34 Actors Who Went Way Overboard Preparing for Movie Roles

Nobody needs to die over a big ol’ game of make believe
34 Actors Who Went Way Overboard Preparing for Movie Roles

We’ve heard of actors “dying” to get a role, but some of these actors took that pretty literally. Dropping weight to the point of serious health concerns or being hospitalized with pancreatitis because of a strict fruitarian diet is taking method acting to new (and completely insane) heights. 

So let these actors act as cautionary tales for you up-and-comers. Get home safe and sound after the production’s wrapped, okay?

Daniel Day-Lewis (Yep, Again)

METHOD MADNESS DANIEL DAY-LEWIS GANGS OF NEW YORK Не caught pneumonia after refusing to wear a coat between scenes (since those coats didn't exist in the 1860s). Не said, I will admit that I went mad, totally mad, and the role was, not so good for my physical or mental health. CRACKED

Hilary Swank

METHOD MADNESS HILARY SWANK's near death experience MILLION DOLLAR BABY RNADOS months, and gained days 19 pounds of pure She trained six week for three a muscle. A huge blister on her foot developed a Staph infection that doctors said was mere hours from reaching her heart. CRACKED

Sylvester Stallone

METHOD MADNESS ROCKY IV SYLVESTER STALLONE For authenticity, he asked Dolph Lundgren to just go out there and clock me, and ended up in the ICU for nine days. Doctors said that Lundgren's punch hit his heart against his ribcage- an injury seen after head-on collisions. CRACKED

Ashton Kutcher

METHOD MADNESS JOBS ASHTON KUTCHER Steve Jobs was a fruitarian,living on a mainly-fruit diet, and Kutcher replicated this. His wife Mila Kunis said, Не was so dumb. Не ... only ate grapes at one point... We ended up in the hospital twice. With pancreatitis! It was really dumb! CRACKED

Tom Hanks

METHOD MADNESS CASTAWAY TOM HANKS On top of losing 50 pounds, he didn't shower for the role and was hospitalized for three days with a Staph infection. His doctor said, I have to put you in the hospital because we have to get this infection out of you before it poisons your blood and you die. CRACKED

Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña would go on ride-alongs CRACKED.COM with the LAPD for five months to be ready to play cops in the film End of Watch. They would have 12-hour shifts from 4 pm to 4 am. They got to see domestic violence, family problems, stolen cars and even a man shot dead.

Tilda Swinton

To really get into character as an 82-year-old guy in Suspiria, Tilda Swinton had the makeup department make a prosthetic penis and balls she could wear. It was a nice, weighty set of genitalia so that she could feel it dangling between her legs, as a makeup artist described it. She even whipped it out a few times on set. CRACKED.COM

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams

CRACKED.COM BLUE VALENTINE Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams prepared for their roles by living together with their on-screen daughter for a month and pretending as if they were an actual family. They even celebrated a fake Christmas together.

Choi Min-Sik

METHOD MADNESS OLDBOY CHOI MIN-SIK His character Dae- su spends 15 years in prison, so he branded himself once for each year. Не also ate an entire living octopus in a single take, then said, I felt sorry for the octopus. CRACKED

Anne Hathaway

Les Misérables For the near-death look of Fantine in Les Misérables, Anne Hathaway ate only two thin squares of dried oatmeal paste a day. CRACKED.COM

Robert Pattinson

Robert Pattinson acted like a weirdo to prepare for his role as a robber in Good Time. Не lived in a basement apartment, just like his character, and kept the curtains closed for two months. Не jokingly said that he may have had mercury poisoning because he ate cans of tuna during that time. CRACKED.COM

Aaron Eckhart

In Rabbit Hole Aaron Eckhart is a mourning father who lost his son. To get the feel, Eckhart attended a support group and made up a story...pretending he had lost his child. GRAGKED.COM

Shia LaBeouf

You'd think the craziest thing Shia LaBeouf did for Fury was cuttting his own face open. But LaBeouf also joined the United States National Guard, got a hand tattoo, was baptized, CRACKED COM had a tooth pulled, spent days watching horses die, and didn't bathe for four months.

Margot Robbie

For Suicide Squad, Margot Robbie learned to hold her breath underwater for five minutes. The reason she got up to five minutes is that she was one-upping her stunt double, Ingrid, in their training program. When she heard Ingrid made it to five and a half minutes, she wanted to beat her - but they made her stop, telling her, No one needs to drown over this. CRACKED.COM

Daniel Day-Lewis (Again)

For The Last of the Mohicans, Daniel Day-Lewis learned just about every skill his character knew. Не learned how to build a canoe, track and skin animals, and fire and reload a flintlock while running. Since his character - an 18th-century survivalist - would never part from his flintlock, Day-Lewis didn't either. Не even brought it to Christmas dinner. CRACKED.COM

Andrew Garfield

Andrew Garfield underwent WWII-era Army medic training for Hacksaw Ridge. An Army vet and personal trainer ensured he went through the kind of training required of WWII-era U.S. servicemen. As for medical skills, Garfield acquired as much as possible of what his character would know. CRACKED.COM

Ruth Wilson

For Dark River, Ruth Wilson learned to shear sheep, gut rabbits, and castrate lambs. She spent three weeks on a rundown farm, with sheep S**t everywhere to learn those skills. Once shooting ended, she said she didn't want to see sheep ever again. CRACKED.COM

Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr. learned to play tennis left-handed for Chaplin. I didn't have to, but it was an opportunity to really go for broke and nail the character as much as I could, he says. Plus, he started over learning tennis once he found out, while being trained as a right-handed player, that Chaplin was left-handed. CRACKED.COM

Ryan Gosling

For his role in The Notebook, Ryan Gosling learned how to build furniture. Built by Ryan Gosling The table in the dinner scene is his work. Before shooting started, he moved to Charleston, SC, and apprenticed with a cabinet maker for two months. CRACKED.COM

Charles Dance

For Game of Thrones, Charles Dance learned how to skin a deer. Before filming a scene where Tywin skins a deer, the showrunners asked Dance, Are you a vegetarian, Charles? Не said he wasn't, so they brought in a butcher to show him how to skin a deer and drop its guts into a bucket. For two days after shooting, the smell didn't leave Dance's hands. CRACKED.COM

Christian Bale

THE ACTOR: Christian Bale THE ROLE: Trevor Reznik in The Machinist THE PREP: Bale dropped 63 pounds in just four months to play a scrawny insomniac. His method? The Black Coffee Fast, made up of black coffee, an apple, and a can of tuna-about 200 calories - per day. CRACKED.COM

Billy Bob Thornton

THE ACTOR: Billy Bob Thornton THE ROLE: Karl Childers in Sling Blade - THE PREP: To maintain his character's pained face and odd, shuffling gait, Thornton kept broken glass in his shoes during filming. CRACKED.COM

Adrien Brody

THE ACTOR: Adrien Brody THE ROLE: Wladyslaw Szpilman in The Pianist THE PREP: Brody didn't just learn Chopin for the role. Не wanted to learn what it was like to lose everything, so he gave up his apartment, sold his car, disconnected his cell, and dumped his girlfriend. CRACKED.COM

Charlie Sheen

THE ACTOR: Charlie Sheen THE ROLE: Boy in Police Station in Ferris Bueller's Day off THE PREP: The 21-year-old Sheen went 48 hours without sleep to pull off this wasted look in Ferris Bueller. Presumably this was before he'd dabbled in more, uh, direct tactics. CRACKED.COM

Harrison Ford

THE ACTOR: Harrison Ford THE ROLE: Richard Kimble in The Fugitive THE PREP: Ford assisted in an actual open-heart surgery to prepare for the role. Kimble spends almost the entire movie on the run, and any surgery scenes are blink-and-you'll-miss-them moments. CRACKED.COM

Jared Leto (Again)

THE ACTOR: Jared Leto THE ROLE: Mark David Chapman in Chapter 27 THE PREP: Leto gained 67 pounds to play the dude who shot John Lennon. Unfortunately the movie was a flop, with a worldwide box office of less than $200,000. CRACKED.COM

Nicolas Cage

THE ACTOR: Nicolas Cage THE ROLE: Al Columbato in Birdy THE PREP: Cage had two teeth pulled without anesthetic, to help him prepare to play a soldier with painful facial injuries. Не also took to wearing a bandage around his head so he'd look more sickly when it was removed. CRACKED.COM

Rooney Mara

THE ACTOR: Rooney Mara THE ROLE: Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo THE PREP: Mara chopped off her hair, dyed it black, bleached her eyebrows, and pierced her ears, nose, brows, and nipple for the 2011 thriller. Before the role, her ears weren't even pierced. CRACKED.COM

Dustin Hoffman

THE ACTOR: Dustin Hoffman THE ROLE: Thomas Levy in Marathon Man THE PREP: Hoffman ran four miles a day and lost 15 pounds for the role. For a scene that called for him to be out of breath, he ran a mile and a half before the cameras started rolling. CRACKED.COM

Heath Ledger

THE ACTOR: Heath Ledger THE ROLE: The Joker in The Dark Knight THE PREP: Ledger spent an entire month locked up in his apartment and scrawling dark thoughts in a diary to prep for his stint as the Joker. CRACKED.COM

Daniel Day-Lewis

THE ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis THE ROLE: Christy Brown in My Left Foot THE PREP: Lewis was so dedicated to portraying the severely paralyzed artist and poet that he refused to eat unless he was spoon-fed by the cast and crew, on set. Не also learned to paint with his foot. CRACKED.COM

Halle Berry

THE ACTOR: Halle Berry THE ROLE: Vivian in Jungle Fever DA M Did Jeep THE PREP: Berry refused to shower for 10 days when she played a crack-addicted prostitute in Spike Lee's 1991 film. In retrospect she feels a little sorry for Samuel L. Jackson, who played her boyfriend. CRACKED.COM

Jared Leto

Jared Leto blinded himself for Blade Runner 2049. Не had customized contact lenses made that left him totally unable to see. When he walked slowly into the room for his camera test, with an assistant helping him, Denis Villeneuve says that veryone was in awe. It was so beautiful and powerful-I was moved to tears. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt took out a bit of his front teeth for Fight Club. Не went to the dentist to have his teeth chipped, so he could really look like a guy who fights all the time. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

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