#These Actors Got Way Too Deep Into Character

Many of the cinema’s finest and most gifted performers embody their roles through method acting, an approach in which the actor ‘becomes’ the character. This style of training features an actor aspiring to achieve complete emotional identification with a part, often staying in character even when the cameras stop rolling. The techniques are built on Stanislavski’s system and were implemented in the United States through the Group Theatre in New York and later famously at the Actors Studio. Three teachers are directly associated with different aspects of the approach: Lee Strasberg (the psychological aspects), Stella Adler (the sociological aspects), and Sandford Meisner (the behavioral aspects). Method acting requires extreme dedication, determination and skill in order to successfully bring the character to life.
Some of Hollywood’s greatest performers adopted this approach, notably Marlon Brando, Warren Beatty, Robert de Niro, Meryl Streep, and Daniel Day-Lewis, among an elite list of other silver screen stars. A slew of iconic and remarkable characters and performances are a direct result of method acting. Welsh actor Christian Bale is notorious for undergoing extreme physical transformations for his roles, while Leonardo DiCaprio infamously slept in an animal carcass to get into the mind of his The Revenant character Hugh Glass. Benedict Cumberbatch even chain-smoked until he got nicotine poisoning and refused to bathe for weeks at a time for The Power of the Dog. Sometimes, performers go a bit overboard in their dedication to the craft. These actors got way too deep into character with method acting, with various results.

8 Shia LaBeouf (Fury)

The eccentric Shia LaBeouf is no stranger to completely committing to his craft, having fully immersed himself in character numerous times over his impressive and colorful career. For the 2014 war film Fury, the actor went above and beyond when he prepared for his role as tank gunner Boyd “Bible” Swan for the World War II drama. After being cast in the David Ayer picture, LaBeouf immediately joined the US National Guard and spent a month living on a forward operating base. The actor told Dazed magazine, “I pulled my tooth out, knifed my face up and spent days watching horses die. I didn’t bathe for four months.” He reportedly stayed in character throughout the extensive filming process, earning praise from his co-star Brad Pitt, who hailed him as one of the best actors he’s worked with. Despite (or because of) his intense method approaches, Shia LaBeouf’s performance was appreciated by critics, with New York Daily News stating he “finally finds a role he can disappear into, without his image getting in the way.”

7 Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Esteemed actor and gifted musician Jared Leto is very selective in the roles he chooses to take, and is well-known in Hollywood for his method acting approach and devotion to his characters. For his Academy Award-winning portrayal of a trans woman with HIV in the 2013 biographical drama Dallas Buyers Club, Jared Leto lost 30 pounds, shaved his eyebrows and waxed his entire body; the star also “[worked] on Rayon’s voice for weeks.” He also met with transgender people while researching the role and refused to break character during all the filming process. Director Jean-Marc Vallée stated, “I don’t know Leto. Jared never showed me Jared.” The actor went on to win an Oscar for his dedicated portrayal, and never second-guessed his acting process, having shared, “That phrase staying in character to me really means commitment, focus, and for a role like this that’s so intense and challenging and extreme in a lot of ways, it demanded my full attention.”

6 Adrien Brody (The Jacket)

For the 2005 psychological thriller The Jacket, Oscar-winner Adrien Brody stars as amnesiac Gulf War veteran Jack Starks, who is found at the scene of a murder and sent to a mental hospital where he is subjected to an unusual treatment plan. The movie star was eager to embrace the odd experiments, and even asked the crew on set to store him in the drawers of the morgue until they were ready to shoot, where he also remained once the cameras stopped rolling. Brody wanted to fully grasp the character’s despair and his intense anxiety, and spent hours being locked in a straight-jacket in order to get into Jack’s psyche. The actor also underwent sessions in an isolation tank, went on a protein diet, and performed prison exercises to further prepare for the film. Even with Brody’s valiant efforts to embody his troubled character, The Jacket failed to endear audiences and critics, garnering mixed reviews.

5 Robert de Niro (Taxi Driver)

The renowned Martin Scorsese’s 1976 groundbreaking crime drama Taxi Driver follows Travis Bickle, a New York City taxi driver and Vietnam War veteran who is struggling with his deteriorating mental state and begins to feel the urge for violent action. Hollywood acting legend Robert De Niro portrays the troubled Bickle, and prepared for his role by obtaining a taxi driver’s license and listened to a taped reading of the diaries of criminal Arthur Bremer. The megastar also lost 30 pounds, took firearm training, and religiously studied the behaviors of taxi drivers; he also would give people a ride in between filming breaks while remaining in character. The Washington Post called de Niro’s epic role his “landmark performance” and he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Since its release, Taxi Driver has gone on to be considered one of the greatest films ever made.

4 Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

For the film that finally nabbed him his well-deserved Academy Award, acting chameleon Leonardo DiCaprio portrays frontiersman Hugh Glass in the 2015 western survival drama The Revenant. It follows fur trapper Glass as he fights for his life after being mauled by a bear and is left for dead by members of his own hunting team. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu wanted the film shot chronologically and only with natural light for maximum realism, resulting in an unusually long production period. To prepare for the grueling role, DiCaprio ate a raw slab of bison’s liver and slept in animal carcasses, resulting in the actor catching hypothermia. On his extreme filming experience, the actor said, “I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. Whether it’s going in and out of frozen rivers, or sleeping in animal carcasses, or what I ate on set. [I was] enduring freezing cold and possible hyperthermia constantly.”
Related: Best Leonardo DiCaprio Movies, Ranked

3 Christian Bale (The Machinist)

Known for his versatility and jaw-dropping physical transformations for films, Christian Bale is no stranger to completely embracing his characters. For the 2004 psychological thriller The Machinist, the Welsh actor went to extreme lengths to become a delusional and paranoid machinist who hasn’t really slept in over a year. Bale starred as the emotionally dysfunctional character and in preparation lost a staggering 63 pounds by drinking only black coffee and whiskey, smoking cigarettes and eating only an apple and a can of tuna per day. The star reduced his body weight to 120 pounds and actually wanted to go even lower to 99 pounds, but filmmakers refused to allow him to do so due to health concerns. Variety called Bale’s shocking portrayal a, “haunted, aggressive and finally wrenching performance.” He was left with just six weeks to regain his bulk in order to screen test for his role in Batman Begins, and did so successfully through weight lifting and binge-eating.

2 Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)

In one of the most heart-breaking and tragic examples of method acting going too far, Heath Ledger fully consumed the role of anarchist mastermind the Joker in 2008’s The Dark Knight. The late and incredibly gifted actor described his version of the character as a “psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy,” and prepared for the edgy role by living alone in a hotel room for a month, where he formulated the villain’s voice, personality, and posture and kept a diary dedicated to the Joker’s thoughts. Director Christopher Nolan was extremely impressed with Ledger’s commitment and approach to the famous foe; each take he produced was different from the last during filming. The actor struggled with insomnia and drug abuse, having revealed to The New York Times that the Joker role caused him intense insomnia. “Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night…I couldn’t stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.” Ledger died on January 22, 2008, from an accidental drug overdose of medications; he was posthumously awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Dark Knight.
Related: Here Are 5 Reasons Why Heath Ledger’s Joker Remains the Best Batman Villain

1 Daniel Day-Lewis (Every Film)

Undisputedly one of the most gifted and renowned actors in cinema history (until he ‘quit’), Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is an esteemed method actor famous for being one of the most selective performers in the film industry; he has starred in only six films since 1998. The movie star is known for completely immersing himself in a role through intense preparation, having done so in nearly every one of his remarkable pictures. For his performance as William “Bill the Butcher” Cutting in Martin Scorsese’s 2002 historical drama Gangs of New York, Day-Lewis hired circus performers to show him how to throw knives. He refused to break his New York accent and character, and wouldn’t wear a warmer coat or take treatment during production because it was not keeping with the period. For 1989’s My Left Foot, the actor insisted on staying true to character and wouldn’t leave his wheelchair and required all of his meals be spoon-fed to him. Finally, for 1992’s The Last of the Mohicans, Day-Lewis learned how to survive in the wilderness, only ate what he caught, trained with tomahawks, and built a canoe by himself. With that much hard work, no wonder he quit.

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