The extra mile

One can imagine that shooting a movie is a huge and stressful task. The atmosphere on most sets whilst shooting is likely to be tense, but some actors take that stress to a whole different level. This week we are looking at method acting and what happens when an actor gets a little too immersed in the character they are playing.  

Actress Rooney Mara starred in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” as Lisbeth Slander back in 2011. Mara really got into the role by drastically altering her appearance. She cut her hair and bleached her eyebrows. She also got numerous piercings. Mara did all this to get into the mindset of the cyber hacker she was playing.

The talented Hilary Swank went the extra mile for her role in “Million Dollar Baby” in 2005. Swank played an aspiring boxer named Maggie who is fighting to make it to the top in the world of boxing. For the role, Swank took on a gruesome exercise regime that “almost killed her.” She trained for six days a week for three months causing her some health problems. She did end up winning the Oscar for Best Actress though, so her sacrifices were definitely worth it.

When Ashton Kutcher played Steve Jobs in the 2013 biopic “Jobs,” he was determined to get into the mind frame of the real-life Apple co-founder. Kutcher embarked on a fruit juice only diet, copying Jobs, and ended up in hospital with severe vitamin deficiencies and a reduction in bone density. Talk about being committed to a role.