Ongoing History Daily: Famous actors in music videos

If you’re a musician of a certain stature and you’re willing to foot the bill, it can be possible to get a famous actor to appear in one of your music videos.

• If you’re a fan of The Killers, you’ll know that singer Brandon Flowers released a solo album entitled Flamingo in 2010. He got Charlize Theron to appear as a baddie in the video for the single “Crossfire.”
• Zooey Deschanel was persuaded to take a role in “She’s Got Issues,” a 1998 video by The Offspring.
• Jason Alexander plays a barista with a head full of hair in Nickelback’s “Trying Not to Love You” from 2011.
• Yes, that is Bruce Willis in the Gorillaz video “Stylo” in 2010.
• And Vampire Weekend got Jake Gyllenhaal for a cameo in their 2010 video, “Giving Up the Gun.”