1. Nicolas Cage
Image Source: reddit.com
When he played the vampire in the 1980s dark comedy "Vampire's Kiss," Nicolas Cage adopted "the method." His character, a wealthy New York book agent who thinks he's been transformed into a bloodsucker, was required to eat a cockroach for a particular scene. The director wanted to replace the real animal with a fake, edible prop, but Cage argued about having the real thing... which he ate... twice.
2. Christian Bale
Image Source: reddit.com
Although the goal of method acting was originally to use personal experiences and emotions to play a role more convincingly, lately, it has practically come to be associated with extreme physical changes. In one well-known instance, Christian Bale garnered attention and put his health in danger when he dropped a whooping 63 pounds to portray the chronically sleep-deprived Trevor Reznik in "The Machinist." Prior to the start of filming, Bale only ate an apple and a tuna fish can each day.
3. Daniel Day-Lewis
Image Source: reddit.com
Even if it's to play John Proctor in "The Crucible," giving up civilization is probably not a good idea. Day-Lewis made the decision to live without access to power or water in the 17th-century village set. He even used equipment that would have been unique to that time period to build a dwelling for his character and eventually chose to replace his motorbike with a horse. It's safe to say that he should've skipped some, if not all, of those steps.
4. Antonia Campbell-Huges
Image Source: reddit.com
Antonia Campbell-Hughes' performance in the German drama "3096 Tage" was a perfect example of the maxim "art is pain." Natascha Kampusch, an Austrian little girl who was kidnapped at the age of 10 and held captive for over eight years, is the protagonist of the gripping true story on which the film is based. Campbell went on a strict diet and shaved her head to portray Kampusch, who was less than 100 pounds when she managed to escape her kidnapper.
5. Rooney Mara
Image Source: reddit.com
Rooney Mara is perhaps the only actor who went as far as she possibly could with the physical modifications in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." Mara bleached her eyebrows, cut her hair, and had her lip, nose, eyebrow, and nipples pierced to play the punk hacker Lisbeth Salander. This is in addition to learning how to skateboard, ride a motorcycle, and practice martial arts.
6. Jared Leto
Image Source: reddit.com
When actors "go method" for a movie part, they are frequently praised, but Jared Leto may have gone a little too far when portraying the Joker in "Suicide Squad." Some of the artistic decisions Leto made on the set were, to put it lightly, extremely surprising. He ordered a "henchman" to deliver a filmed note and a dead pig to his fellow actors, and later, he presented a live rat to his co-star Margot Robbie. A bizarre approach, to say the least.
7. Tom Hanks
Image Source: reddit.com
Tom Hanks gained and then shed 50 pounds for the movie "Cast Away" — yet another instance of tampering with body weight. He refused to take a bath or cut his hair as well, which resulted in a terrible staph infection. It seem like the sacrifice was worth it. Or not.
8. Matthew McConaughey
Image Source: reddit.com
To train for his role as real-life rodeo cowboy Ron Woodruff in "Dallas Buyers Club," Matthew McConaughey turned to Tom Hanks for advice on how to shed weight to play an a better character. With the help of a nutritionist and some of Hanks' counsel, he dropped from 185 pounds to 135 pounds. Later, McConaughey said that his vision began to deteriorate around that period. The actor also abstained from stepping outside for a period of six months in order to maintain his character's required paleness.
9. Kate Winslet
Image Source: reddit.com
Winslet acknowledged that it took her months to recuperate from the role of a Nazi concentration camp guard in the 2008 movie "The Reader." She described the experience as feeling "like I've just escaped from a serious car accident and need to understand what has just happened." Fortunately, she had her spouse of the time, the filmmaker Sam Mendes, who helped her readjust to the real world.
10. Jamie Dornan
Image Source: reddit.com
We're not really sure how to describe this one. So, Dornan prepared for his role as a serial killer in the TV series "The Fall" by... following a woman. So creepy! Basically, Jamie Dornan admitted that he stalked a woman on the London subway in order to understand the motivations of a serial killer, even stating that "it felt exciting, in a dirty sort of way." But stalking is stalking... no matter if it's Dornan who does it.
11. Robert De Niro
Image Source: reddit.com
Robert De Niro, one of the top actors of all time, received direct instruction from Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler, who taught Stanislavski's acting method. Thus, De Niro learned everything he could from Jake LaMotta, the Italian boxer he painted in the film "Raging Bull." De Niro also took part in three fights in the ring and managed to gain 50 pounds for the role.
12. Gary Oldman
Image Source: reddit.com
No one told Oldman — who is believed to have smoked cigars valued at over $30,000 to help him prepare for his role as Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour"— that smoking kills. He had nicotine poisoning as a result, which lasted the whole shoot. The only good news was that he swears he hadn't had one since, but even so, it was extremely risky.
13. Mickey Rourke
Image Source: reddit.com
Mickey Rourke insisted on doing most of his own stunts for his portrayal of Darren Aronofsky in "The Wrestler," which resulted in multiple injuries. As if that weren't enough, the movie star took his preparation a step further by turning up at WrestleMania XXV and finishing Chris Jericho off with a single blow.
14. Sylvester Stallone
Image Source: reddit.com
Stallone was frequently put in perilous situations while being filmed, but some of those occurrences resulted from his own choices. He wanted "Rocky IV"'s combat scenes to look realistic, so he challenged Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren, to assault him. Stallone spent nine days in the ICU as a result of Lundgren's uppercut, and filming was halted for two weeks.
15. Forest Whitaker
Image Source: reddit.com
Immersing yourself in a role is challenging enough, but what happens when that character is the ruthless tyrant and president of Uganda, Idi Amin? Well, that requires more of a cut than the typical weight increase of 30 pounds. For the 2006 film "Last King of Scotland," actor Forest Whitaker also learned to speak Swahili and play the accordion in order to completely embody Amin.
16. Halle Berry
Image Source: reddit.com
While we appreciate Berry's decision to abstain from drug use for her portrayal of an opiate user in "Jungle Fever," we feel quite bad for the people forced to stand next to her: She decided to go eight weeks without taking a shower in order to identify with her role. This kind of acting smells a little bit fishy.
17. Heath Ledger
Image Source: reddit.com
Because Heath Ledger, the famed Australian actor, passed away soon after filming "The Dark Knight," there are many myths surrounding his tragic interpretation of the Joker. But when the truth is separated from the fiction, it becomes evident that Ledger did take the part seriously, secluding himself in a hotel for a month and keeping a daily journal in which he acted as the Caped Crusader's arch-enemy.
18. Jamie Foxx
Image Source: reddit.com
Former comedian Jamie Foxx had his eyes taped for 14 hours a day while filming "Ray," a role for which he received his first Academy Award. In order to more effectively portray Charles' physicality after his heroin addiction, Foxx also shed 30 pounds.
19. Colin Firth
Image Source: reddit.com
When Colin Firth had to adopt a stutter for the part as King George V in "The King's Speech," things took a terrible turn. He became so immersed in the role that he had trouble getting over the stutter in real life, endured migraines, and even suffered from a pinched nerve. We might have never known that it is possible to overact in character, but here we are: We saw Firth going beyond the call of duty.
20. Leonardo DiCaprio
Image Source: reddit.com
Leonardo DiCaprio had to wait forty years to receive his first Academy Award, but when he did, for his work in "The Revenant," no one could say that he had cut back on his immersive acting. In order to portray the icy frontiersman Hugh Glass, DiCaprio, an avid vegetarian, actually consumed raw bison, slept inside an animal carcass, and endured subzero temperatures.
21. Natalie Portman
Image Source: reddit.com
When Portman lost 20 pounds for the part she played in "Black Swan," it was clear that she became a little too enmeshed in the demands of the ballerina life. She was already petite, so this weight drop was dramatic. She could have died since she only consumed a few carrots and almonds daily.
22. Adrien Brody
Image Source: reddit.com
Given the outcomes it produces, you'd be justified for thinking "the method" was identical to a brand-new, excruciating Crossfit. Think of Adrien Brody, who was already an athletic man but lost an additional 30 pounds for his role as Holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman in "The Pianist." For the part, Brody also taught himself how to play the piano. As if that wasn't enough, the actor followed through on his acting by giving up his home and selling his car.
23. Al Pacino
Image Source: reddit.com
Old Scarface enjoys studying the playbooks of his fictional personas. With that in mind, we should laugh a little: Al Pacino once stopped a truck driver while still in character as the untainted NYPD officer Frank Serpico in "Serpico" and threatened to have him arrested for exhaust pollution.
24. Jack Nicholson
Image Source: reddit.com
Behind the scenes of "The Shining," Nicholson was seen pacing and shouting "axe, murder, kill" to psych himself up for the role of his insane character. Additionally, he frequently used drugs in other productions to both enhance his performances and for his own enjoyment, which was memorably depicted in the movie "Easy Rider." However, he knew when to stop playing the part and go back to being himself, as opposed to many of his fellow actors.
25. Johhny Depp
Image Source: reddit.com
The fact that Johnny Depp now lives his life as if he were indeed Captain Jack Sparrow suggests that he may be an extreme example of "the method" school. To play the eccentric novelist Hunter S. Thompson in "Fear and Loathing," Depp studied him for years. The actor spent as much time as possible with the author, sleeping and smoking close to barrels of gunpowder in Thompson's basement, which may be the most telling detail about their mental state at the time.
26. Sarah Paulson
Image Source: reddit.com
Paulson doesn't smoke — or at least she didn't until she began lighting up on the set of "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" several times daily. The actress later said that as the initial revulsion for smoking wore off, she actually began to crave cigarettes and grew impatient to shoot scenes where she would need to smoke. This might be referred to as "method acting," but in real life, it's called cigarette addiction.
27. Dustin Hoffman
Image Source: reddit.com
It takes some effort to annoy a polished professional like Meryl Streep, but Dustin Hoffman is never one to back down. Hoffman taunted Meryl — who portrayed his ex-wife with whom he had a nasty divorce in "Kramer vs. Kramer" — about her recently deceased partner and smacked her in the face just before a scene to elicit the performance he believed was required for her character.
28. Hilary Swank
Image Source: reddit.com
Hilary Swank spent a month dressing as a male in order to prepare for her audition before obtaining the lead in "Boys Don't Cry." She cut her hair, strapped her breasts, and sewed stockings down the front of her pants. Her neighbors thought Swank had invited her brother or relative to move in for the entire summer because her portrayal was so convincing.
29. Uma Truman
Image Source: reddit.com
Thruman served as both an inspiration and a collaborator in the production of the epic cowboy fantasy "Kill Bill." The actress executed her own stunt for a scenario where the actor drove into a curve, but as the plan didn't go well, she found herself in a fatal car crash. Though she lived, Thurman was not unharmed; she had contusions, a blow to the head, and significant leg and knee injuries that still affect her to this day.
30. Ashton Kutcher
Image Source: reddit.com
Ashton Kutcher portrayed Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computers, in "Jobs." Kutcher spent a lot of time reading about Jobs' life and even ended up in an emergency room after trying to eat like the company's founder. Additionally, he only consumed grapes at some point, which led to pancreatitis and two hospital stays for him.