Acting is a serious craft.
Long before the cameras start rolling, most great actors prepare for their roles by memorizing
lines and conducting exhaustive research, while striving to perfect every mannerism
of the subject.
Sometimes, though, this extensive preparation comes at a cost.
Which actors went to surprising extremes and almost died preparing for their roles?
Was the price they paid really worth it?
We'll let you be the judge.
Matthew McConaughey
Following a string of fluffy rom-coms in the late 2000s, it was pretty hard to take Matthew
McConaughey seriously.
"Dazed and confused is the one thing that was passable... after that"
"Aw, thanks man, that actually launched my career."
"After that, everything else was awful."
McConaughey managed to reignite his career with a run of critically acclaimed movies
which culminated in an Oscar win for his star turn in Dallas Buyers Club.
However, it turns out that the actor's Oscar win very nearly cost him his sight.
After dropping 38 pounds to play someone suffering from AIDS, McConaughey started experiencing
problems with his vision and consulted doctors for medical help.
Fortunately, the effects weren't permanent, although McConaughey did reveal to Metro that
the extreme stress he put his body through was still affecting his sight over a year
later.
If McConaughey had continued down the dangerous path of self-imposed starvation, it's likely
that the effects could have been even more dangerous.
Johnny Depp
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas represents an interesting turning point in Johnny Depp's
career, and not just because he could have exploded, literally, at any point.
Months before filming began, author Hunter S. Thompson allowed Depp to live in his basement
to prepare for the adaptation.
During his time in the house, Depp taped conversations, smoked cigarettes, and even wore Thompson's
old clothes.
The star has since shared fond memories of this time.
"As he got closer I realized he had a three-foot cattle prod in his left hand, and a taser
in his right hand."
Yeah, hee hee, just tryin' to make friends."
However, Thompson's act of generosity could have led to Depp's untimely death.
After a few days, Depp discovered something terrifying: the cigarettes he'd been smoking
in the basement could have blown the house sky high, thanks to the gunpowder keg stored
down in the basement beside him.
"This is a very ominous assignment, with overtones of extreme personal danger.
Occupational journalism man.
This is important Goddammit!"
Daniel Day-Lewis
Though now retired, Daniel Day-Lewis is the poster child for modern method acting, taking
extreme measures to prepare for every movie he stars in, from refusing to leave his wheelchair
while filming My Left Foot, to living on prison rations for In The Name Of The Father?
Surprisingly, the most dangerous preparation that Day-Lewis made for a role actually sounds
relatively safe.
While playing the part of Bill the Butcher in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, Lewis
simply refused to wear a warm coat while walking around the wintry streets of New York.
Why?
The poor 19th century character he was playing would have never owned such a luxury.
Unsurprisingly, the threadbare coat he sported didn't do much to keep him warm, and Lewis
caught pneumonia.
He even initially refused treatment because the medicine wouldn't have been period appropriate.
Talk about committing to a role.
"This is a night for Americans!"
Martin Lawrence
Comedians always need to have a joke or two up their sleeve, but the real challenge of
comedy lies in the physicality of the performance.
Martin Lawrence learned this lesson all too well following his part in Big Momma's House.
To prepare for the latex fat suit that the role of Big Momma would require him to wear,
Lawrence decided to jog wearing heavy clothing and a plastic suit in 100-degree heat.
At the end of his ill-fated run, Lawrence collapsed due to extreme dehydration and heat
exhaustion.
When he first arrived at the hospital, his body temperature hit a startling 107 degrees
and a ventilator was required to help him breathe after he slipped into a coma that
lasted for three days.
Lawrence's attending physicians initially feared that there might be permanent brain
damage, but Lawrence would make a full recovery.
"Is that all you got?
Well ya'll better get ready to sit down cause you ain't gonna last long once we get all
in here.
Ain't that right?"
Matt Damon
For his role in the 1996 movie Courage Under Fire, Matt Damon took desperate measures and
underwent an extreme diet to play a former soldier traumatized by the effects of war.
Damon's character had become addicted to heroin, so Damon lost 40 pounds in order to portray
the toll that would take on the human body.
Unfortunately for Damon, his strict diet took a toll on his health in real life, too.
For months after filming ended, the star had to remain under strict medical supervision
and take medication for the damage he'd inflicted on his adrenal gland.
The young actor later revealed in an Reddit AMA that he regretted his methods and was
even told by a doctor that undergoing the unsupervised diet could have permanently shrunk
his heart if he'd continued much longer.
Ashton Kutcher
Eager to prove himself as a serious actor, Ashton Kutcher took on the role of American
entrepreneur Steve Jobs in the 2013 bio-pic, Jobs.
Speaking after the premiere screening at Sundance, Kutcher told the audience he felt close to
the film's subject.
To prepare for this part, Kutcher grew his hair long and spent hours studying tapes of
the Apple CEO in action to help him replicate his various mannerisms.
It turns out that wasn't enough.
Before filming, Kutcher also decided to replicate his subject's diet and only ate fruit, nuts,
and seeds.
While this might sound healthy in theory, Kutcher wound up hospitalized for pancreatitis
just a few days before shooting began.
Kutcher's not exaggerating when he says the experience was absolutely terrifying, but
luckily, the actor made a full recovery.
Hilary Swank
It's not unusual for actors working on fight movies to suffer from painful injuries, but
Hilary Swank endured a more dangerous wound than most while preparing for Million Dollar
Baby—and it all started with a simple blister.
As a result of having to pivot on her feet constantly during training, Swank developed
a blister on her right foot which she claimed was the size of her palm.
During an interview with correspondent Mike Wallace for 60 Minutes, Swank explained how
it became impossible for her to train or walk on the blister, so she popped it herself,
which led to a dangerous staph infection that could have been fatal if left untreated.
"Don't come crying to me if you get hurt, alrighty?"
"We got a deal."
Robert De Niro
There's more where that came from when it comes to boxing movies that injured their
stars.
Now regarded as a masterpiece of filmmaking and one of Martin Scorsese's best movies,
Raging Bull suffered a number of setbacks during production that could have knocked
the film out of the running before it even got started.
Actor Robert De Niro transformed himself for the role of Jake La Motta, training for nearly
a year to embody the part of a real-life boxer.
During training, he boxed around 1,000 rounds in a gym to add 20 pounds of muscle to his
frame, and even broke his mentor's rib along the way.
However, when production in LA was completed, De Niro was sent to Europe on an eating spree,
as the role required him to gain weight so he could play La Motta on the decline too.
After gaining 60 pounds over a period of four months, De Niro returned to New York to finish
filming, but the weight gain came at a price.
After his star showed signs of struggling with his posture, breathing and even talking,
Scorsese decided to temporarily halt production, as he believed De Niro might be at risk of
a heart attack.
"You want your steak?"
Bring it over.
It's like a piece of charcoal, bring it over here!"
"You want your steak?"
"Yeah!"
Christian Bale
Brad Anderson's disturbing thriller was lauded for its fascinating insight into paranoia
and delusion, but ultimately, The Machinist will always be remembered most vividly for
Christian Bale's jaw-dropping performance.
To play the part of a man suffering from insomnia and other serious psychological problems,
Christian Bale dropped over 60 pounds, reducing his body mass to just 120 pounds.
During a Reddit AMA, co-star Michael Ironside revealed an even more disturbing insight into
the dangerous extremes that Bale's diet took, explaining how starvation had ravaged his
body, saying,
"[Chris] said, 'Can you look at this?'
And he turned and dropped his overalls [...] and the muscles in his ass had literally dropped
out of the sockets of his hips."
As if that wasn't dangerous enough, Bale only had six weeks to regain his normal weight
before putting on the cape and cowl for his Batman Begins screen test, and then just five
months more to develop a physique worthy of the caped crusader.
According to Ironside though, he didn't seem to have much trouble managing it.
"It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me."
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