Robert De Niro Produced "Rent", And 16 Other Times Celebs Were Randomly Part Of TV Shows And Movies

    Now it makes sense why The Princess Diaries slapped so hard.

    Tom Vy
    by Tom Vy

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    So, it turns out that there are some ~wild~ names out there producing stuff on the down-low. Here are some examples that I'm sure will have you screaming...

    NBC

    1. Drake — Euphoria

    Leon Bennett / WireImage / Getty Images, HBO

    Now some of these names will be loosely involved in the films they produce, but not Drake. He's apparently been heavily involved in Euphoria, even turning up at the table reads! Top Boy first and now this — "Lord Knows" what the limit is for this man! I'll see myself out.

    2. Danny DeVito — Pulp Fiction

    Miramax Films, Axelle / FilmMagic / Getty Images

    I bet you didn't know this! Yes, Danny DeVito was ~seriously~ involved in the making of the movie via his production company, Jersey Films. He was so impressed with Quentin Tarantino that he bought the script without seeing it. For some reason, various studios turned it down, but Danny persisted and got it made with Miramax Films. I still can't believe this is true.

    3. Selena Gomez — 13 Reasons Why

    Netflix, Tibrina Hobson / Getty Images

    You might have known that Selena Gomez is heavily involved in producing 13 Reasons Why, but that's not even the most amazing part. She got matching tattoos with some cast members and even appeared on a Netflix panel discussing the show. If you knew that too, then you win.

    4. Will Ferrell — Succession

    HBO, Alexi J. Rosenfeld / Getty Images

    Succession is pretty much one of the biggest shows around right now, and one that everyone is talking about! I wonder how many of you knew that it was Will Ferrell out here making this amazing piece of TV. Alongside Adam McKay, these two have been creating magic for years in the form of Anchorman, The Big Short, and Stepbrothers. Rumour has it that things aren't going too well between them right now though, so fingers crossed all gets resolved!

    5. Whitney Houston — The Princess Diaries

    Buena Vista Pictures, Scott Gries / Getty Images

    Yes, this is actually true. Whitney Houston — "The Voice" — produced The Princess Diaries, and even served as a mentor to a young Anne Hathaway. This one truly had me freaking out — I mean, I had to go tell my mum right away. It all makes sense now because you can actually ~feel~ the Whitney magic in this move.

    6. Brad Pitt —The Departed

    Warner Bros. Pictures, Chris Pizzelo-Pool / Getty Images

    Through his production company Plan B, Brad has produced a fair few films including 12 Years a Slave, Moonlight, and Minari — impressive right? I could've chosen any of those, but this movie is one of my absoluteeee favourites. It's actually a remake based on a brilliant Hong Kong thriller called Infernal Affairs — a free fact for you there. This was also their first film to win an Oscar!

    7. Denzel Washington — Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

    Netflix, Jim Spellman / Getty Images

    They say a brilliant actor produces a brilliant film — actually, I have no idea if they do, but I'm saying it! So Denzel Washington acquired the rights for the playwright August Wilson's estate and set out to produce Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Some of the performances in this film are seriously good. Viola Davis really shows what she's about here, and Chadwick Boseman, in his last performance before he sadly passed away, is incredible. You can be sure that we're gonna see a lot more of Denzel and his production company in the future.

    8. Jennifer Lopez — The Fosters

    ABC Family, Rich Fury / WireImage / Getty Images

    I don't know how, but Jennifer Lopez somehow found the time to produce the award-winning family drama, The Fosters, a show that reflects today's society pretty well, I think. J.Lo has been keen to point out that there's no "normal" family, which is definitely something The Fosters captured. Is there seriously nothing she can't do?

    9. Robert De Niro — Rent

    Sony Pictures Releasing, Samir Hussein / WireImage / Getty Images

    This one definitely caught me off-guard! The Mean Streets actor was — for some reason — one of the producers of the 2005 adaptation of Rent, which starred Anthony Rapp, Rosario Dawson, and Idina Menzel. The film wasn't received especially well, which is probably why people don't know it's a part of Bobby's career. The internet never forgets though!

    10. Steve Mnuchin — The LEGO Ninjago Movie

    Warner Bros. Picture, Patrick Semansky / POOL/AFP via Getty Images

    This was probably the weirdest find of all for me. Steve Mnuchin — ex-US secretary of the treasury, and a part of Donald Trump's cabinet — has actually produced A LOT of films. Truly, I don't know where to begin, but he's been the executive producer on films such as Suicide Squad, Batman v. Superman, and Mad Max: Fury Road. I'm not sure why I find this all so shocking. Oh, and it's pronounced muh-noo-chn if you were wondering.

    11. 50 Cent — Power

    Starz, Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images

    If you've seen Power, you'll know that 50 Cent is the executive producer and that he's heavily involved. He actually used his own life experiences for inspiration and ended up making a masterpiece! You probably already knew this, I'm just here to give 50 his flowers.

    12. Tom Hanks — Mamma Mia

    Universal Pictures, Michael Tran / AFP / Getty Images

    Tom Hanks and his production company, Playtone, have had a hand in quite a few films. His most well-known venture is Mamma Mia, and Tom is such a big ABBA fan that he even tried out for a role himself! His singing voice just wasn't it though. Sorry Tom, you can't be good at everything.

    13. Dwayne Johnson — Shazam!

    Kevin Mazur / Getty Images, Warner Bros. Pictures

    Through his production company, Seven Bucks Productions — a reference to the amount of money he had in his pocket when he was released from the Canadian Football League — Dwayne has been involved in a great many recent releases. Shazam! is one of them, and others include movies like Fighting with My Family and Baywatch. He's only getting bigger, so I reckon we're gonna see his name in even more credit sequences soon.

    14. Slash — Nothing Left to Fear

    Anchor Bay Films, Sopa Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

    Let's be clear, Slash is a brilliant guitarist and is seriously talented, but when it comes to producing films, well, there's Nothing Left to Fear. This film isn't remotely scary — I guess the film title is to be taken ~very~ literally? I really doubt we'll be seeing Slash produce any other films.

    15. Leonardo DiCaprio — Orphan

    Warner Bros. Pictures, Michael Ostuni / Patrick McMullan / Getty Images

    When you think of horror films, you probably think of Slash and Nothing Left... no wait, you think Romero, Raimi, and Hitchcock, right? I highly doubt anyone would associate Leonardo DiCaprio with this genre, but he has done it, and Orphan is actually kinda good! His production house, Appian Way Productions, has also produced the horrors such as Delirium and Red Riding Hood. Maybe we'll see Leo in a horror soon.

    16. Margot Robbie — Promising Young Woman

    Universal Pictures, Stephane Cardinale - Corbis / Corbis / Getty Images

    One of the reasons Margot started her own production company is because she wanted to make "female stories" with "female storytellers". Promising Young Woman is a perfect example of this, and I'm pretty sure she isn't gonna stop there!

    17. P Diddy — Two Distant Strangers

    Netflix, Paras Griffin / Getty Images

    P Diddy was the executive producer for this short, which took home the Oscar for Best Live-Action Short Film Award last year. He recruited help from NBA players Mike Conley and Kevin Durant, and together they made a sort of modern version of Groundhog Day. Tbf, I could see it — no wonder the film did so well!

    Are there any celebs you can think of that we missed? Tell us in the comments below!