Actor parodies

Actor Hitler parodies are parodies that make fun of, or mix footage from other films, clips, etc., starring actors from Downfall. In other words, the actors are assumed to be playing their Downfall role when they are actually in other films. The other end of the spectrum is different actors depicting the same character, but this is less popular for characters other than Hitler.

Thomas Kretschmann - Hermann Fegelein
One example of the parodies are Hitler Views a Hugo Boss Selection Ad, which depicts Hitler watching a Hugo Boss advert starring Thomas Kretschmann. Thomas Kretschmann portrayed Fegelein in Downfall, much to Hitler's dismay. This parody was made thrice; once by Hitler Rants Parodies, again by KakashiBallZ, and later by johnnomonster (aka Trapped Antics).

Joster285 made one actor parody using footage from the laughable promo teaser of Dario Argento's Dracula 3D starring Thomas Kretschmann in the title role. In the parody, Kretschmann Dracula is portrayed as Fegelein's brother from Transylvania, named Count Fegelein, whom has a giant killer preying mantis as a pet. Nervous of having a Vampire Fegelein in the bunker, Hitler decides to pull an antic of his own to calm himself down. He takes Count Fegelein's condoms and replaces them with garlic-skinned ones causing a burning sensation. Finding this out, Count Fegelein sends his giant killer preying mantis after Hitler.

Kretschmann also starred in 2005's King Kong as Captain Engelhorn, who took Carl Denham and the others to the Skull Island, and later played a role in saving them. Not many parodies were made from this. Subtitlecomedy is actively modding the NPC model of Engelhorn (Fegelhorn?) from the franchise's game, porting it into various games (notably GTA IV).

Even more potential awaits in "The Sinking of Laconia", with Kretschmann playing the main role of Admiral Karl Dönitz. As with King Kong, the number of parodies made with this film is unknown. DictatorAntics is currently preparing scenes from the film with Fegel-Dönitz, and it's expected to appear in his future parodies and the next version of his "Downfall Parodies Requirement Kit".

Götz Otto - Otto Günsche
Another example is Hitler watches the end of Tomorrow Never Dies, depicting the death of supervillain Stamper, who is portrayed by Götz Otto, the same man that portrayed Günsche in Downfall. This excites Hitler, as he hates Günsche for his incompetence and presumed alliance with Fegelein, only to discover that the whole scene itself was faked by Fegelein and that Günsche is still alive.

Iron Sky eclipsed all of this when it came out in April 2012. It depicted Götz Otto as the aspiring and cunning Klaus Adler, who successfully plotted to become the new Führer of the Fourth Reich. Hitler Rants Parodies quickly played a pivotal role in tying this film and Downfall together – Günsche-Adler played a central role in his parody timeline. [more on this later]. DictatorAntics is also known for using scenes from Iron Sky.

Other actors in Downfall
On February 2012, a parody titled Mohnke and the Russian Patient was made, where André Hennicke, who plays the role of Mohnke in Downfall plays the role of Professor Eugen Bleuler treating a particular psychologically unstable woman in the film A Dangerous Method.

PiretBCN has made a few actor parodies which mostly related to Contemporary Germany and true to era. Mostly from German TV series Tatort, characters played by the former actors portraying Burgdorf, Jodl, Himmler and Magda found themselves being their Downfall counterpart, time-travelling from the WWII era. Jodl escapes the endless rants of the Führerbunker and finally found his love in Contemporary Germany. Burgdorf escapes a murder case, only to convicted using modern forensics.

Non-Downfall Actors
HitchcockJohn, in his parody Hitler Plans to Kill Captain Willenbrock, took advantage of the fact that Jürgen Prochnow, who played Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock in Das Boot starred in a less successful thriller titled Kill Cruise in which his character is harpooned through the neck by Elizabeth Hurley. He toyed with the idea of a sequel in which Hitler would attempt to arrest Captain Willenbrock, using footage of Prochnow from Air Force One, but the idea was ultimately abandoned. However, he did eventually make a well-recieved parodywhich used footage of Prochnow from In The Mouth of Madness, specifically a strange sequence where Prochnow's character Sutter Kane, a horror writer who has managed to blur the lines between fiction and reality, literally tears himself apart and in the process creates a hole through which Lovecraftian monsters are released. The parody involved Willenbrock opening a hole in the space-time continuum as "the ultimate antic".

Subtitlecomedy also made use of footage from Shailene Woodley's other films such as The Descendants and CSI:NY, one of which was a minute-long footage of her character from Descendants ranting and crying at the issues with her mother; the parody involved that of Merriman ranting at Constantin Film, using the said clip from the film.

With Musical Parodies
Actor parodies can also be a combination with musical parodies. For example, Jodl's Beatnik song came from Christian Redl's poetry album, and Burgdorf's "Join the Hitler Youth!" advert, along with numerous parodies dubbed the "Singing Burgdorf", came from Justus von Dohnányi's movie, Mannerhazen.