Movie Roles that almost broke the actor. Part 1

   There's something refreshing about an actor winning a coveted award because they deserved it, don't you think? I'm talking about actors that have literally become the role they set out to play and almost lost themselves in the process. For example, Eddie Murphy in the role of Dr. Dolittle is exactly what i DON'T mean.
  
   This is the first installment in a series chronicling some of the actors that did so chillingly well in their role that it left you crying or possibly throwing up. God bless 'em!  




1. Heath Ledger as The Joker

"Why So Serious?" I'll tell you why. In his role as the Joker in 'The Dark Knight', Ledger became so entrenched in his character that he spent a month in a hotel room logging his progress as he slowly transformed himself into the Batman nemesis. Jack Nicholson had apparently warned Heath of the risks of playing such a role knowing full well how it could change a man. Regardless, Ledger immersed himself and the role took its toll. He was reported to be getting less than 2hrs. sleep a night towards the end of filming. Heath Ledger died on January 22, 2008, shortly after the film wrapped up. Following his death, a lot of questions were raised about how much that final role played a part in his unfortunate death.



2. Christian Bale as John Connor

During the filming of 'Terminator: Salvation', Bale tore the Director of Photography, Shane Hurlbut, a new ass because he was fiddling with the lights during an intense scene. Apparently the fiddler had already been asked nicely by Bale not to do that.
Regardless, what got released was the audio recording of that tirade and suddenly, Bale was a dipshit. He had to go into career damage control apologizing to everyone including Betty White for no reason whatsoever.
You can hear a recording of the rant here: http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_audio/020209_christianbale.mp3

3. Joaquin Phoenix as Joaquin Phoenix

  
 
   I suppose losing yourself in a role playing yourself seems kind of odd except guess what, it's called crazy. We've all seen the famous Letterman interview where a raggedy Phoenix confirmed that he was leaving his filming gig for rapping. In what went on for almost 2 years, Joaquin had people scratching their heads wondering what the f*ck was up with him. Did he lose his shit or was he just plain delusional?
   'Remember Me' was finally revealed by Director Casey Affleck to be  a Mockumentary. Phoenix admitted later during an interview that he wanted out...that playing his doppelganger got to be too much. Plus, he was probably finding it hard to get laid looking like a hairy rapping testicle.


4. Matt Damon as Ilario

   

For his role as a heroin-loving-medic in 'Courage Under Fire', Damon lost about 50 pounds. He admitted that he went too far when he cooked up some heroin back stage at the 68th Academy Awards...(ha! That didn't actually happen, it just felt right to write it.)
   However, what DID actually happen was Damon jumping on a 100-day intensive strict diet to lose weight for the role which led to dizzy spells and hot flashes. His adrenal gland suffered so much from the dramatic weight loss that he had to take medication for several years following the film. All this for 2 days worth of filming and i can't even make it to the gym 2 days in a row. Pffft!





5. Daniel Day-Lewis as Christy Brown

   In the movie 'My Left Foot' Daniel played the role of Christy Brown, a real-life hero who was born with cerebral palsy and used the only limb he could control, his left foot, to write and paint with. Interesting because i can't do shit with my left foot and my legs work just fine.
   For this role, Mr. Day-Lewis refused to leave his character's wheelchair, only spoke in the broken dialect of a Cerebral Palsy victim and even had crew members feed him.