7 Times Actors went Over-Board to Prepare for Roles
When we watch a film, we’re often so engrossed in the characters that we don’t think about how long and hard the actors prepared for roles. That’s just because they’re good actors, who often go to absurd lengths to do their characters justice. Most of the time actors go through these intensive preparations for roles on their own accord rather than by a director's instructions, showing their true dedication.
Natalie Portman in Black Swan
In order to prepare for the role as an obsessive, spiralling ballerina, Portman took ballet lessons with trainer Mary Helen Bowes for a year before shooting. She would train for six days a week and eight hours daily, as well as doing swimming, cross-training, and endurance exercises. With her dedication to perfecting the skill and Darren Aronofsky’s directing, the ending where she dances the Black Swan becomes totally enthralling. As well as training her ballet skills, her preparation allowed her to get into the mindset of her character, Nina, as she too had to obsessively train for a role. Rightly so, her performance won her an Oscar.
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Leonardo DiCaprio in Revenant
It’s almost expected that an actor who mostly stars in critically acclaimed films would go through extremes to prepare for his role. For Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio slept in an animal carcass, ate raw buffalo meat, and swam in freezing cold rivers. This would allow him to immerse himself into the experiences of his character, a hunter lost in the cold South Dakota woods. His dedication to the role is understandable, seeing as he is portraying the real life character of frontiersman Hugh glass.
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Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables
To get into the role of a prostitute abandoned by the man who impreganated her, Anne Hathaway underwent a transformation that completely elevated her heart-wrenching performance. She lost twenty-five pounds by only eating two thin squares of oatmeal paste a day, and she shaved her head. Knowing that her body underwent similar horrors as a character adds a sense of authenticity to her performance that makes her all the more deserving of the Oscar she won.
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Jared Leto in Suicide Squad
Jared Leto is known to go through the extreme to prepare for a role, so giving him a role as a sadistic psychopath would unsurprisingly get…weird. Using method acting as a means to get into the character of the Joker, Jared Leto sent a number of strange things to crew members. These include anal beads, a dead pig, and used condoms. He also sent Margot Robbie, who plays Harley Quinn in the film, a love letter along with a black box with a dead rat inside. Unfortunately for him, despite such extreme approaches to method acting and probably creeping out everyone on set, he is still popularly cited as the worst Joker.
👉 Watch Suicide Squad on Amazon Prime
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The Cast in Fury
According to Brad Pitt, to get a sense of the experience and training soldiers in the Second World war recieved, the cast of Fury underwent months of intensive training. They slept and ate in tanks, and had real fights on set which resulted in minor injuries. The actor that took the preparation for his role the most seriously would arguably be Shia LaBeouf, who got a dentist to pull out one of his teeth. He also didn’t shower at all while filming, and scarred his own face despite having access to advanced prosthetics and talented make-up artists.
Jamie Fox in Ray
To get into the character of legendary soul singer Ray Charles, Jamie Fox had his eyes glued shut for fourteen hours a day, and wore prosthetics modelled from Charles’ eyes. Fox, already being a classically trained pianist, was able to experience close to what it would have been like for a blind musician and pianist. Fox’s dedication is admirable, since a biopic about a real life legend should try its absolute best to portray them in a respectable light.
Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde
Watching the behind-the-scenes footage of the action film Atomic Blonde really puts into perspective the amount of training actors who do their own stunts endure. The amazing dedication and physical skill of Charlize Theron is just as alive and present in the footage than it is in the film. Apparently, she also clenched down on her jaw so hard once that her teeth cracked. Watching her tackle, kick, and fight stuntmen is evident of months of intensive training and a passionate attitude towards her craft.
