Acting is a tricky business. From gruelling schedules, having to remain in optimum shape, and sometimes never being recognized for one's achievements, there are many dilemmas and fears that Hollywood's best and brightest face. But for some stars, acting is not merely a profession; it is a craft. Accordingly, there are a number of individuals who take the method acting a little too far.
Method acting is a process in which actors quite literally become their characters, living and breathing as the fictional persona created for them. Although the practice has its origins in the theater world, it is now adopted by actors on the big screen. Keep reading to find out which stars are extreme method actors.
10 Sacha Baron Cohen
British actor Sacha Baron Cohen may be known for his riotously comedic roles, but he is in fact a pretty sombre man away from the camera. Baron Cohen takes method acting to absolute extremes. Having created iconic characters such as Borat and Brüno, he actually lives as his fictitious alter egos throughout production, which can't be too fun for his wife Isla Fisher.
For instance, when playing the role of Austrian gay fashion journalist Brüno in the eponymous 2009 mockumentary, Baron Cohen lost vast amounts of weight and became seriously ill after bleaching all his body hair. Moreover, he lived inside his trailer for the entirety of the production, which took 6 months.
9 Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway won an Oscar for her role as Fantine in the 2012 adaptation of Les Misérables, but she suffered greatly for her art. The already thin actress lost 25 pounds for the role, leaving her dangerously underweight.
Worst of all, Hathaway claimed that she was fully prepared to have her teeth pulled for the role: "I would have pulled out my teeth to play Fantine", she said in an interview at the time. Thankfully, a talented makeup team meant that this extra step wasn't necessary.
8 Jamie Foxx
Anne Hathaway may have just hinted at pulling her teeth for a role, but Jamie Foxx actually did remove his teeth when making 2009 drama The Soloist. To authentically portray a homeless musician with schizophrenia, Foxx had his teeth chipped out.
"My teeth are just so big and white - a homeless person would never have them,"Â the actor said, "I just wanted to come up with something to make the part unique."
7 Christian Bale
Having played so many characters of differing backgrounds, fans are shocked when they learn that Christian Bale is in fact from Wales in the United Kingdom. When interviewed during press junkets, Bale is known for speaking in the accent of whichever character he is playing, which has led to much confusion.
Aside from living as his characters, he is also known for dramatically altering his body for movie parts. Rejecting CGI and prosthetics, he lost 60 pounds for his role in The Machinist, leaving the 6'0" actor frighteningly skeletal at 120 lbs. Then, for his depiction of Dick Cheney in Vice, he gained 40 pounds, becoming unrecognizable in the role.
6 Daniel Day-Lewis
Another Brit who takes his method acting too far, Daniel Day-Lewis got into physical altercations with complete strangers when playing Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York. Similarly, he spent 2 nights in jail when making In the Name of the Father and didn't shower or bathe when filming The Crucible.
In a less disturbing but equally impressive example of his devotion to method acting, he actually learnt Czech for his role as Tomas in The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
5 Angelina Jolie
A devotee of the Lee Strasberg method, which requires actors to become the parts they are playing, Angelina Jolie has gone to extremes to authentically portray her on screen characters. Accordingly, when making one of her most famous movies, Girl, Interrupted, Jolie acted coldly towards her co-stars and maintained a distance from them between takes.
Furthermore, when filming her breakthrough movie Gia, Jolie abstained from intimacy with her then husband Jonny Lee Miller because she was playing a gay woman and didn't want to break character. According to the book Angelina Jolie - The Lighting Star, the actress told Miller, "I'm alone; I'm dying; I'm gay; I'm not going to see you for weeks."
4 Robert De Niro
Much like Christian Bale, Robert De Niro has drastically transformed his body for roles. For his portrayal of boxer Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese's iconic and oft parodied Raging Bull, De Niro got into shape and built muscle to encapsulate the boxer at the height of his fame.
But to portray LaMotta in his washed up latter years, De Niro packed on 60 pounds. In fact, production had to be halted while De Niro gained the necessary weight. The actor went on a binge eating spree and even struggled to breathe as a result, which worried Scorsese, all in the name of art. Then, when making Cape Fear a decade later, he got super fit and toned and even sported vegetable dye tattoos, which didn't fade for several months.
3 Robert Pattinson
Since the Twilight franchise ended, Robert Pattinson has established himself as a respectable, serious actor. When making the 2017 indie movie Good Time, in which he played a frankly creepy crook, Pattinson took the role to extremes.
The incognito actor worked at a car wash in Queens, New York and didn't open his curtains or change his bed sheets for the duration of filming.
2 Forest Whitaker
Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker has truly suffered for his art. When filming his breakout movie, Clint Eastwood's Bird, Whitaker actually learnt to play the saxophone in order to authentically portray legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. What's more, he lived in a dark and dingy apartment so that he could fully understand the musician's isolation and pain.
Similarly, to capture the essence of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, he gained 50lbs and met with the surviving victims of Amin, as well as the dictator's friends and relatives. Moreover, he learnt Swahili for the role. His efforts paid off and he won the Oscar for Best Actor for the impressive feat.
1 Tilda Swinton
A famed method actress, Tilda Swinton is known for her intense on screen transformations. But when filming horror movie Suspiria, which was inspired by Dario Argento's 1977 movie of the same name, she took the method acting to extremes.
An elderly character named Dr. Joseph Klemperer appears in the movie, supposedly played by an actor called Lutz Ebersdorf. But fans grew suspicious when Google searches provided very little information regarding the mysterious Ebersdorf. Eventually, it was revealed that the frail old man was played by Tilda Swinton in an extremely convincing disguise. But the method acting didn't end there: Swinton got the makeup department to create a set of prosthetic male genitalia, which she wore for the entirety of production.