Is there a film multiverse? Or is every single film part of a huge cinematic universe? Or thirdly are all films actually self-aware, 4th wall breaking pieces of media. Let’s discuss each possibility and hopefully come to a conclusion. I’ll try to keep it as short as possible whilst still explaining everything.
So let’s start at the beginning when this idea first popped into my head it was around 2017 and I was watching the film horrible bosses a film that stars Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis and Jason Bateman as 3 employees that hate their bosses so much they decide to kill them. The film itself is pretty realistic in terms of being grounded in reality this could potentially really happen but one scene in the film got me thinking about all the possibilities above; Is there a film multiverse? Or is every single film part of a huge cinematic universe? Or thirdly are all films actually self-aware, 4th wall breaking pieces of media. This scene involves the well-loved actor Danny Devito. Now Devito isn’t in the film but he is mentioned by Charlie Day’s character, Dale when he mentions the crime film ‘Throw Momma From The Train’ starring Danny Devito. So just by mentioning this means that Danny Devito as an actor exists in the universe of Horrible Bosses and therefore all of Danny Devito’s projects should also exist…Right? But if all of Danny Devito’s projects exist then that means The TV show Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia starring Devito exists. But for those not familiar with the show it also stars Charlie Day as one of the main characters alongside Devito as well as Jason Sudeikis guest-starring in 2 Episodes of the show. Which isn’t as big a deal but Its Always Sunny mentions that the Batman Films exist in their universe which surprise stars Danny Devito as the Penguin. So my question is if these actors and others exist in the films and TV shows we watch how come the characters are not getting bombarded with fans coming up to them saying “Hey you look like charlie day” for example. No one acknowledges that these characters in that world look exactly the same as the actors that exist. Films could have avoided this by not mentioning film or actors in movies but it only takes one film to mention any actor or any movie and we can link them all up through actor existing in the same projects even if said project or actor isn’t mentioned in another film. Well, this is where it gets a little more complicated as if ‘Throw Momma From The Train exists in this universe then all the actors involved and their projects exist too, for example, Billy Crystal is in this film too and he also stars in Monsters inc as the voice of Mike Wasowski therefore by default Monsters Inc exist in the Horrible Bosses Universe and because Monsters inc exist that means all the Pixar films do too and all the talent that was involved and all the projects said talent also exists… Let me explain by simplifying it a little with the picture below this is how everything is linked up linking up Simon Cowell to The film Pulp Fiction and just by people meeting or mentioning they exist in the same universe. This is just an example but I swear it can be done with anyone and any movie or TV show any even in some cases any form of entertainment media.
So if you are having trouble still understanding let me break down the image above. We are Using Simon Cowell as an actor (he has appeared in a film before so I’m counting it) who had met Harry Styles on the Xfactor when the boy band One Direction was formed. Then sometime later Harry styles went on to star in Christopher Nolan’s war epic Dunkirk, which also starred Tom Hardy. Tom hardy starred in the Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio who starred in two Quentin Tarintino films: Django Unchained and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Tarantino Directed Pulp fiction and yeah even if we didn’t count directors as part of this link-up, he stars in the film in the form of a cameo.
If I had the time I could link the very first film ever made to the latest release through this method having all the films as one big self-aware cinematic universe but there are thousands upon thousands of films so it would take up so much time to the point where once I get to this year of releases there will be thousands more to add but we still can prove it. You can take any actor any film or media and link it up in one way or another. give it a go some may take a while and be really long but it can be done using Google and IMDB if your knowledge on the subject isn’t great. To be honest it’s quite fun to do.
An easier way to look at actors mentioning other films is if it is all a little confusing is to ignore the self-aware cinematic universe theory of it and look at it in the sense that there is a film multiverse instead and actors can exist in a film and the projects that link them up to one another don’t exist in that particular universe, again let me break it down. If Danny DeVito exists in the horrible bosses universe that film is separate from our universe and the project that links them, in this case, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia does not exist in this universe.
But for me, the thing that blows my mind is that Hollywood has accidentally created in my opinion a huge cinematic universe that is self-aware and makes watching movies all the more interesting for me as I can then try a link them up and add them to the ever-growing timeline in my head. I’m going to call it the Hollywood Cinematic universe or HCU for short and just enjoy the fact that every film ever made and all the films that are going to be made in the future are all one huge universe. Even if we don’t understand it all or just choose to ignore it and enjoy films for what they are and that’s okay…But am I going to do that? In the words of Captain America “No, No I don’t think I will”.
Head Over Reels 