30 Times Actors May Have Taken Their Roles A Bit Too Seriously

Many professional actors use 'method acting,' which involves the actor fully inhabiting the character's role.

Stephanie

• Published in Interesting
• December 12, 2021

Acting may seem like a glamorous and relatively easy job, but in reality, it's hard work. Playing complex characters and preparing for challenging roles can take an emotional and physical toll on an actor.

Actors use various techniques to prepare for their roles and get into their characters. Many professional actors use 'method acting,' which involves the actor fully inhabiting the character's role.

This could mean an actor living entirely as a particular character for months at a time. Not just on set but in their everyday lives.

Some well-known method actors include Jim Carrey, Robert De Niro, and Charlize Theron. The technique was first developed by Konstantin Stanislavski, a Russian director and actor.

Perhaps one of the most famous examples of method acting was when Heath Ledger locked himself away for weeks to try and capture the insanity of The Joker. Many fans believe that Ledger's death resulted from his dedication to getting into the unhealthy headspace of The Joker.

There are many more examples of the drastic measures some actors will take for their roles. From gluing their eyes shut to losing extreme amounts of weight to putting themselves in isolation, we have 30 of the most extreme stories to share with you below.

1. Leonardo DiCaprio ate real raw Bison meat

Leonardo was prepared to go as far as he needed to for his role in The Revenant. The vegetarian actor even ate raw Bison meat and slept with a dead animal carcass.

2. Forest Whitaker learnt Swahili and ate nothing but mashed bananas and beans for his role in The Last King Of Scotland

3. Gary Oldman smoked 400 cigars worth $20,000 while filming The Darkest Hour

"You'd have a cigar that was three-quarters smoked, and you'd light it up, and then over the course of a couple of takes, it would go down, and then the prop man would replenish me with a new cigar," Gary said. "We were doing that for 10 or 12 takes a scene."

4. Anne Hathaway lost 25 pounds in two weeks for her role in Les Misérables

5. Jim Carrey never broke character while shooting Man On Moon

The actor insisted on being called Andy the entire time. H didn't break character once, even when filming was done for the day.

6. Mickey Rourke studied Russian for three hours every day to play Whiplash

7. Marlon Brando spent a month in hospital with paraplegics to prepare for his role in The Men

8. Lady Gaga spoke with an Italian accent for nine months for her role House Of Gucci

"I lived as her for a year and a half," Gaga said. "And I spoke with an accent for nine months of that."

"Off camera too," she said. "I never broke, I stayed with her."

9. Robert De Niro got a real taxi driver's license and worked as a cab driver in NYC for a month before filming Taxi Driver

10. Jamie Foxx spent 14 hours a day with his eyes glued shut to play Ray Charles

To prepare for his role as Ray Charles, Jamie lost 30 pounds. And, since Ray was blind, director Taylor Hackford decided it would be a good idea for Jamie to have his eyes glued shut during filming.

11. Kate Winslet lived alone in a beach house with unstable electricity before filming Ammonite

"It was so isolated, cold, and rattly that when there was a big storm, the waves would hit the windows of the house, and the power would go down, and I would lie there thinking, 'Kate, what are you doing?" the actress says. "Just go to the hotel with everybody else.'"

12. Hilary Swank endured hours of training for Million Dollar Baby

The dedicated actress trained six times a week for her role as Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby. Hilary got blisters from the rigorous training and ended up with a nasty infection from popping them in the bath.

13. Robert Pattinson made himself go insane while filming The Lighthouse

"It was crazy," Robert said. "I spent so much time making myself throw up, pissing my pants."

"It's the most revolting thing," he said. "I don't know; maybe it's really annoying."

14. Dustin Hoffman slapped Maryl Streep while filming Kramer vs. Kramer

15. Shia LaBeouf cut his face every time he was on the set of Fury so that he'd have realistic wounds

16. Michael B. Jordan isolated himself for his role of Killmonger in the Black Panther

17. Sylvester Stallone went to the hospital after asking Dolph Lundgren to hit him for real while filming Rocky

18. Daniel Day-Lewis spent his time in a wheelchair and was spoon-fed on the set of My Left Foot

Daniel Day-Lewis was highly committed to his role as Christy Brown in My Left Foot. The character had cerebral palsy.

Daniel spent his time on set in a wheelchair and requested to be spoon-fed. He even damaged two of his ribs during filming from hunching over in the wheelchair for weeks at a time.

19. Christian Bale lost 55 pounds in four months for his role in The Machinist

Christian Bale lost 55 pounds in four months for his role as Trevor Reznik in The Machinist. Christian survived on cigarettes, whiskey, coffee, tuna, and apples.

20. Adrien Brody broke up with his girlfriend, gave up his car and apartment, and stopped using his phone

"I was depressed for a year after 'The Pianist,'" Adrien said. "And I don't suffer from that, generally." "It wasn't just a depression; it was a mourning," he said. "I was very disturbed by what I embraced in making that film, and of the awareness that it opened up in me."

21. Heath Ledger locked himself up for weeks to try and catch the insanity of The Joker.

Heath Ledger is arguably most famous for his incredible portrayal of The Joker. Heath used method acting to get into the character's headspace and locked himself away for weeks to try and catch the insanity of The Joker.

Ledger even requested that his co-star Christian Bale actually hit him during one of their scenes together. "He was slamming himself around, and there were tiled walls inside of that set which were cracked and dented from him hurling himself into them - his commitment was total," Christian said.

22. Nicolas Cage got his tooth pulled out with no anesthetic

During the filming of Birdy, Nicolas had an appointment to have two teeth removed. He decided to do it without anesthetics to see what it felt like to have a hurting face.

"They were baby teeth," Nicolas said. "So I took advantage of it and had them out; I thought it would add an interesting dimension to the role."

23. Johnny Depp lived in Hunter S. Thompson's basement for his role in Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

24. Jared Leto brought a dead pig with him to the set of Suicide Squad

"He had a henchman who would come into the rehearsal room, and the henchman came in with a dead pig and plopped it on the table, and then he walked out," said Viola Davis. "And that was our introduction into Jared Leto."

25. Jamie Dornan followed a woman around to get into the mindset of a serial killer for his role in The Fall

26. Ed Harris learnt how to paint for his role in Pollock

27. Choi Min-Sik burnt himself with hot wire for his role in Oldboy

28. Will Smith fell in love with Stockard Channing while filming Six Degrees Of Separation

"The movie was over and I went home, and I was dying to see Stockard," Will said. "I was like, 'Oh no! What have I done?'"

"That was my last experience with method acting, where you're reprogramming your mind," he said. "You're actually playing around with your psychology; you teach yourself to like things and to dislike things."

29. Halle Berry didn't shower for two weeks for her role in Jungle Fever

"I played a crack addict, and in order to do that, I was living on the streets," Halle said. "So I decided I was going to see what it would be like; I didn't shower or take a bath for like two weeks."

30. Ashton Kutcher followed Steve Jobs' diet and ended up in hospital with Pancreatitis

So, there you have it! The lengths some of these actors will go to for their roles are pretty darn incredible!

Can you imagine starving yourself for your job? Or putting yourself in voluntary isolation?

The dedication some actors have to their work is truly admirable. And we're so lucky to bear witness to the results of all their hard work!

Stephanie