Daniel Day-Lewis
The crowned King of modern-day Method acting, the list of life-altering experimentsDaniel Day-Lewishas undergone in order to relate to his characters is as long as the list of characters themselves. The now-retired Irish actor caught pneumonia on the set ofMartin Scorsese’sGangs of New York; even between takes, Bill the Butcher wouldn’t have worn an insulated coat in the 19th century.
Other examples of the actor’s adherence to the Method include not bathing for the entirety ofThe Crucible, spending nights locked in solitary confinement while shootingIn the Name of the Father, only eating food he could catch and kill himself inLast of the Mohicansand going around in a wheelchair, demanding to be spoon-fed forMy Left Foot.
Kate Winslet
Historically, Method acting is usually considered a total sausage-fest: think of Brando, Bale and Day-Lewis (all on this list), who not only transform their bodies without fear of public backlash but engage in all manner of dangerous stunts to fully plunge into a role.
But then there’sKate Winslet.
After portraying a Nazi concentration camp guard for the 2008 filmThe Reader, Winslet admitted that it took her months to recover from the role. “It’s like I’ve escaped from a serious car accident and need to understand what has just happened,“ she said about the experience. Luckily she had her then-husband, directorSam Mendes, to help her readjust.
Robert De Niro
One of the all-time greats,Robert De Nirostudied directly under both Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg, both of whom taught Stanislavski’s Method. ForRaging Bull, De Niro sat at the feet of Jake LaMotta, the Italian middleweight boxer he portrayed. De Niro even participated in three fights in the ring himself, in addition to gaining 50 pounds on his then-skinny frame.
In preparation forTaxi Driver, De Niro went out and worked 12-hour shifts as a real New York cabbie. The actor also gets hung up on the smaller details of a character; he paid a dentist to grind down his teeth for his role as a psychopath stalker inCape Fear.
Another case of playing loose with body mass,Tom Hanksgained and then lost 50 pounds forCast Away. He also refused to cut his hair or bathe, leading to a nasty staph infection. For his role inThe Green Mile, Hanks stayed in character as prison guard Paul Edgecomb, freaking out the book’s authorStephen King.
When Hanks took King on a tour of the prison, Hanks barked at the horror scribe. King had attempted to sit down on a prop electric chair, but the actor explained that as the head guard on the wing, he couldn’t be seen by his subordinates goofing off around such lethal machinery.
Heath Ledger
There are many legends surroundingHeath Ledger’s doomed turn as The Joker inChristopher Nolan’sThe Dark Knight, considering the Australian actor died directly after filming. But in separating fact from fiction, it’s clear that Ledger did take the role seriously, locking himself away in a London hotel for a month and scribbling out daily diary entries as the Caped Crusader’s arch-nemesis.
Less intense, but equally noteworthy was Ledger’s dedication to his craft inBrokeback Mountain. Not only did the actor manage to keep that sour, scrunched look on his face for the whole two months of shooting, but co-starAnne Hathawayrelayed an impromptu moment in the script where Ledger was supposed to turn into an alleyway and cry into a wall. Instead, Ledger wound up and punched the brick with full force, injuring his hand in the process.
Leonardo DiCaprio
It tookLeonardo DiCapriofour decades to win his first Academy Award, but when he did win Best Actor forThe Revenant, no one could accuse him of slacking off for the role. In fact, DiCaprio, an avowed vegetarian, ate raw bison, slept in an animal carcass and withstood freezing temperatures to portray frigid frontiersman Hugh Glass.
ButThe Revenantisn’t the first time DiCaprio went all-in on a performance, shocking even his co-stars: while playing plantation owner Calvin Candie inDjango Unchained, the actor slammed his fist down so hard on a table he shattered glass and cut his hand. Rather than stop the scene, DiCaprio powered through, even smearing some on a stunned Kerry Washington. Afterward, he received a standing ovation.
Old Scarface himself likes to take notes from his characters' playbooks. Still in character as the incorruptible NYPD officer Frank Serpico,Al Pacinoonce pulled over a truck driver and threatened to arrest him for exhaust pollution.
But it was really Pacino’s commitment to his role inScent of a Womanthat takes the cake. Throughout filming, the actor claimed to actually be blind like his character, tripping over bushes he couldn’t “see,” and sending co-starChris O’Donnella letter after completion of photography, which read “Although I didn’t see you, I know you were great.”
Johnny Depp
It’s possibleJohnny Deppis an extremist form of the Method school, the dude lives his life as if he’s actually Jack Sparrow these days. But beforePirates of the Caribbean, Depp spent years studying Hunter S. Thompson to play the gonzo author inFear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Depp ended up living in Thompson’s basement, reading old transcripts and spending as much time with the legendary author as possible. Perhaps the most enlightening thing about both Thompson and Depp’s state of mind at that time, Depp slept and smoked next to barrels of gunpowder in Thompson’s basement.
Hilary Swank
Before landing her breakout role inBoys Don’t Cry,Hilary Swankspent a month preparing for her audition by living as a man; cutting her hair, binding her breasts and sticking socks down the front of her jeans. She was so convincing, long-time neighbors believed Swank had invited either her brother or cousin to move in for the summer.
But it was Swank’s intense regime leading up toMillion Dollar Babythat had evenClint Eastwoodworried about little Macushla. Swank spent six days a week in the gym for three months, gaining 19 pounds of pure muscle. She was so in the zone she didn’t even register when a huge blister erupted on her foot. A doctor’s visit confirmed a staph infection, one that was mere hours from reaching her heart.
Mickey Rourke
For his role as a “broken down piece of meat” inDarren Aronofsky’sThe Wrestler,Mickey Rourkeinsisted on performing the majority of his own stunts, leading to several injuries. If that wasn’t enough, the actor took his training one step further when he showed up at WrestleMania XXV, where he knocked outChris Jerichowith one punch.
And Rourke wasn’t content to just rest on hisWrestlersuccess. For his role as the villainous Ivan Vanko (aka Whiplash) inIron Man 2, Rourke visited Russian prisons and befriended several inmates to understand his character. He also studied Russian for three or four hours every day to fully immerse himself as Vanko.
