- You know, there's method acting and then there's
forgetting who you are entirely and becoming the character.
(film strip clicking)
On October 29, 2008, Oscar nominated actor,
Joaquin Phoenix took method acting to a whole new level
when he announced his retirement from acting
at only 34 years old, saying that he wanted to be
a hip hop performer and rapper instead.
And he was dead serious about it.
Phoenix even appeared on Late Night with David Letterman
on February 11, 2009 in basically what has gone down
in history as one of the most bizarre interviews
of all time.
Sporting a beard and dark sunglasses, he chewed gum
and gave brief, monotone answers with Letterman
unaware of what was going on.
Later on, Phoenix eventually apologized
to the talk show host as all of this turned out
to just be an act for Casey Affleck's new mockumentary,
I'm Still Here, in which he played an over the top version
of himself.
He was reportedly so convincing, he had close friends
and relatives seriously concerned for his mental health.
You know what, I think I'm gonna do the same thing.
I gonna take some time off You Tube and start a rap career.
My rap name's gonna be Young Baldo, mix tape coming soon.
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Actors often have to change how they look
to suit a role.
You know, cutting their hair, wearing contacts, et cetera.
But, when you're Adrian Brody those things
just aren't enough.
No, this guy's gotta make all those other actors
look like sissies by quite literally risking his life
for his art.
When he took on Roman Polanski's 2002 drama, The Pianist,
the then 29 year old actor transformed his whole body.
Brody lost a whopping 29 pounds in order to play
the Jewish musician and practiced the pieces he played
during the film for four hours every day.
However, that still didn't seem to be enough.
Realizing the only was for him to effectively understand
what his character had lost, Brody really broke up
with his then girlfriend, really gave up most
of his belongings and his apartment in New York City,
and really gave away his phone, his car and really moved
to Europe.
But it was worth it because he won an Oscar
that year for his trouble, becoming the first leading actor
under 30 to take the prize.
Okay, well, if I get a role for Mr. Clean,
I'm gonna have to shave this beard.
Y'all gonna have to deal with it, I'm just saying.
It's method acting.
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Many people don't know that Cage actually developed
his own brand of new style of acting,
called Nouveau Shamanic and claims he's bored
with traditional methods and boy, is it something.
For Face Off, in which he plays John Travolta's character
when the two switch faces, Cage studied Travolta,
both through his work and in person.
He was caught many times staring at his co-star
and mimicking his movements, even when they weren't on set.
Then, for 2007's Ghost Rider, Cage tried to connect himself
to the spirit world through voodoo magic,
even painting his face with black and white makeup
and sewing ancient relics into his costume.
But by far the worst, while filming the 1984 war drama,
Birdie, Cage had two teeth removed just before
shooting commenced.
Though they were taken out by professional dentists,
thank God and not himself, the actor refused anesthetic
as he wanted to feel what his character would've felt
in losing them, using it to further his performance.
Nope!
I don't care how much pain is art, Matty like his teethies.
Matty gone keep his teethies.
That's gross.
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Now for a man who's been synonymous with method acting
for pretty much his entire career,
Dustin Hoffman has always taken on his roles
with devotion and intensity.
Which, actually wound up creating a feud
between him and Meryl Streep after he got her
what he thought to be fired up on the set
of 1979's Kramer vs. Kramer.
He did this by insulting her repeatedly
and slapped her in the face before every take.
Then, devoted to playing his part perfectly
in the 1976 thriller, Marathon Man, Hoffman
prepared for a scene in which his character, Babe
had been awake for three days by literally
staying awake for three days.
To be sure that he looked truly exhausted,
the actor decided to add in a four mile run
before arriving to set.
When co-star and screen legend, Sir Laurence Olivier
realized what Hoffman had done, he plainly asked the man
why he didn't just try acting,
claiming that it's much easier and safer.
Not a chance.
I don't care how cool the role is,
Matty needs his sleep.
Eight hours, every night, minimum and coffee.
(film strip clicking)
Before lung cancer caused his untimely passing
on May 16, 1984, Kaufman, at 35 years old,
had already made a name for himself, not only
as a regular on the sitcom Taxi, but also as an artist
who used his real life as his canvas.
Teaming up with professional wrestler,
Jerry the King Lawler, Kaufman convinced millions
that the pair were in a feud, even coming to blows
on David Letterman's talk show.
But where Andy really took it too far is when he became
Tony Clifton, a horribly offensive comic
and lounge singer who would often perform
as Kaufman's opening act.
Kaufman was so fantastically convincing at his craft
that people to this day even believed that he faked
his own death, with many of them certain that he's posing
as another celebrity.
Some people even claim he could be trying his hand
at politics and is higher up in the American government
than you might expect.
These people also believe that Tupac and Biggie
are still alive and as much as I would like that,
it's just conspiracy stuff.
Yeah, a little crazy.
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Before he was challenged to a cosmic dance off
with Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy,
38 year old Lee Pace played an injured stuntman
devoted to ending his life
in the 2006 adventure comedy The Fall.
Pace's character, Roy Walker, is paralyzed
and to really drive home the performances
of everyone involved, Pace, along with the film's director,
Tarsem Singh hatched a scheme in which nearly all
of the cast and crew actually believed that the lead actor
was paralyzed in real life.
Pace spent over two months pretending to be Roy,
a man who was in a motorcycle accident
and happened to have the same name as the main protagonist.
But on the last day of filming the scenes in the hospital,
Pace stood up to the shock of the cast and crew
and walked.
Though many of the crew members were understandably angry
over the ruse, Pace claimed he wouldn't change anything
about what they did as it made the film much more authentic.
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Art is obviously subjective and can be different
or even weird to each person watching
but if you think Shia wearing a bag over his head
and watching all of his movies back to back is strange,
try acting alongside him.
The 30 year old actor went without showering
for four weeks on the set of the 2014 war drama, Fury,
much to the dismay of his fellow actors.
He even went so far as to drop LSD while filming
2013's Charlie Countryman, shortly before choking
his director, Fredrik Bond, and needing his trainer
to restrain him until he calmed down.
(mumbling)
What you say about my mama?
But where the actor may have really gone too far
was when, before shooting a scene for Fury,
Labeouf decided the work his makeup artist
was doing to make his face look wounded wasn't enough.
Yeah, you know where this is going.
The actor reportedly had a tooth removed and cut gashes
in his own face to make the wounds look realistic.
Okay, there's dedication and then there's just
(shrieking) crazy devotion.
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For pretty much every performance that the actor
has ever given, he's done everything that he can
to become as close to the character as possible.
While filming My Left Foot in the late 80's,
Lewis insisted that he be treated as if he were
a spastic quadriplegic, even having food spoon fed
to him while he was in a wheel chair.
Then, he only ate what he tracked, killed, and skinned
with his own hands while filming Last of the Mohicans.
And then there was the time that he moved out of his house,
living separately from his wife so that he could understand
isolation from loved ones for the 2005 drama,
The Ballad of Jack and Rose.
He even spent a number of nights in true isolation,
locked up in solitary confinement in an abandoned prison
to understand the hardships his character endured
in the 1993 bio-drama, In the Name of the Father.
The characters Day-Lewis becomes leaves him needing
long periods between films which is why he only makes one
every two to five years.
Now you know.
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Many actors have stepped into the madman character,
the Joker, but few have taken their antics to the levels
of the Academy Award winning actor, Jared Leto,
which he did for 2016's Suicide Squad.
The 45 year old performer did his best
to modernize the look and personality of the character,
going as far as spending time in a real asylum
while talking to residents there.
Spending a few nights in a real prison cell
and maintaining his psychotic clown persona all day.
The actor would even walk around the streets of Toronto,
hiding in crowds, while he practiced the chilling laugh
of the Joker to see how much it freaked out
the people around him.
(chuckles)
He did.
He really did.
But what crossed the line for many of his co-stars,
were the gifts Leto would send them.
Carried to their trailers and homes by real life henchmen
Leto hired to carry out his tasks for them,
the presents would always be gross or inappropriate
such as a dead pig or even a used condom.
Yup.
(film strip clicking)
For Christopher Nolan's 2008 superhero masterpiece,
The Dark Knight, the director tapped 27 year old
Heath Ledger to play the iconic Batman villain.
This, only to be met with severe backlash
by internet comments and postings as to just how terrible
the actor would be in the role.
But of course, as many of us now know,
Ledger was outstanding as the clowned prince of crime,
preparing for the performance by literally
going into isolation in a London hotel room
for an entire month where he wrote a diary
and kept speaking to nobody in the voice
that he'd settled on.
In other words, he truly became the Joker.
Many people believe that his turn playing
the psychotic clown was what directly led
to his tragic and untimely demise via an overdose
with prescription pain killers which was compounded
by an earlier role as an addict in the movie, Candy.
Either way, method acting may have brought about
the loss of a truly amazing talent.
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