Here are 12 hollywood method actors that never break character.
Did you know Robert De Niro, Jared Leto, and Christian Bale all practice method acting?
When reality blends with fiction, it can be a problem. But for many actors, it can be a solution. Hollywood’s biggest actors use method acting in order to get into character. Method acting which was invented by Lee Strasberg, emphasizes the practice of connecting to a character by drawing on personal emotions and memories, aided by a set of exercises and practices including sense memory and affective memory. Followers of Strasberg’s technique are now commonly referred to as “method actors”.
If one listens to either its critics or supporters Method Acting is described as a form of acting where the actor mystically ‘becomes’ the character or tries to somehow literally live the character in life. Like all clichés, both explanations are false. When Lee Strasberg defined what is popularly known as Method Acting he used a simple declarative sentence: “Method acting is what all actors have always done whenever they acted well.” [via]
But did you know that Robert De Niro is a method actor? In preparation for his role in the movie Taxi Driver, Robert De Niro worked twelve hour shifts for a month as a cab driver.
What about Dustin Hoffman? In order to prepare for his role as a marathon runner on the run from Nazi spies in John Schlesinger’s Marathon Man, Dustin Hoffman lost 15 pounds (running four miles a day to get in shape for the part) and would run half a mile before filming any scenes that required heavy breathing. Legend has it that co-star Laurence Olivier quipped “Why not try acting? It’s a lot easier”, but Hoffman has since disputed this story.
Christian Bale
Christian Bale claims that the intensity he puts into his roles is partly driven by the fact that he actually has a hard time staying in character. If he didn’t embrace a role so completely, he’d be constantly cracking up, dragging productions out longer than necessary.
Nicolas Cage
“I can’t really take credit for that. I read a book by professor Brian Bates called The Way of the Actor. I was really just recalling what I read in that, which is the notion that, thousands of years ago, pre-Christian for example, the medicine men or the tribal shamans were really actors. What they would do is they would act out whatever the issues were with the villagers at that time, they would act it out and try to find the answers or go into a trance or go into another dimension, which is really just the imagination, and try to pull back something that would reflect the concerns of the group.”
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci lived and trained with each other before filming “Raging Bull” together. In fact, De Niro gained a significant amount of weight in order to become his character, Jake LaMotta. As a result, the actor reportedly experienced difficultly breathing during the demanding shoots. Martin Scorcese reportedly feared for De Niro’s health, shutting down production at one point to deal with it, Shortlist reports.
Johnny Depp
James Franco
“James Franco is a Method actor,” Tyrese Gibson said in an interview with Elle magazine. “I respect Method actors, but he never snapped out of character. Whenever we’d have to get in the ring for boxing scenes, and even during practice, the dude was full-on hitting me.”
Anne Hathaway
For her role as the biologist Amelia Brand in the critically acclaimed Christopher Nolan film, Interstellar, the multi-award winning actress told Deadline: “Once I understood who she [her character] was, then it became fun calibrating her. This time (on a film) I gave myself permission to go a bit more Method. As a result, I was not my most fun—this is a character who has a deep social awkwardness. I felt bad for anyone who had to talk to me between takes.” Anne is also known for staying true to character until the very end of a project.
Tom Hardy
“I see myself as a piece of meat,” the Tom Hardy told TheWrap in a interview several weeks ago. “And it’s purely subjective. For me, I know that’s the best I can do.”
Heath Ledger
Just before Ledger’s death, he explained to Empire Magazine some of his methods of preparing for the role. “I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices — it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh,” Ledger said to the publication. “He’s just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown, and Chris has given me free rein. Which is fun, because there are no real boundaries to what The Joker would say or do.”
Jared Leto
In an interview with the Shortlist, Jared Leto had to say this about losing weight. “Not really, we were both in our own worlds. I was in character for the whole shoot. I even did my audition in character, over Skype, wearing lipstick and a little pink sweater. I didn’t meet the director [as myself] until after filming was over. I went deep.”
Jack Nicholson
The cast of the Best Picture-winning film, including Jack Nicholson, lived at the psychiatric ward where the movie was shot, interacting with real patients and undergoing group therapy sessions—some of which director Milos Forman filmed without their knowledge.
Shia LaBeouf
The day after he got his role as a WWII soldier in Fury, “I joined the U.S. National Guard,” LaBeouf told Dazed magazine. “I was baptized—accepted Christ in my heart—tattooed my surrender and became a chaplain’s assistant to Captain Yates for the 41st infantry. I spent a month living on a forward operating base. Then I linked up with my cast and went to Fort Irwin. I pulled my tooth out, knifed my face up, and spent days watching horses die. I didn’t bathe for four months.”
Jamie Dornan
Dornan, who plays a serial killer on the chilling Netflix series, wanted to experience the thrill of the chase. So, “On the tube … I, like, followed a woman off the train one day to see what it felt like to pursue someone like that,” Dornan has said. Keeping his distance, the actor followed her for several blocks.
