We will often seek out a movie just because it features actors we love. While some actors play on their screen persona to draw audiences to theaters, it’s also not uncommon for the best actors to completely transform themselves for a movie role. You have your Tom Cruise of the world, and then you have your Daniel-Day Lewis. After all, part of the appeal of acting is becoming a different persona other than yourself.
In many ways, taking on a transformational role is pretty much a prerequisite for any Hollywood actor to be considered great. So much so that some actors hinge their entire careers on method acting. The latest in this long line of method performances is in the holocaust film The Survivor, which stars a nearly unrecognizable Ben Foster as Harry Haft. In honor of the impending release of The Survivor on HBO, here are nine of the most transformative movie roles.
Cover Photo: HBO
9 Transformative Movie Roles
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Colin Farrell - The Batman
If Colin Farrell hadn’t been announced to be playing Penguin before The Batman came out, most members of the audience wouldn’t even have an idea that he was in the movie. Although a complete physical transformation via prosthetics was never the original plan, Farrell informed director Matt Reeves that he wouldn’t be keeping on the weight he gained for his previous performance. This led to Reeves enlisting Michael Moreno to design the look for the character. Every day, the actor would spend 4 hours in the make-up chair before every day of filming. All we know is that if Farrell’s shocking transformation doesn’t win the Oscar for best make-up next year, then what are even doing here?
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Christian Bale - The Machinist
Christian Bale is known for his insane physical transformations, but the Machinist might be the most hard core of them all. To play the role of Trevor Reznik, Bale famously lost 62 pounds in preparation for the role. According to his former assistant, the Batman actor’s daily diet consisted of “water, an apple, and one coffee per day, with the occasional whiskey.” At a frail 120 pounds during filming, Bale was intent on continuing down to 99 pounds, but the filmmakers talked him out of it due to health concerns. By the time filming wrapped, Bale was left with only six weeks left to gain all the weight back for Batman Begins. Naturally, he binged on pizza and ice cream, so much so he gained too much weight and had to trim down again.
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Charlize Theron - Monster
Charlize Theron is one of today’s most versatile working actresses toady, but her true breakout was for portraying serial killer Aileen Wuornos in 2003’s Monster. A complete transformation from anything she had done before, Theron dove deep into the multiple personality disorders of an unstable woman. Physically, she gained 30 pounds, shaved her eyebrows, and wore prosthetic teeth. Critics praised Theron’s transformation in the film, with Rodger Ebert calling it “one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema.” Theron’s work was rewarded with the Oscar for Best Actress, the first South African person to win the award.
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Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
Matthew McConaughey has always been a popular actor, but his first oscar win required him to go full method. To play Ron Woodruff, an AIDS paitent who would smuggle illegal pharmacutical drugs into Texas that helped his illness, McConaughey lost 50 pounds for the role. According to the actor himself, his diet consisted of fish, tapioca pudding, and “as much wine as I wanted to drink.” Talk about a nausea-inducing combination. Along with the cessation of exercise, McConaughey dropped to 135 pounds on his way to Oscar glory.
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Tom Hardy - Bronson
Tom Hardy is an eclectic actor with a host of amazing performances under his belt. Of these, his transformation into Charles Peterson (aka Charles Bronson), who is considered Britain’s most violent criminal. For the role, Hardy spoke with the real Bronson, who was impressed with the actor. So much so that Bronson shaved his signature mustache for it to be used by Hardy in the film. To bulk up for the movie, Hardy’s fitness routine consisted of push-ups, ab work, and simple resistance training. With only 5 weeks to prepare for the role, Hardy would reportedly do upwards of 1,000 reps a day. Needless to say, the results were worth it.
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Jared Leto - Chapter 27
Another actor known for embracing method roles, Jared Leto has the propensity to sometimes take this idea a little too far (see House of Gucci). For his role as Mark David Chapman (John Lennon’s murderer), Leto gained 67 pounds. He packed on the pounds by constantly partaking in pizza and burgers, along with a dessert of microwaved pints of ice cream mixed with soy sauce and olive oil twice a day. We’re not dietitians, but that sounds extremely unhealthy. So unhealthy, in fact, that the abruptness of his weight gain gave him gout and confined him to a wheelchair. Leto was prescribed Lipitor to treat his self-imposed ailment, but it ultimately took him nearly a year to get back to a place that felt “semi-normal” after filming on Chapter 27 concluded.
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Steve Carell - Foxcatcher
After playing Michael Scott on The Office for nearly a decade, Steve Carell took a dramatic turn by playing John DuPont in Foxcatcher. For the shockingly serious role, Carell sat in the make-up chair for the better part of three hours, donning a fake nose, along with eyebrow and lip prosthetics. Admittedly, this helped him get into the mindset of a man would eventually go insane. Not to mention the physicality that Carell brought to the role, which was a very somber endeavour by all accounts. Carell also stayed in character for most of filming, leading to his first Oscar nomination for the movie.
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Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Marion Cotillard was the first person to win an Oscar for a french language role. To play the distinctive-looking french singer, Cotillard removed her eyebrows and shaved back her hairline, enduring 5 hours of make-up before each shooting day. The actress also underwent a major vocal transformation, lowering he voice several octaves, along with changing her posture to better inhabit the legendary singer. Cotillard later revealed that she found it difficult to separate herself from from the character, which is a small price to pay for Oscar gold.
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Ben Foster - The Survivor
The Survivor tells the story of Harry Haft, a Auschwitz survivor who was forced to box his fellow inmates to the death and would later become a professional boxer. For the role, Ben Foster actually visited the remains of Auschwitz, along with spending time with a Yiddish expert to make sure that his dialect was accurate. Considering that the movie depicts three different periods in Haft’s life, Foster fas forced to loos a bunch of weight for the Auschwitz scenes, only to gain it all back again as filming went on. Ben Foster in known for his powerhouse performances, but his commitment in The Survivor looks to be a career milestone for the actor.
Photo: HBO
