Not a great way to judge a movie by how many awards it’s won. A lot of these movies were great but according to this article, they didn’t “pay off”. I’m Still Here was funny as.

honestly, how is waxing, or staying in character on the same list as these guys who starved themselves for a movie?? bale was sick looking. his knee was bigger than his thigh!! it was disgusting!!

Christian Bales performance in The Machinist is the reason he is regarded as one of the greatest actors of our time. When someone gets snubbed from an oscar nomination with a performance like that it can be beneficial to their career for years to come. From now on if Christian Bale has a movie where he is great chances are there will be awards season talk and action.

Jared Leto!!! Gained 70lbs, Got Gout and almost more serious illnesses!!

What do ticket sales have to do with anything? Most of these movies (and acting) are great – regardless if they did well at the box office.

Matt Damon lost 40 lbs for some scenes in the movie “Courage Under Fire.”

What about Hugh Jackman ? Although the X Men films aren`t exactly art, he packed on 40 lbs of pure muscle. Repeatedly.

Tom Hanks for Philadelphia should have been included in the list too!

Says the person who has never acted in his life and has no idea how much emotional, mental and physical work goes into a single role. Real easy to judge someone for doing something you clearly wouldn’t be able to do if given the chance.

100 percent agree with both of you guys on this. But if we are talking about incredible transformations, forget 2 dudes waxing their chests (which those two probably already did anyways) and even forget Deniro as Max Cady, what about Deniro as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. Losing weight and getting into incredible fighting shape to play Jake in his boxer years then gaining 70+ pounds to play Jake in the later scenes. That was his most crazy transformation

Who is the designer of this web page? They seriously need to be slapped. The only way you could make it MORE inconvenient to advance through the 9 entries is to put the d-mn thing at the very bottom of the page.

Matt Damon? Courage Under Fire? Really… was out done by waxing chest hair?

You missed perhaps De Nero’s best role ever as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. He gained over 60Lbs for the role and won Best Actor. The movie itself was good as well getting 8 Academy Award nominations.

Boris Karloff had teeth removed to have a sunken facial expression in FRANKENSTEiN

You should be ashamed for even mentioning Ledger! It is obvious that you do no have any knowledge of the movies you listed or their impacts on the careers of the actors. This was a truly pathetic attempt at journalism.

I agree with PrivatePyle. One person I suggest should be added to the list, or instead of most of them, is Mickey Rourke in 9 & 1/2 weeks. He treated Kim Bassinger like dirt the whole time the movie was being made, filming or not. The director either suggested it or agreed with him that it was a great idea. Kim Bassinger detested having to go to work every day. Like her or not, she didn’t deserve that from a fellow actor. Whether this movie was a box office bomb or highly profitable, Rourke’s performance was in no way inspired, and I think it was more of an excuse for him to indulge his misogyny. I thought Heath Ledger gave one of the most brilliant performances on film, and I believe he worked on a lot more than his laugh in his seclusion.

De Niro is the godfather of this. He started it. There’s no denying that. I mean sure, before him, guys like Monty and Brando were already there, but… they mainly did research for the roles, they never went beyond that – except for Brando (who of course popularized method acting in film) and spent some time in his character’s life. But De Niro, he did whatever he felt necessary… Before he became famous, he lost 30 pounds and slept in a coffin. The rest is history.

Whoever wrote this must really like vapid tripe for his viewing pleasure.

lol you mad?

Danielle – did you actually mention 2 actors because of WAXING? And no mention of Jared Leto who gained 60 lbs, had gout & could hardly walk while making Chapter 27. Lost 25 pounds & slept on the street with addicts in NY preparing for Requiem for a Dream. Then recently fasted for a month while making Dallas Buyers Club. I love all the actors you mentioned but thought you could have done better!

Why is this article missing so many of its pictures???? Does anyone proofread this site?

I would add Tom Hardy for his performance in “Bronson.” His transformation into Bane in DKR was also impressive. Love Tom Hardy

Anyone who appreciated Andy Kaufman will be blown away by Jim Carry’s portrayal of him in the movie.

Did you know the entire time Joaquin was making rounds on talk shows with his overgrown beard and proclamation of quitting acting to become a rapper, they were actually using those interview clips for the film he was making at the time. It wasn’t for the purpose of trying to “get into character” they wanted the interviews in the film to appear genuine because it was supposed to feel like a documentary. Geesh, you people need to research better.

What? what about Reign of Fire?

Danielle Gray, So “way left” is a suitable description of Daniel Day-Lewis going too far with a movie role? As a left-handed person I’ve seen this prejudice all my life. My father was forced to learn how to write with his right hand because left was somehow wrong. Please don’t use “left” as a pejorative term. Sloppy use of language hurts everyone.

Danielle Gray, So “way left” is a suitable description of Daniel Day-Lewis going too far with a movie role? As a left-handed person I’ve seen this prejudice all my life. My father was forced to learn how to write with his right hand because left was somehow wrong. Please don’t use “left” as a pejorative term. Sloppy use of language hurts everyone.

DDL won an Oscar for my left foot….haters gonna hate I guess…

what about Val Kilmer in Tombstone..he got really sick

There are too many ads popping up at me and making sounds to ever come back to this site.

One wonders how looooong it’s going to take for actors to realize that there IS NO FICTION and every thought-impulse counts, that every word and deed they “pretend to perform” counts toward their own lives OR deaths ?! The camera does not absolve them from atrocities, neither “pretend”, nor “real”…

hey

I guess if you’re defining “pay off” in the sense of the studio’s profit margin and/or directly related to awards, this almost makes sense. For most people, it has more to do with the quality of the work. Still, I admit that I’m dumbfounded that you included Heath Ledger as sort of paying off because he won an award after his death. Get your priorities straight.

I would add Anne Hathaway to this list for what she did to herself while playing Fantine in Les Miserables.

This is a stupid and unfunny article. A good number of these films are great, and actors like Christian Bale and Tom Hanks have already gone down in history for having completely immersed themselves into roles such as these. All it shows is how passionate they are about the work that they do. I get the impression that whoever wrote this has probably never seen any of these films.

There’s this from Sessions:
To simulate O’Brien’s posture, John Hawkes used a soccer-ball-sized piece of foam which he laid onto the left side of his back in order to curve his spine. Consequently, some of his organs began to migrate, and he was told by his chiropractor that his spine now has not enough movement.

I can’t believe they didn’t mention Gary Oldman’s weight loss for Sid and Nancy. He dropped so much weight for that role in order to look like a drug addict that he wound up being hospitalized. I mean, a lot of these actors did a lot for their roles, but I wouldn’t call packing on a lot of muscle or waxing your chest going “too far.” Gary Oldman was apparently told if he didn’t start eating right he could die. Truly jeopardizing your health is going too far.

The Machinist didn’t do well but alongside his performance in American Psycho it got him the role in a little film called Batman Begins, WOMP WOMP…DOUCHE DOUCHE.

I give “fiftycents” credit for giving it the old college try, but losing or gaining weight in and of its self doesn’t make you an actor. I’d say to fifty learn to enunciate the english language first than worry about losing weight.

Christian Bale is an idiot.

I’d add Taylor Kitsch prepping for The Bng-Bang Club—he dropped 40 pounds in two months, so rapidly that his kidneys almost failed. He and the other stars reportedly got so in-character they’d even call each other by their characters’ names without thinking about it.

Everyone should look up the video of Norman Mailer and Rip Torn. Just type those two names in . They were making a film in the 70s. Story is, there was a scene in the script where rip attacks norman mailer with a hammer. it was deleted from the script. but mailer wanted to keep it in. So he just went ahead and did it. There’s video of the ensuing fight. It’s crazy. Mailer bit his ear.

howard stern (well fred) still plays his laugh from the movie theater scene. it’s priceless and works perfectly every time he drops it in.

how about Nicholas cage in Leaving Las Vegas. Wow what a movie and what a performance.

Why was this only men, why are you including staying in a wheelchair as extreme (something most of us who use them do without breaking bones), and why are these so out dated when this stuff happens constantly?

what about Donnie Wahlberg in the 6th sense