Being an actor seems fun and quite simple but the truth behind it is, not everyone can do it. Acting requires professionalism, constant need to improve themselves, and most of the time, real sacrifices. Some of the roles will leave a permanent stain on the actors especially if the actor was really in character.
In a youtube video posted by #Mind Warehouse, they discussed 9 actors who were never the same after a role.
1) Bill Skarsgård
Bill Skarsgard is the man behind the famous clown, Pennywise of It movie. He was into the character so much that he could not get it out of his mind, even when they were not filming or after the movie was completed. Bill said he kept having dreams about the clown character. Sometimes the dream shows both him and Pennywise, sometimes he was in Pennywise’s body, and sometimes it was the mix of both two. Pennywise is an evil character and Bill called it ‘destructive relationship that doesn’t seem to end.
2) Joaquin Phoenix
Both viewers and critics highly praised the performance by Joaquin Phoenix when he played ‘Joker’ resulting in numerous awards received. But the preparation made by Joaquin wasn’t easy at all. Arthur Fleck, who is commonly known as the Joker had to be slim so Joaquin Phoenix lost about 23 kilos in order to change his appearance. Since he was losing weight fast, it was possible for him to get an eating disorder and he was experiencing malnutrition that caused him to be tired to even climb the stairs. But still, he reached his goal.
3) Christian Bale
Christian Bale has put his body through so much transformation, according to the roles he receives. Not long ago, the actor admitted that he was going to stop gaining or losing weight rapidly because he could no longer take it. The first transformation made by him was in 2000 when he played the main character of American Psycho. It required him to be in perfect physical shape. After the American Psycho, he had to lose a lot of weight for his character in The Machinist where he only weighs 54 kilograms! He was basically a skeleton before he got muscular again for Batman’s role and for the first time in his life, he had to gain a lot of weight in order to play a character in The American Hustle.
4) Shia LeBeouf
In 2014, Shia LeBeouf played a soldier in the movie Fury. For maximum realism, he cut his skin with a knife right before the shoot every time, instead of applying make-up for the injuries effect. The next insane thing he did was, he asked a dentist to remove a perfectly healthy tooth to make his character more realistic. He said the movie changed him both morally and physically though it was understandable since the director sent all the casts to a military camp for training.
5) Daniel Radcliffe
Playing the character of Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe became famous too early which really affected his life. Being famous when he was only a teenager made it hard for him to live a normal life that results in him starting to drink a lot. He said that the quickest way of forgetting that he was being watched, was to get really drunk. However, he overcame the difficulties with the help of his family and friends. Radcliffe now has been sober since 2010.
Sources: Youtube #Mind Warehouse