Hollywood's Most Hardcore Performers Who Ate Raw Meat and Ditched the Shower for their Roles
These actors took the "no pain, no gain" motto to a whole new level.
Nicole Kidman — Moulin Rouge!
Nicole has always been committed to her work, and even several injuries didn't stop the actress from participating in Moulin Rouge! During the filming of one of the difficult dancing scenes, Kidman broke one of her ribs after Ewan McGregor repeatedly threw up and caught her again. Then, the actress damaged another rib when being laced up in a corset. To top it off, Kidman tore a cartilage in her knee after she lost balance on high heels and fell down the stairs.
The pain from the injury was so bad, Nicole had to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of the shooting. Dancing scenes ceased, and the filming now concentrated on close-ups.
Halle Berry — Jungle Fever
Early in her career, Halle Berry was willing to make many sacrifices to get approved for new roles.
In 1991, she auditioned for Jungle Fever but was turned down because the director thought she was too beautiful and well-groomed to star as a junkie. After the rejection, Berry set out to learn from real addicts: she visited a drug den and copied junkies' manners, behavior, and speech to get into character. Moreover, the actress didn't bathe for two months. Halle's efforts paid off, and she got the role. Later, however, she complained that she felt very sticky and her hair got dry because she didn't take a shower for so long.
Robert De Niro — Cape Fear
In Cape Fear, Robert De Niro's character is a homicidal maniac, who served 14 years in prison and came out free. When the actor was invited to star in the movie, his first move was to go to the dentist and have his teeth messed up! De Niro thought his Hollywood smile wasn't suitable for the role, so he spent five thousand dollars to ruin his teeth — and then another twenty grand to restore them.
His reward was an Oscar statuette for Best Actor.
Shia LaBeouf — Fury
To prepare for his role as a soldier in Fury, Shia served in the US National Guard for a month. But that's nothing compared to what he did then: like De Niro, LaBeouf thought his teeth were too pretty for the role, so he knocked out one of them. For two weeks, the actor kept his personal hygiene to a minimum to understand what it would feel like to serve in a tank during the war. Shia also thought his makeup wasn't enough for one of the scenes — and so he cut his own face.
Liam Neeson — The Grey
The Grey star Liam Neeson had to eat raw wolf meat. The delicacy was kept in the freezer for six months, but that didn't stop the professional actor from getting properly immersed in his role.
Leonardo DiCaprio — The Revenant
The Revenant was a very significant project in DiCaprio's filmography. The actor had to lose plenty of weight, get rid of his beard, endure bitter cold, sleep inside a dead animal's carcass, and if that wasn't enough — Leonardo also tasted raw bison liver.
"I don’t see it as anything harrowing," the actor confessed. "I saw it as something that needed to be done. We were striving for authenticity. My reaction to eating that piece of meat is right up on screen."