collectively admire a minor character
07:06through discussions, artwork, and most commonly, fan fiction.
07:10The overnight sensation of Stranger Things skyrocketed the whole cast into stardom,
07:15but season one casualty Barb Holland became a full-blown phenomenon,
07:19with fans wishing and demanding for her to return in some way.
07:22In the case of Barb, there were so many theories that she was going to come back,
07:25she was actually live, and I'm not going to lie,
07:27we spent maybe, you know, 20 seconds talking about it.
07:30Her popularity surprised everyone, but it's her relatability as a high school nerd
07:35that drew people in, and then broke their hearts when she died.
07:38Barb was just the first in a series of compelling minor characters
07:41created and later killed off by the Duffer Brothers.
07:44Season four introduced new characters, including Chrissy Cunningham,
07:48a Hawkins cheerleader plagued by hallucinations,
07:50and heavy metal D&D master Eddie Munson.
07:53You know, you're not what I thought you'd be like.
07:56Mean and scary?
07:57Eddie witnesses Chrissy's horrific death,
08:00which kicks off the season's new mystery.
08:02Though she didn't survive past the first episode,
08:05Eddie became more of a supporting character
08:06who befriended the ensemble protagonists and lasted through the finale.
08:10Like Barb, his relatability made him an instant fan favorite,
08:14along with his metal-style eccentric personality and guitar-shredding skills.
08:18Following the Duffer Brothers' trend,
08:19Eddie's last-minute sacrifice in The Upside Down cost him his life,
08:23leading to a fandom uproar and campaign for him to come back.
08:27Despite her limited screen time,
08:28Wednesday's laid-back vampire Yoko Tanaka
08:31quickly gained a fan following of her own.
08:33We have roof parties, campouts, the occasional midnight skinny dip.
08:37And Yoko's an amateur mixologist.
08:39You're seriously turning us down?
08:41Can you believe it?
08:42While the Nevermore student appeared in all eight episodes
08:44of the show's first season,
08:45she was usually in the background and didn't have many lines.
08:48Unfortunately for Yoko fans,
08:50actress Naomi J. Oganawa stated in an Instagram post
08:53that she won't be back for season two,
08:55citing scheduling issues and not much progression in Yoko's journey.
08:58Sometimes a minor character radiates main character energy,
09:01prompting fans and creators alike to want them in sequel films,
09:05more seasons of a show, or even a whole spinoff of their own.
09:08When Clark Gregg made his MCU debut in 2008's Iron Man,
09:12he played a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with limited dialogue.
09:15While he was simply called Agent in that movie,
09:17he was eventually given the name Phil Coulson.
09:20Gregg reprised his role in Iron Man 2 and Thor,
09:23along with the Avengers, before he was killed by Loki.
09:26His everyman charm won fans over,
09:28and his untimely exit sparked a Coulson Lives movement,
09:31similar to Barb and Eddie from Stranger Things.
09:34In true comic book fashion, Coulson was resurrected,
09:36and Gregg then had the chance to lead his own series
09:39with Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,
09:41which ran for seven seasons,
09:43as well as appearances in Captain Marvel, What If?,
09:45and other projects.
09:46In the case of Barry's NoHo Hank,
09:49his unique personality and portrayal by Anthony Kerrigan
09:52convinced series creators Bill Hader and Alec Berg
09:54to change their original plan to have him die in the pilot episode.
09:59They loved the actor and his character so much
10:01that he stuck around for all four seasons as a series regular,
10:04gaining a fan base that wanted even more of him.
10:07Hey, man, you must be Betty.
10:09I'm NoHo Hank.
10:11You know, buddy, I have to be honest.
10:16I'm quite a bit angry.
10:17The best minor characters have a real purpose.
10:20They may have less to do on screen than a supporting or main character,
10:23but their existence needs to be for a reason.
10:26Sometimes they're used to establish the world the story takes place in,
10:29or set the tone.
10:30In Get Out, the Armatage family's housekeeper, Georgina,
10:33is one of the most effective characters.
10:35Her unsettling interaction with the film's protagonist, Chris,
10:38sets off more alarm bells that something is seriously wrong.
10:42In Betty Gabriel's masterful portrayal,
10:44Georgina has moments where she behaves as if she's navigating two minds,
10:48which is exactly what is happening.
10:50There's too many white people I get nervous, you know.
10:52Oh, no.
10:54No.
10:56No.
10:57No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
11:00The twist is that she's actually Rose's grandmother,
11:03Marianne Armitage, in the body of the real Georgina.
11:07The substance has several minor characters with a big purpose.
11:10The young nurse gives Elizabeth Sparkle the substance information
11:13and shows up later in his older form.
11:15Has she started yet eating away at you?
11:22The two casting directors further establish the misogyny of the industry
11:25in their comments about an actress's audition.
11:28Annoying neighbor Oliver and motorcycle-riding Troy
11:31each show how men react to and treat Sue versus Elizabeth,
11:35while Fred from Tenth Grade Homeroom represents a sliver of hope
11:38for Elizabeth's self-esteem.
11:40The Coen brothers are experts when it comes to creating minor characters
11:43with distinct traits and personalities who make a difference
11:47in the lives of protagonists.
11:48Mike Yanagita isn't a part of the homicide investigation
11:51at the center of Fargo, but his awkward dinner
11:54with police chief Marge Gunderson is one of the most memorable scenes.
11:57His ability to tell such a bold-faced lie
12:00inspires her to revisit Jerry Lundegaard.
12:03The Big Lebowski is filled with quirky side characters
12:05who make the most out of the little time they have on screen.
12:08Eccentric criminal and bowler Jesus Quintana
12:11may be the most notable among them.
12:13You said it, man.
12:15Nobody f***s with the Jesus.
12:17And while fans always want more of a standout of this caliber,
12:20the unsuccessful spin-off film The Jesus Rolls
12:23showed that maybe some characters are best in small doses.
12:27Whether they're funny,
12:28FNA, Cotton, FNA,
12:30scary, sympathetic, informative, or just plain weird,
12:35minor characters are more important than people think.
12:38Their narrative significance and cultural popularity show
12:41that no matter how small you might feel,
12:43that doesn't mean you can't have a big impact on the story.
12:46Gentlemen,
12:47it has been a privilege playing with you tonight.
12:50That's the take.
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