Leonardo DiCaprio ate raw bison and slept in animal carcasses for The Revenant.
That's right. For DiCaprio's Oscar-winning role in the film The Revenant, he embraced the elements and lived his survival film. He ate uncooked bison parts and slept inside real animal carcasses.
Is DiCaprio any less of an actor if he doesn't do these outlandish, gimmicky things? Of course not. And that's the theme with all of these entries. Because, at the end of the day, it is more of a "flex" than benefiting the filmmaking and viewing experience.
Kate Winslet, who starred in The Reader, used her German accent beyond the cameras.
According to Winslet, who used a German accent for her role in The Reader, her kids told her, "Mum, just be plain. Don't do any funny stuff like voices. Just be regular."
Of course, this is more lighthearted than some entries, but even her kids thought she was being extra. If using the voice helped her perfect the accent to the best of her ability, good for her, but not during story time!
Adrien Brody gave up nearly all of his possessions to prep for his role in The Pianist.
In an interview with BBC, Brody claimed that he sold his car, moved out of his apartment, and gave up all materialistic things to move to England in prep for his role in The Pianist. He even ended his relationship with his then-girlfriend all to feel how his character Władysław Szpilman felt.
Brody went on to win awards for his performance, but many others have won for similar roles and managed not to pull a stunt like this.
Jamie Foxx glued his eyelids shut for the film Ray.
This one is on Ray director Taylor Hackford. To play the famous blind artist Ray Charles, Foxx was asked by the director to wear prosthetics to mimic Charles's damaged eyelids. Foxx admitted to having panic attacks throughout the first two weeks of filming.
Charles himself approved of Foxx getting the role, so Foxx's talent should have been enough instead of unnecessarily stressing out the actor.
Sylvester Stallone convinced Dolph Lundgren to really punch him for Rocky IV...and ended up in the ICU.
For the sake of a realistic shot, Stallone asked Lundgren to punch him for real. The real punch hospitalized Stallone in the intensive care unit for nine days.
Sure, a cool story, but some people have died from punches before, and the Rocky series had three other successful movies before it without unsafe stunts like this.
Jamie Dornan followed a woman to prepare for a serial killer role.
For the TV series The Fall, Dornan admitted that to get into the mind of a serial killer, he stalked a woman on the London underground, even admitting that "it felt exciting, in a dirty sort of way."
And I say, "Stalking is stalking."
Jim Carrey's behind-the-scenes behavior was erratic while on set for Man on the Moon.
Carrey refused to break character as Andy Kaufman while filming Man on the Moon and demanded people call him "Andy."
Carrey has done brilliantly in serious roles, so this approach seems nothing more than an amateurish attempt at becoming a character.
Robert De Niro had his teeth ground down for Cape Fear.
No, thank you. Ugh, if I have to talk about it...
To make his character in Cape Fear more menacing, he had his teeth ground down. Ew. De Niro spent around $20,000 to alter and then restore his teeth.
For the film Birdy, Nicholas Cage got his two front teeth pulled out without anesthetic.
Stop it with the teeth!
Cage removed his two front teeth to play a wounded Vietnam veteran. He claims to have done so without any anesthetic.
Can we move on from the teeth stuff now!? Please!
Robert Pattinson practically blacked out drinking in The Lighthouse.
Pattinson told Esquire, “[I was] basically unconscious the whole time. It was crazy,” Pattinson said. “I spent so much time making myself throw up. Pissing my pants. It’s the most revolting thing. I don’t know, maybe it’s really annoying.”
If you're drunk, are you really acting anymore? It's more "method" than "method acting."
Aaron Eckhart faked losing a child in a support group to prep for Rabbit Hole.
Eckhart even broke down in tears describing the life and death of his not real child.
It seems more obnoxious than anything else. This could easily be done in a script read.
Tom Hanks suffered a staph infection during Cast Away filming.
Well, he didn't force the staph infection onto himself, but an untreated cut led to a staph infection. It got so bad because he was so deep within the character that the infection almost killed him.
And a reminder: Staph infections are contagious. His "method acting" showed disregard for his health and others around him.
Gary Oldman got nicotine poisoning from smoking too much for Darkest Hour.
Smoking kills, but don't tell Oldman, who reportedly smoked around $30,000 worth of cigars to help him get into his role as Winston Churchill.
This resulted in him getting nicotine poisoning throughout the shoot. The one bright side was that he claims he hasn't had one since, but it was still dangerous as hell.
Dustin Hoffman slapped (unscripted) Meryl Streep in Kramer vs. Kramer.
In one scene, Hoffman struck Streep in the face, and she was not ready for it.
Streep told the New York Times, "...it was my first take in my first movie, and he just slapped me. And you see it in the movie. It was overstepping."
For years, this moment of improv has been looked at as "method acting" instead of assault.
Daniel Day-Lewis stayed in a wheelchair, demanding to be spoon-fed for My Left Foot.
Day-Lewis refused to do anything that his character, who was born with cerebral palsy, couldn't do. It's cool as heck that he learned to paint with his feet for this role, but that gets overshadowed by him being extra.
I'm all for getting into character, but when it affects crew members in what should be their downtime, it seems like you're just trying too hard.
Throughout the filming of Scent of a Woman, Al Pacino claimed to be blind like his character.
Pacino went to great lengths to prepare for this role as a man who lost his sight. He even had coaching from a school for the blind.
It all seemed so normal until Pacino claimed he was blind after falling into a bush on set. Call it a joke or great acting, but I just think it's tacky.
Dennis Hopper did all kinds of drugs while performing his role in Apocalypse Now.
His diet consisted of speed, weed, and LSD. It was so bad that it's rumored that costar Marlon Brando hated working with him, and they almost came to blows.
Don't do drugs, kids.
Shia LaBeouf got drunk off of moonshine throughout the shooting of Lawless.
Costar Mia Wasikowska confirmed the drunken behavior, which is labeled as "method acting." LaBeouf even admitted to it, saying, “Mia was ready to walk away from the movie. I was really pretty aggressive about it, and not in any kind of weird, strange way, but I don’t think she had ever experienced anything like that.”
It's extra strange because LaBeouf's character isn't a heavy drinker. He just pushes the moonshine.
Jared Leto gave cast mates weird gifts to stay in character as the Joker in Suicide Squad but also refused to communicate with the cast.
Lines have been blurred on what happened on set, but the claims remain that Leto gifted obnoxiously creepy things to cast mates. Since he refused to break character, it's also claimed that he didn't communicate with the cast when in clown (prince) makeup.
I imagine it'd be hard to get the right shots when one guy is off in his own little world.
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Me too, Pal.