As a former actress, I feel twitchy when I hear that an actor uses the Method. What that means essentially, is that the actor feels they need to immerse themselves in the role, on and off screen, in order to give a believable performance. This can be something relatively harmless like taking boxing lessons to prepare for the role of a boxer. Or doing something more intense, like dropping acid in preparation for an acid trip scene.
This is what Shia LeBeouf admitted to doing for his film “The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman.” He actually set aside a day to trip on acid to make sure he was prepared.
“There’s a way to do an acid trip like ‘Harold & Kumar,’ and there’s a way to be on acid … What I know of acting, Sean Penn actually strapped up to that [electric] chair in ‘Dead Man Walking.’ These are the guys that I look up to,” he said.
He must have been on acid when he decided to wear his hair like this. But seriously, doing illegal, mind-altering drugs for a role is, in my opinion, taking it too far for the craft. I believe in using your creativity and imagination, not acid, to get a good performance. Click through to see more celebs who took it a shade too far for the parts they played. [USA Today]
Source: Vanity Fair
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Christian Bale: “The Machinist”
Source: IMDb
For his role in “The Machinist,” Christian Bale decided to drop 63 pounds without so much as a suggestion to do so from the film’s director. He got down to 120 pounds for the film, endangering his health. In retrospect, he says that he would never go that far for a role again. Not because he could have died, but because he doesn’t want to be “that guy” that loses weight for all his movies. Good thinking, Christian. [Yahoo]
Adrien Brody: “The Jacket”
Source: Fanpop
In order to enhance his performance as a man undergoing psychological treatment in “The Jacket,” Brody asked to remain strapped up in a straight jacket and left in a morgue drawer after the cameras stopped rolling. No thanks. [The Guardian]
Chloe Sevigny: “The Brown Bunny”
Source: W Magazine
If you define taking it too far as putting Vincent Gallo’s dick in your mouth, then consider Chloe Sevigny guilty. She admitted to needing therapy after her BJ scene with Gallo. “What’s happened with that is all very complicated. There are a lot of emotions. I’ll probably have to go to therapy at some point. But I love Vincent. The film is tragic and beautiful, and I’m proud of it and my performance. I’m sad that people think one way of the movie, but what can you do? I’ve done many explicit sex scenes, but I’m not that interested in doing any more. I’m more self-aware now and wouldn’t be able to be as free, so why even do it?” she told Playboy. Yeah, it doesn’t sound like she enjoyed her oral encounter too much. [Huffington Post]
Divine: “Pink Flamingos”
Source: Feast Festival
Drag queen and actor Divine is infamous for eating fresh dog feces as Babs in the John Waters film “Pink Flamingos.” Divine told a reporter, “I followed that dog around for three hours just zooming in on its asshole.” Later, Divine hated being remembered for eating dog poop. “I’ve received boxes of dog shit – plastic dog shit. I have gone to parties where people just sit around and talk about dog shit because they think it’s what I want to talk about.” He claims he only ate it because “it was in the script.” That would never be a good enough reason for me to eat dog poop. [Wikipedia]
Daniel Day Lewis: Every Film
Source: Looper
The question is when hasn’t Daniel Day Lewis taken it too far for a role. A staunch practitioner of the Method, for “My Left Foot” he remained in a wheelchair and was spoon fed by the crew for the entire shoot. In preparation for the “The Boxer” he tattooed his own hands and trained as a boxer twice a day, seven days a week. For “In The Name of the Father,” he slept in an abandoned jail and ate only prison rations. While filming “Gangs of New York” he trained as a butcher and wandered the streets of Rome (where the movie was filmed) picking fights with strangers. He even contracted pneumonia because he refused to wear a warmer jacket than his character would have owned. All great performances, but just too much. [Independent]
Robert De Niro: “Cape Fear”
Source: Twitter
In order to play a criminal in “Cape Fear,” De Niro felt he had to have the teeth of a criminal. But prosthetics wouldn’t do. He paid a dentist $20,000 to grind his teeth down and screw them up. [Wikipedia]
Joaquin Phoenix: “I’m Still Here”
Source: Screen Goblin
It’s still hard to classify “I’m Still Here” as a film. If you believe it was a mockumentary, then Joaquin pushed his actorly dedication to the limit, creating beaded, sunglassed, hip hop alter ego JP, and behaving as him in public from the time he started filming until after the movie came out. The whole world bought his act as an unstable actor/ turned musician.
Viggo Mortensen: “Eastern Promises” and “Lord of the Rings”
Source: Bleecker Street
Viggo is another actor that believes in “communicating with the world [he’s] in” when prepping for a part. To “prepare thoroughly” for “Eastern Promises,” he spent weeks with Slavic gang members. To get ready for “Lord of the Rings” he hiked alone thought the New Zealand wilderness. Intense. [Daily Free Press]
Original by: Ami Angelowicz
