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Adrien Brody -

'The Pianist' (2002) is one of Adrien Brody's most iconic movies, as well as his most challenging role. The heartbreaking story required an intensely emotional performance from Brody, and he felt he needed to do something drastic to understand the loss he was supposed to portray.

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Adrien Brody -

Brody got rid of his apartment, his car, his phone, and starved himself to a dangerously low weight. He also took extensive piano lessons to prepare to play the role of the skilled pianist. While it's impossible to recreate the experience of a Holocaust survivor, Brody's extreme preparation helped him deliver an Oscar-winning performance.

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Robert De Niro -

Robert De Niro's performance as Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese's 'Raging Bull' (1980) is indisputably his best performance. He trained with the real LaMotta for months, and apparently showed such a talent for boxing that LaMotta believed he had potential for a professional boxing career.

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Robert De Niro -

De Niro really committed to portraying LaMotta over several decades. He gained 30 pounds (13 kg) to play the older LaMotta. In the end, he won the Oscar for Best Actor.

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Reese Witherspoon -

Reese Witherspoon's 2014 film 'Wild' was her most challenging role for many reasons. It was a grittier role than she usually plays, and she was fearful of the nudity, sexuality, and drug use it would involve.

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Reese Witherspoon -

As she plays a lone backpacker, Witherspoon was also nervous about filming so many scenes alone without any other actors. "I hadn't ever been alone in scenes for days and days. There were probably 25 days of the shoot where I had no other actor opposite me." Witherspoon revealed that she suffered from panic attacks for weeks before production started, and resorted to hypnotherapy to deal with them.

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Anne Hathaway - Anne Hathaway starved herself to play the emaciated, tuberculosis-stricken Fantine in 'Les Miserables' (2012). She told Vanity Fair the she forced herself to stay away from her husband for a while so she could go into a darker, less happy place for the role. She also cut off all of her hair for the role rather than letting hair and makeup do the work.

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Rooney Mara - Rooney Mara took on the dark and complicated character of Lisbeth Salander in the 2011 movie 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.' Not only did Mara have to portray a harrowing sexual assault, she also committed to some serious physical transformations for the role.

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Rooney Mara -

The already thin Mara lost more weight to become emaciated, and she opted to go with real piercings rather than fake ones.

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Halle Berry - The 2001 movie 'Monster's Ball' is a heavy story. There's racism, domestic abuse, and more, plus a complicated relationship between two difficult characters. Berry gave an incredible performance through many harrowing scenes, including one extremely graphic sex scene with her co-star Billy Bob Thornton.

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Kate Winslet -

When Kate Winslet started preparing for the role of Mare in the hit HBO series 'Mare of Easttown,' she was 43. By the time they finished filming, she was 45. Winslet told interviewers that it was incredibly difficult to keep the trauma and despair of her character with her for such a long time.

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Kate Winslet -

Winslet plays a recently divorced mother who lost a son who took his own life. She becomes obsessed with the murders and disappearances of several girls in her town. She expressed her surprise that after so many years in acting, she still struggled to separate her character's emotions from her own.

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Jamie Foxx - Jamie Foxx felt an immense pressure to do justice to a legend when he played Ray Charles in the 2004 biopic 'Ray.' He described the terrifying experience of playing the piano for Ray Charles himself, and waiting to see if he passed muster with the grand maestro!

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Jamie Foxx -

In order to live the experience of the blind star, Foxx actually glued his eyes shut for 14 hours at a time while on set. He said that the experience was horrifying and caused him panic attacks.

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Natalie Portman -

Natalie Portman challenged herself mentally and physically for the disturbing psychological thriller 'The Black Swan' (2010). She underwent intensive training for a year to become a ballet dancer, which she paid for herself.

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Natalie Portman -

Although already very petite, she lost a further 20 pounds (9 kg) She also trained with a vocal coach so she could change her voice and speak in a higher, more childlike pitch.

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Leonardo DiCaprio -

The 2015 film 'The Revenant' was definitely DiCaprio's grittiest, and probably the performance of a lifetime. He later said it was the most challenging role he's ever had. Filming took nine months, most of which took place outdoors in freezing temperatures.

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Leonardo DiCaprio -

DiCaprio had to learn numerous survival skills, become proficient in two Native languages, and eat a raw bison liver on camera. At least he finally won his Oscar!

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Shia Labeouf - Shia Labeouf has developed a reputation for method acting in recent years. For the movie 2014 war movie 'Fury,' he made it his most challenging role yet. To recreate the real experience of a soldier in World War II, he didn't shower for months during filming. He also chose to pull out one of his own teeth and cut his face with a knife instead of using makeup. He also reportedly became a Christian to match his character.

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Uma Thurman - Uma Thurman had an incredibly difficult time filming 'Kill Bill' (2003). She had to do all of her stunts, which put her in danger and pushed her body to the limit. Her martial arts scenes were extremely challenging and had to be repeated many times until she got them right. She was even injured in a car stunt, which caused a rift between her and director Quentin Tarantino.

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Michael Fassbender -

Michael Fassbender's most challenging role was that of Bobby Sands in the 2008 biopic 'Hunger.' As the name indicates, Fassbender plays a member of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) who led a hunger strike in prison in the 1980s. Fassbender reportedly went on a crash diet of berries, nuts, and sardines. He lost 33 pounds (15 kg) in total.

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Daniel Day-Lewis - Daniel Day-Lewis is another method actor who fully immerses himself in his roles. This was particularly challenging in the 1989 movie 'My Left Foot,' where he plays a man with cerebral palsy who can only control his left foot. He remained in character all day on set, refusing to leave his wheelchair and insisting on being fed. In the end his portrayal won him his first Oscar.

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Christian Bale -

Christian Bale is not afraid to take his body to extremes for a role. His scariest transformation was for the 'The Machinist' (2004). He reportedly lost 63 pounds (29 kg) and became skeletally thin. He had to gain back 100 pounds (45 kg) to play Batman the following year.

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Hugh Jackman - This one didn't come straight from the horse's mouth, but co-star Anna Paquin revealed that Hugh Jackman was brutalized during the filming of the first 'X-Men' movie in 2000. Paquin says he was "put through the ringer," performing challenging stunts over and over again, and he never complained.

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Mickey Rourke -

Mickey Rourke was already in his fifties when he began training for the role of Randy "The Ram" Robinson in 'The Wrestler' (2008). The physicality of the role was intense and Rourke had to learn how to throw himself around the ring like a pro wrestler. He even practiced 'blading' during filming. Wrestlers sometimes use razor blades to cut their skins so their fights are bloodier and more dramatic.

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Shelley Duvall -

Shelley Duvall had a difficult, if not traumatic, experience filming 'The Shining' (1980). Stanley Kubrick was a genius director, but he was notoriously difficult to work with. He pushed Duvall to real hysteria to elicit a convincing performance.

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Shelley Duvall -

Duvall was forced to repeat one particular scene, full of screaming and terror, 127 times. Duvall said she was emotionally exhausted during the filming of 'The Shining,' often becoming ill from the stress and losing clumps of hair.

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John Rhys-Davies -

John Rhys-Davies, best known for playing Gimli in the 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, says that the project was a major challenge for him. The three movies were mostly filmed together over a 14-month period, during which time Rhys-Davies had to wear extensive prosthetics. He was severely allergic to the material and would constantly have reactions, sometimes so severe that his eyes would swell shut.

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Min-Sik Choi -

Min-Sik Choi was the star of the iconic Korean film 'Oldboy' (2003). He lost 20 pounds (9 kg) in six weeks to prepare for the role, and did most of his own stunts, which were many. What's more, the famous scene in which he eats a whole, live, wriggling octopus is not faked! He actually had to do four takes, which means he had to eat four octopuses...

Sources: (Vogue) (E! Online) (TheThings) (TheRichest) (FR24 News) 

See also: Incredible skills celebs learned for movie and TV roles

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