There are some really great method actors out there.
Some people who really put themselves on the line for roles, whether it be really changing their body or, sometimes, even their minds.
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These are the people who took insane measures to become a character for a movie. Would you do this for your job?
1. Ashton Kutcher
While he was preparing for his role as Steve Jobs , Ashton Kutcher went on a full fruit diet, just like the Apple creator.
However, that was totally unhealthy, and the actor was hospitalized for two days.
2. Rooney Mara
In preparation for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , Rooney Mara went out and got a bunch of piercings.
And yes, that includes the one on her nipple.
“It just felt like a good one to get—a necessary one to get.”
“Because of all the tattoos and the makeup and the piercings, and the physical transformations my body has to go through, it would always feel sort of like I was in costume, even if I was naked.”
3. Gary Oldman
There was a time in his life where Gary Oldman played so many American characters in a row he had to see a speech therapist in order to get his British accent back.
4. James Franco
You’d think this would be hard to convince someone to let you do this, but James Franco managed to convince a male prostitute to let him follow the gigolo around to teach him how to be one for the movie Sonny .
5. Demi Moore
Not only did she shave her head for G.I. Jane , but she also went through some arduous, exhausting training lead by some former NAVY Seals.
And those guys don’t really mess around.
“I could have come in and asked to let the stuntwoman do the obstacle course.”
“But I felt I would have walked away having missed an opportunity experiencing, first-hand, what these people actually go through in training; it’s the whole reason for doing this film in the first place.”
6. Min-sik Choi
He may not be a household name, but that doesn’t mean he still didn’t give his all while prepping for his role.
He burned himself with hot wire to simulate how his character would keep track of days.
7. Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood actually bought the rights for the movie Unforgiven , but then sat on it for fifteen years.
Why? He wanted to be old enough to play the William Munny character.
8. Jim Carrey
There is a whole documentary on how method Jim Carrey went to become Andy Kaufman, but one of the biggest events was that he actually continued Andy Kaufman’s rivalry with Jerry “The King” Lawler.
He even spat in Lawler’s face.
9. Heath Ledger
They are well documented, the things he went though in order to play the Joker for The Dark Knight .
Really, he wanted to see if he could reach the brinks of insanity.
And he kind of did, considering how well he played the Joker. Here was his process:
“I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices—it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh.”
10. Adrian Brody
In order to feel what it was like to lose everything, Adrian Brody did just that for his role in The Pianist .
He gave up his apartment, his car and he moved to Europe with just two bags.
11. Leo DiCaprio
The actor went against his own vegan lifestyle when he was prepping to be in The Revenant .
Not only did the man eat raw meat, but he also slept in animal carcasses.
