Filmmaking can be hard, unpredictable work, so it makes sense that, before principal photography begins, many directors try to assemble a team of familiar faces and proven talent. John Ford often collaborated with producer Marian K. Cooper; screenwriters such as Nunnally Johnson, Dudley Nichols and Frank S. Nugent; and an entire stock company that included Victor McLaglen, Jack Pennick, Harry Carrey Jr. and, of course, John Wayne. On a smaller scale, you have Joe Dante, who chose the character of the actor Dick Miller in almost all of his films, and Ron Howard, who finds small parts for his brother Clint Howard after making his feature directorial debut with 1977's Grand Theft Auto.

This cohesion gives film productions a sense of built-in camaraderie and purpose; it also conveys an air of confidence in that everyone working on the film trusts this group of craftsmen to know how to deliver a high-quality image.

Obviously, a first-time director generally has to start from scratch in building such associations, but if he's a first-time Hollywood veteran with movie star friends, they can send a clear signal to his cast and crew that this debut film is not the work of a true amateur with some pretty big names participating. And if there's no juicy role for their star friends, there's always the possibility of a cameo. And that's how Brad Pitt and Matt Damon helped spice up the first film from one of their showbiz cohorts.

George Clooney's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was a bold choice for a directorial debut. Charlie Kaufman's screenplay is an adaptation of Chuck Barris' gonzo "unauthorized autobiography" in which the creator of "The Dating Game" and host of "The Gong Show" claimed to have been an undercover CIA assassin. Clooney cast Sam Rockwell as Barris and Drew Barrymore as his girlfriend, but found a way to include his Ocean's Eleven co-stars in big and fun little ways.

Pete and Damon appear ever so briefly as contestants on The Dating Game. Guys don't get any lines; they just sit and listen to their competitor give a funny answer to a funny question from a single woman on the other side of the wall. The joke here is that Clooney had Pete and Damon don funky 60s/70s loud hairdos and clothes for a blink-and-miss cameo (which they did as a favor of the director). Unsurprisingly, this moment got a lot of laughs when I saw it theatrically. Clooney expanded on the Ocean's Eleven cast by casting Julia Roberts in a pivotal role as disloyal CIA operative Patricia Watson. She gets real lines and much more glamorous clothes.

Subsequently, Clooney directed eight films and twice cast Damon as the lead (in "The Monuments Men" and "Suburbicon"). As for Roberts and Pitt, he has continued to work with them as an actor, but has yet to direct them again. It's probably just a matter of scheduling and not having the right material for them. Or maybe they're just wild.