A performer’s commitment to a role is admired by fans. But sometimes film stars prepare for their projects so diligently that they go too far. Here are 14 examples of famous actors who have had health and appearance problems due to their performances and preparation.
Christian Bale
Christian Bale is known for his manic passion for physical transformations for many of his roles. He lost 54 kilograms to portray an insomnia-stricken man in The Machinist and gained 45 kilograms in the same year to play the lead in Batman: Inception. The actor ended up gaining so much muscle mass that he simply didn’t fit into the Bat-Man costume, so he had to lose weight again.
Christian told Sunday Times Culture that he also gobbled up a whole bunch of cheeseburgers to gain weight for roles in ‘American Scam’ and ‘Power.’ “My son really liked my tummy, he used to jump on it a lot. But I can not continue to do it,’ – Bale expressed his desire to stop with the constant weight loss-fat. And let him buy his son a trampoline or something.
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Tom Hardy
Christian Bale’s colleague in ‘The Dark Knight: Legend Reborn’ is also no stranger to body modifications for his performances. To play the villain Bane, Tom Hardy trained four times a day and built up 14 kilograms of muscle. As the actor later said, as a result, his joints started clicking suspiciously.
Speaking to The Daily Beast, Tom revealed that he ‘probably hurt his body too much’ while getting in shape for ‘Legend Reborn’ and ‘Warrior.’ “I think you pay the price for any drastic physical change. Going from one extreme to the other comes with a cost… And exercising with my kids has become a little bit harder than it used to be,’ Hardy complained. Well, at least this one didn’t have his kids jumping on his stomach.
Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks believes that his diagnosis of type 2 diabetes could partly be the result of the fact that he was gaining weight and losing weight for roles, including in ‘Their Own League’, ‘Philadelphia’ and ‘Outcast’.
The actor revealed that he has a genetic predisposition to diabetes. But he also does not rule out that some relation to the appearance of this disease had a lot of junk food and lack of physical activity for the sake of preparation for some films.
In an interview with the BBC, Tom expressed his opinion that gaining weight for roles is bad for his knees and joints in the long run. He called his diagnosis a wake-up call signalling that it’s time to stop overeating and under-eating for the sake of cinema.
Jared Leto
Jared Leto has repeatedly reduced his own weight for his roles, and for filming in ‘Chapter 27’ he gained more than 30 kilograms. As a result, the actor fell ill with gout and had to move around in a wheelchair because he could not walk to the film set.
‘It was so painful,’ Jared recalled in a conversation with the LA Times. – My body was in shock at how much weight I had gained. It took about a year to get back to what seemed almost normal. Just because you can lose weight doesn’t mean the impact it had on you is gone.”
Jackie Chan
On the set of Armour of God 2: Operation Condor, the martial arts king performed a stunt that resulted in him needing brain surgery. Jackie Chan shared the details in an interview with Parade, ‘It was actually a simple stunt – jumping off a slope. But I was seriously injured and I had brain surgery. I still have a metal plate in my head and I can feel the dent from the impact.”
Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh tore ligaments in her knee after a bad landing on the set of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She has been undergoing physiotherapy for several months but feels the injury has changed her forever.
‘I was doing a forward leaping leg kick, which I’ve done thousands of times, but I had a bad landing,’ the actress told USA Today. She added that she was able to recover and finish work on the film, but admitted that she will never be able to ‘fully get back to where I was’ before the incident.
Daniel Craig
Playing James Bond, Daniel Craig liked to perform his own stunts. Commendable, of course, but sometimes it led to various injuries. So, on the set of the episode of the fight with several extras in Prague in ‘Casino Royale’ actor lost two front teeth. Fortunately, the site quickly arrived at the dentist, who inserted Daniel new dentures (although a pity – Agent 007 with a gaping void in the mouth would look funny).
And during the production of Quantum of Solace, Craig lost the tip of a finger on his hand. All work was immediately interrupted while the full film crew searched for a piece of their main star. Surely the winner of this busy game got a very valuable prize.
Bruce Willis
During the filming of Die Hard, Bruce Willis lost two-thirds of his hearing in his left ear when a machine gun was fired too close to the actor in one of the scenes. As Bruce joked in an interview with The Guardian, this caused him to have a tendency to constantly interject and say ‘Staaaaa?’.
The star’s daughter, Rumer Willis, also jokingly noted that her father may have seemed rude when he appeared on talk shows, but he actually just has a hard time listening to questions.
Angelina Jolie
While starring in Salt, Angelina Jolie not only gained valuable new action experience, but also, as a result, a scar on her face. The plot required the actress to fight and jump off buildings. She did some of her stunts on her own and during one of the scenes she got injured.
As Angelina admitted at Comic-Con in San Diego, it was a ridiculously simple episode. Jolie was required to dive through a door while firing a gun, however she ended up crashing into the set. The actress bled and was left with a small scar on her face.
Zazie Beetz
Before working on Deadpool 2, Zazie Beetz trained for two months, doing cardio, strength training and mixed martial arts, among other things.
The actress also revealed that while filming a particularly difficult gunfight scene, she suffered a burn from an accidental shell casing that left a scar on her chest.
Ray Bolger
Playing the Scarecrow in the classic ‘Wizard of Oz,’ Ray Bolger wore a mask that was glued on him every morning before filming. And the film’s make-up artists, like Ray’s character, could probably use a little bit of brains too, as the mask was not porous, but rubber. This harmed the normal sweating, and at times the actor felt that he was suffocating.
When filming finally ended, it turned out that Bolger was left with scars around his mouth and chin that persisted for over a year.
Jessica Chastain
In the biopic Tammy Faye Eyes, Jessica Chastain played TV preacher Tammy Faye Becker, who applied some unimaginable amount of make-up to herself. Jessica was put on the same tonnes of make-up as her character, and every shooting day she spent up to seven and a half hours in a make-up chair. As a result, the actress’ skin became wrinkled and aged prematurely.
“I’m sure I did irreparable damage to my skin. When you wear make-up all day, every day, feeling its weight on your body, it stretches your skin. When I finally took it off, I thought, ‘I look 50 years old!’,’ Chastain shared with the LA Times. By the way, the star is now 46 years old and looks great despite her complaints to the press.
Zendaya
While starring for three seasons on the TV series Dance Fever, Zendeia messed up her hair a lot. The star wasn’t even sure if they would ever get back to normal.
“The heat styling ruined my hair. I was only 14 and I didn’t know how to protect my hair, so it took over two years to grow it out again, which was really awful,’ the actress told People.
Ariana Grande
For Ariana Grande, the years of bleaching her hair and dyeing it garnet for roles in the TV series ‘Victoria’s Victorious’ and ‘Sam & Cat’ didn’t go unnoticed. The star admitted that her loose hair looked absolutely dishevelled and absurd afterwards. That’s why she started doing hairstyles with a high ponytail.
The singer and actress said that she tried braids and even wigs, but they, according to her, looked ridiculous. Ariana explained that by gathering her hair in a pony tail with strands of hair extensions, she began to feel more comfortable.
Conclusion
The dedication and commitment of film stars to their roles often lead to remarkable performances, but sometimes the physical and health costs are significant. The examples of Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, and Tom Hanks illustrate how drastic weight changes for roles can lead to serious health issues, including joint problems and diabetes. Jared Leto’s experience with extreme weight gain resulting in gout and temporary disability highlights the dangers of rapid body transformations.
Actors like Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, and Daniel Craig have faced severe physical injuries due to their commitment to performing stunts. These injuries have had long-lasting effects, proving that the pursuit of realism and authenticity in film can come at a high price. Similarly, Bruce Willis’s hearing loss and Angelina Jolie’s facial scar are stark reminders of the potential dangers on set.
Despite the fame and admiration these actors receive for their roles, their experiences reveal the often-overlooked sacrifices they make. These stories serve as a reminder of the physical and mental toll that extreme dedication to one’s craft can exact. As such, the industry might benefit from greater awareness and implementation of health and safety measures to protect performers.
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