Every performer strives to provide his or her finest performance, however their quest for perfection may occasionally bring significant harm to their bodies.
Let’s have a round up of seven actors that have gone so far to be faithful to their characters that they have harmed their bodies.
1. Jennifer Lawrence – Mother [2017]
Darren Aronofsky understands how to make audiences uncomfortable as seen by his work on Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan. The director’s dramatic roles have a history of messing with actors minds and it looks like this is the case for the lead of his 2017 film Mother.
Mother is a frightening psychological thriller in which unwelcome guests invade Lawrence’s character’s house causing horrific paranormal effects. Jennifer Lawrence who co-stars with Javier Bardem said that she was hyperventilating so hard during one scene that she fractured a rib.
The unfortunate aspect is that Aronofsky was requested to reshoot the sequence since it had become blurred.
2. Christian Bale – The Machinist [2004] and the Dark Knight Rises [2012]
Christian Bale deserves a huge accolade for his role in the Machinist. Bale had to act as an anorexic factory worker and went from 180 pounds to 120 pounds by starving himself. He only ate an apple and tuna every day that and added more stress to his body. Christian Bale went up to 220 pounds for his next role as Batman in the Dark Knight Rises.
He added intense weight workouts, plyometric circuit training and resistance training along with martial arts. It is the most impressive transformation, since it’s not easy to gain weight after shutting down your body’s metabolism by starving it for several months.
3. Chris Hemsworth – In The Heart Of The Sea [2015]
Talking of losing weight, Chris Hemsworth did so for his role in the 2015 film “In The Heart Of The Sea”.
The film is said to be based on the true narrative that inspired Moby-Dick hunt. A few other guys are trapped at sea for several days in the film. So the actor shed 33 pounds to appropriately portray their situation. He claimed it was more difficult on his body and psyche than gaining muscle weight for Thor.
4. Adrian Brody – The Pianist [2002]
Adrian Brody, another Oscar winner for suffering believed the Pianist would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so he dedicated his entire life to it. Each day, director Roman Polanski had Brody practice the piano for four hours to reduce weight and acquire the skeleton physique of a starving man.
He ate as little as possible and got down to 130 pounds in six weeks, which is very slim for a six foot one man. Brody felt the pain was worthwhile as he stated: “I’ve known loss and grief in my life but I didn’t know the despair that comes with hunger. The shoot was fraught with both pain and discomfort.”
Related: 6 movie scenes actors refused to shoot.
Brody missed his friends and family and he had to remain each day in near seclusion pretending to be a survivor of the holocaust which left him mentally exhausted. Going through starvation for a role to collect an oscar and then become a great star is certainly not easy number
5. Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables [2012]
In 2013 Anne Hathaway received the Best Supporting Actress oscar for her performance in Les Miserables. Because the sad French musical isn’t famed for its huge dance moments, there was minimal risk of her breaking any limbs. Nonetheless Hathaway had to make significant bodily sacrifices.
Hathaway intended the role to appear as close to death as possible, so she shed another 15 pounds. During shooting, extreme dieting has an emotional impact in addition to a physical one as she said: “It took me weeks to feel like myself again.”
6. Justin Thoreau – The Spy Who dumped Me [2018]
Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon contributed most of the comedy in the 2018 action-comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me, while co-star Justin Thoreau delivered the majority of the action.
Driving a scooter at high speeds across city streets is part of the process on the Ellen Degeneres show. Thoreau explained that he slid out and flew off the bike landing on his head. He said his skull split open throughout the incident but he seemed to have come out safe and unharmed.
7. Tom Hardy – The Dark Knight Rises [2012]
This list cannot be completed without Tom Hardy for his most famous character Bane in the Dark Knight Rises.
Hardy played one of the most physically dominant villains of all time. He gained 30 pounds of muscles doing 4 training sessions per day. His workout routine was 20 minutes strength training in the morning, lunchtime, evening and before bed creating the most epic villain against Batman. But this body transformation came at a cost.
In an interview with the Daily Beast, Tom hardy said: “I think you pay the price with any drastic physical changes. It was all right when I was younger, but I think when you get in your 40s, you have to be more mindful of the rapid training, packing on a lot of weight and getting physical.”
