5 Actors Whose Method Acting Took Them To The Edge
Some actors are willing to go to extreme lengths for a role.
The Method is a Stanislavsky system's based approach to acting used by Hollywood's most famous stars.
Actors often win prestigious awards and cult status for this extreme method, but sometimes they go too far – torturing themselves with hunger strikes or completely isolating themselves from society.
Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant
By agreeing to star in the period drama The Revenant, DiCaprio signed up to live in hell for some time. The actor slept in the carcass of a horse to prepare for filming the infamous scene.
DiCaprio also ate raw bison meat in one of the scenes, which was a double test for the actor, who is a vegetarian. The character's painful reaction to eating meat is Leo's real condition, not acting.
Leo's torment paid off handsomely: he won the first Oscar of his career.
Shia LeBeouf for Fury
Considered one of the most thoughtful actors, LaBeouf showed his seriousness for the role to the fullest while preparing to shoot the 2014 military drama Fury.
Shia spent a month on a military base and also had his tooth knocked out, cut face with a knife, stopped washing and watched horses die for days.
Johnny Depp for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
To get to know his character, journalist Hunter S. Thompson, Johnny Depp moved into his house for 4 months at the reporter's invitation.
Thompson settled the actor in his basement, where Depp studied the journalist's diaries about drug experiments, wore his clothes, used his typewriter and wrote everything down in a diary.
Johnny got so deep into the character, adopting his mannerisms and words, that it took him several months after filming to return to his real self.
Christian Bale for The Machinist
For the drama The Machinist, Bale lost 66 pounds and worked himself to exhaustion. The actor, who weighed 121 pounds, ate an apple and a can of tuna a day during filming.
According to the producers of the movie, the actor was ready to exhaust himself further, but the team was worried about Bale's health and asked him to stop.
Adrien Brody for The Pianist
The actor came a long way to prepare for the role of an abandoned and starving pianist during World War II.
Brody sold the car, moved out of the apartment, turned off all the phones and left for Europe with a few bags of personal items.
The actor ate a couple of eggs and a chicken leg a day, watched no television, and rehearsed.