Actors That Were Absorbed By The Character They Played.

WRITTEN BY SWARANGI GADEKAR

Sometimes actors go to immense lengths in order to portray their characters as realistically as possible. But sometimes, when the method acting goes too far, the actors absorb a character and it becomes very difficult for them to get back to real life. Let’s look at some actors who took acting too far.

Kate Winslet - Kate Winslet played the role of a Nazi camp worker in the 2008 movie ‘The Reader’. After the filming for the movie ended, she found it very difficult to shake the character off. She said, “It was truly overwhelming. I really went somewhere. I was in some kind of a trance.”

Adrian Brody - Adrian Brody played the role of pianist Władysław Szpilman in the movie ‘The Pianist’. He lived as the character for almost half a year and lost weight to look exactly like Szpilman. He also mentioned how difficult it was for him to assimilate back into his real life after the filming ended.

Leonardo DiCaprio - DiCaprio played the role of Hugh Glass who is left to survive in extreme conditions in 'The Revenant'. The actor, who is vegan, had to eat raw bison liver and live in an animal carcass as a part of filming the movie. This even lead to hypothermia for Leonardo but he didn’t quit and filmed the movie.

Lady Gaga - The songstress played the character of Patrizia Reggiani in ‘House of Gucci’. She had to put on an Italian accent for the role and she had it for nine months. When the filming was finished, she said she needed to have a psychiatric nurse with her and required medical help to get back to real life.

Joaquin Phoenix - Joaquin Phoenix played the role of Arthur Fleck or Joker in the film ‘Joker’ based on the DC comics. The actor had to lose almost 52 pounds to get in shape and look like the Joker. He began to think erratically due to his obsession with his weight and almost lost his mind while portraying the Joker.

Jared Leto - For the movie 'Dallas Buyers Club', Jared Leto had to portray a transgender woman named Rayon. Director Jean-Marc Vallée stated, “I don’t know Leto. Jared never showed me Jared.” He was so lost into the character that he was no longer himself. Leto also had similar approach during the filming of 'Suicide Squad' and became ‘Mistah J’. He also sent his fellow cast dead pigs and live rats.

Christian Bale - Christian Bale played the role of an insomniac who becomes crazy after a chain of mysterious events happen in his life in ‘The Machinist’. Bale had to lose 62 pounds for the role and he became thin and emaciated. He got into character and only ate an apple and a can of tuna to lose weight. He was in such poor state that it looked as if he would die.

Heath Ledger - One of the most authentic portrayal of the character Joker was portrayed by the late actor Heath Ledger. In one of the most sad and heartbreaking instances of method acting gone wrong, Ledger became so occupied with this role that no one could separate Ledger from the Joker. To prepare for the role he lived in a motel for a month and shut himself from the outer world completely.

Daniel Day Lewis - Considered as the best example of a method acting actor, Daniel Day Lewis has absorbed each and every character that he has played. He is known for his intense preparation before every role. For the 1989 film My Left Foot, he had to play a patient with cerebral palsy and he never once broke character for the entire filming schedule. He even had to be spoonfed all his meals to maintain character.

For the movie The Last of the Mohicans, he lived in the forest and only ate whatever he hunted or captured and even built a canoe himself. The way he absorbed each character seemed like a trance and one could never break him

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