Stars who took method acting to extremes

Robert De Niro - De Niro actually got his cab license and worked 12-hour shifts on the streets of New York City to prepare for 'Taxi Driver.' He was also reportedly rated at a professional level as a boxer when preparing for 'Raging Bull,' and he mastered the saxophone for his role in 'New York, New York.'

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Val Kilmer - Kilmer allegedly donned Jim Morrison's clothes and frequented his favorite hangouts to get into character for 'The Doors.' His portrayal of the singer was so convincing, in fact, that the surviving members of the band couldn't distinguish him, or his voice, from that of their late front man.

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Lady Gaga -

Lady Gaga has always been an extreme performer in music, and the same goes for her acting. Her starring role in the 2021 movie 'House of Gucci' required her to take on an Italian accent, which she maintained throughout the entire production, both on and off camera. "For this, I was always Patrizia," she told a reporter. "I brought the darkness with me home because her life was dark." In a roundtable conversation with other A-list actresses like Penélope Cruz and Kristen Stewart, Gaga admitted that her process was extremely unhealthy. She says that she was "completely detached from real life." She also described herself as masochistic in her use of her own trauma to summon the rage and pain felt by Patrizia in certain scenes. "I kind of get off on that chaos for myself—reliving things that hurt me and bringing them back. It feels like I get to take something that was so painful and turn it into something meaningful. And yet I was such a f—king wreck after that scene. It did take me down." Gaga even had a psychiatric nurse on hand towards the end of filming.

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Jim Carrey - Jim Carrey famously stayed in character as Andy Kaufman or his alter-ego Tony Clifton 24 hours a day while filming the biopic 'Man on the Moon.'

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Willem Dafoe -

Willem Dafoe is an eccentric character who is known for his extreme and deeply expressive performances. He's currently working on two different movies with Emma Stone, both directed by the brilliant Yorgos Lanthimos (director of 2018 Oscar-winner 'The Favourite'). One of the projects is titled "And," and very few details about the storyline have been released. What we do know, however, is that there's a scene where Emma Stone's character slaps Willem Dafoe's character, although Dafoe is off camera and can't be seen. Even though Stone could easily have pretended to slap Dafoe, he insisted on being present for the scene and standing in front of her to receive the slaps! Stone says that she slapped Dafoe 20 times simply because he wanted it to be more authentic.

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Leonardo DiCaprio - DiCaprio put a lot of work in to earn that Best Actor Oscar for 'The Revenant.' Despite being a vegetarian, he reportedly ate wild bison liver, he put his life on the line wading into freezing rivers, and even slept in an animal carcass. "I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I've ever had to do,” DiCaprio said of his performance.

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Jack Nicholson - Nicholson allegedly underwent shock therapy treatment in real life to better understand his character in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.' The entire cast also lived at the psychiatric ward where the movie was shot, interacting with real patients and undergoing group therapy sessions.

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Angelina Jolie - Angelina Jolie got so into method acting for the film 'Gia' that she told her then-husband, Johnny Lee Miller, that she would not speak to him during filming. "I'm alone; I'm dying; I'm gay; I'm not going to see you for weeks," she said.

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Jeremy Strong -

'Succession' star Brian Cox is not a fan of method acting, and he's not afraid to criticize his co-star Jeremy Strong's method. The pair play Logan and Kendall Roy, respectively, portraying one of the most toxic father-son relationships TV has ever seen, and their relationship off-screen seems to carry a bit of that same energy. “He’s a very good actor,” Cox told Town & Country. “And the rest of the ensemble is all okay with this. But knowing a character and what the character does is only part of the skill set.” Of Strong always being in character, Cox said, “It’s annoying. Don’t get me going on it.” Strong previously spoke about his method in a 2021 interview with the New Yorker, where Cox first made a little slight regarding the ability to convey character, commenting, “It’s just there and is accessible. It’s not a big religious experience." Strong later said in an interview with British GQ, “Everyone’s entitled to have their feelings. I also think Brian Cox, for example, he’s earned the right to say whatever the he wants." He continued, "There was no need to address that or do damage control.” Strong added that he felt their on-screen family was very much like a family off-screen in the sense that "you don’t always like the people that you love. I do always respect them.”

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Austin Butler -

Austin Butler took on the role of Elvis in Baz Luhrmann's eponymous biopic in 2022, and fans have noted that he still speaks with the King's deep Southern drawl. Social media blew up on the topic during his acceptance speech for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Publications like Today questioned if Butler will ever stop talking like Elvis, while, the New York Post came up with the headline, "Butler’s ‘cringe’ fake voice at the 2023 Golden Globes called out.”

When asked about it on the red carpet at the Golden Globes, Butler said he doesn't think he sounds like Elvis anymore. “I don’t think I sound like him still, but I guess I must because I hear it a lot.” He continued to explain, “I had three years where [Elvis] was my only focus in life, so I’m sure there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked in that way.” Butler previously told Variety that he didn't see his family for three years while he was preparing for the role with Baz Luhrmann, and that he spent months only speaking in Elvis's voice.

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Michelle Williams - Williams reportedly bound her legs together to develop Monroe's famous stride long before filming, so that it wouldn't have to be something she had to think about at all while the cameras were rolling.

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Andrew Garfield -

Speaking on the 'W T F with Marc Maron' podcast, Andrew Garfield, said, “There [have] been a lot of misconceptions about what method acting is, I think. People are still acting in that way, and it’s not about being an a—hole to everyone on set. It’s actually just about living truthfully under imagined circumstances, and being really nice to the crew simultaneously, and being a normal human being, and being able to drop it when you need to and staying in it when you want to stay in it.”

“I’m kind of bothered by the misconception," Garfield continued, as reported by Variety. "No, I don’t think you know what method acting is if you’re calling it bulls—t, or you just worked with someone who claims to be a method actor who isn’t actually acting the method at all,” he added, explaining that it's a very internal and private process that is often misrepresented by people who act out on set with the excuse of going method. As for his own experience with method acting, Garfield explained that for the 2016 film 'Silence,' in which he played a Jesuit priest in the 17th century, he spent a year studying under Jesuit writer Father James Martin, and for six months he fasted and went celibate. “It was very cool, man,” the actor said. “I had some pretty wild, trippy experiences from starving myself of intimacy and food at that time.”

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Will Smith -

Will Smith is not the first person you think of when it comes to method acting, but he did try it out in 1993 while filming 'Six Degrees of Separation.' In his memoir, Smith revealed that the experiment was quite dangerous for him and his marriage to his first wife, Sheree Zampino. One extract read, "Sheree and I were in the first few months of our marriage with a brand-new baby and for Sheree, I can imagine that this experience was unsettling to say the least. She'd married a guy named Will Smith and now she was living with a guy named Paul Poitier [his character's name in the movie]. And to make matters worse, during shooting I fell in love with Stockard Channing." Channing was his co-star in 'Six Degrees of Separation,' and his sudden feelings for her made him realize that method acting wasn't something he wanted to try again.

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Daniel Day-Lewis -

To prepare for 'Last of The Mohicans,' the famed method actor reportedly spent six months living in the wild, only eating animals he killed and skinned himself. For 'The Crucible,' Day-Lewis apparently lived on set, which was a replica of a colonial village with no electricity or running water. It's rumored he also built his own 17th-century house, using only the tools America's settlers would have had.

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Daniel Day-Lewis - Day-Lewis also remained in character throughout the making of 'My Left Foot,' never leaving his wheelchair even off set, and insisting on being spoon-fed by the crew. He approached 'Lincoln' the same way, even sending text messages as Abe himself.

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James Franco - In 'The Disaster Artist,' based on the eponymous book by Greg Sestero about the making of cult classic movie 'The Room,' Franco reportedly stayed in character as Tommy Wiseau throughout the whole shoot, which involved a long black wig and a strong (potentially) Eastern European accent.

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Heath Ledger - To prepare for his role in 'The Dark Knight,’ the actor locked himself in a motel for over a month, sleeping very little and developing the psychology and mannerisms of the Joker. Director Christopher Nolan revealed that Ledger even developed the Joker's makeup and applied it himself during shooting.

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Christian Bale -

Bale is very well-known for his dramatic transformations for roles, but none was ever as crazy as dropping a dangerous 60 lbs (27 kg) for 'The Machinist,' his weight falling to 121 lbs (55 kg), only to bring it back up to 190 lbs (86 kg) a few months later for 'Batman Begins.'

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Kate Winslet - When she was cast as a former Nazi guard in 'The Reader,' Winslet got so into her role that she confused her kids when she kept up her German accent at home, and she couldn't fully recover or return to her normal self for weeks after shooting wrapped.

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Joaquin Phoenix -

For 'Walk the Line,' Phoenix took months to learn how to sing and play the guitar, and he asked the entire set to call him JR, Johnny Cash's real name. Phoenix also famously confused everyone with his mockumentary persona from 'I'm Still Here,' appearing disheveled and confused during interviews and successfully convincing people that he was losing his mind.

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Adrien Brody - Brody sold everything he owned and moved to Europe with two bags and a keyboard, practicing every day for four hours, to get into character for 'The Pianist.' He also deprived himself of food and lost 30 lbs (13 kg), which was an experience he credited for his authentic acting.

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Marlon Brando - When preparing for his role in 'The Men,' it's said that Brando remained bedridden in a veteran's hospital for over a month to really get in the mindset of the injured vet he would be playing.

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Natalie Portman - In preparation for 'Black Swan,' the already small actress lost a whopping 20 lbs (9 kg) to look the part of the ballerina she played, spending a year in a rigorous ballet program so that she could actually dance in many scenes of the film, despite having a double on-hand.

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Hilary Swank - To prepare for her role as a transgender male in the film 'Boys Don't Cry,' Swank reportedly spent a full month living as a boy to get into the proper headset to play the character Brandon.

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Ed Harris -

To prepare for his role as the famous painter Jackson Pollock, Harris built a painting studio at his home and studied how to paint in the same way.

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Shia LaBeouf - While actually taking LSD to play a role of someone who takes LSD (in 'Charlie Countryman') might seem extreme enough, LaBeouf also revealed to Dazed that in preparation for the film 'Fury' he joined the US National Guard, was baptized, tattooed, and became a chaplain's assistant to Captain Yates for the 41st Infantry. He lived on a forward operating base for a month, then went to film the movie, during which time he pulled his own tooth out and didn't bathe for four months.

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Nicholas Cage -

Cage is known for using his exotic pets as inspiration for his acting, but when preparing to play a Vietnam veteran in 'Birdy,' he had a few teeth pulled without anesthesia and spent five weeks with his face wrapped in bandages.

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Ashton Kutcher - Kutcher stayed in character as Steve Jobs to the point where he ended up in the hospital two days before shooting after trying to adopt the Apple CEO's fruit-only diet.

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Al Pacino - Al Pacino once got so into his role as a blind man for 'Scent of a Woman' that he claimed he could not see anything on the set.

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Warren Beatty - Beatty became the first-ever method director when he starred in and directed 'Rules Don't Apply,' doing everything as the character of Howard Hughes.

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Michael Caine - Caine believes "the rehearsals are the work; the performance is the relaxation." He relies strongly on the method acting principle that focuses on sense memory, and has mastered the ability to cry on command by using it.

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Jared Leto -

For his character in 'Dallas Buyers Club,' Leto dropped 40 lbs (18 kg) and dressed in drag both on and off set. He similarly lost weight for his role in 'Requiem For a Dream,' though for that film he also abstained from intimacy and hung out with junkies in New York so that he could learn more about addiction.

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Donald Glover - In the Atlanta episode 'Teddy Perkins,' Glover took on the titular role, putting on a very creepy white face and remaining in character day and night on set, requiring everyone to call him Teddy.

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Jared Leto -

As part of Leto's method for 'The S u i c i d e Squad,' the actor sent his costars twisted presents including a live rat, bullets, and a dead hog, along with some heartfelt notes.

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Sean Penn - Writer Cameron Crowe said the young Penn insisted on being called by his character's name on the set of 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High,' and later actor John Leguizamo said that he was scarred for life after working with Penn on 'Causalities of War,' and is still a little scared when he bumps into him.

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Andy Serkis - For his touching performance as Caesar in 'War for the Planet of the Apes,' Serkis was reportedly led by movement choreographer and actor Terry Notary on all fours for hikes in the Canadian woods. They would apparently spend two-hour stints only communicating as apes.

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Dustin Hoffman -

Dustin Hoffman is rumored to be tough to work with because he is always in character on the set. He even went as far as to deprive himself of sleep to get into the head of his character in 'Marathon Man.'

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Robin Williams - Robin Williams reportedly went around town as Mrs. Doubtfire to stay in character for the role.

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Halle Berry - Berry wanted to get inside the head of the addict she played in Spike Lee's film 'Jungle Fever.' She reportedly visited a crack den and didn't bathe for two weeks.

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James Dean - James Dean was one of the first people to adopt method acting for the screen, but he also reportedly annoyed people with his excessive preparation and dedication to his roles. That being said, his work paid off and he was often able to do scenes in one take.

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Anne Hathaway -

Hathaway reportedly ate nothing but dried oatmeal paste for two weeks to lose 25 lbs (11 kg) for her role in 'Les Misérables.' In addition, she cut off all her hair—something both the director and hair and makeup artist apparently advised her against—to attempt to understand the pain of a mother willing to do anything to keep her child alive. It seemed to work, since she took home the Best Supporting Actress award.

Stars who took method acting to extremes

These actors committed fully to their characters

25/10/24 | StarsInsider

MOVIES Actors

The method-acting approach traces its origins to the early 20th-century teachings of the Russian theatrical realist Konstantin Stanislavski, whose work influenced Lee Strasberg to father the concept as we know it today in Hollywood sometime around the '50s. The technique requires actors to draw on their own genuine experiences and emotions, often times replicating external conditions of their characters, in order to perform with a higher degree of authenticity.

From visiting real crack dens to joining the US National Guard, check out this gallery to see which actors fully embraced the concept of method acting—some even going a little too far.