Thespian illusions
COMPLETELY CHANGED THEIR APPEARANCES FOR ROLES
cting is tough at the best of times. And there are instances where actors have dived so deeply into their roles that they have become unrecognisable in both their physical appearance and the character they project.
Here are some examples: The British actor has appeared in roles as diverse a dread-locked pimp who thinks he’s black (True Romance) and a wheelchair-bound madman with half a face (Hannibal). But those transformations pale in comparison to his Oscar-winning turn as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. Oldman is a dead ringer for the UK’s wartime leader. In fact, the costume and make-up department were told to dial back their efforts, so some semblance of Oldman was still vaguely recognisable on film. The locally born Hollywood A-lister is as well known for her beauty as she is for her acting chops, so fans were shocked by her appearance in the serial-killer biopic Monster (pictured above). To play Aileen Wournos, a former prostitute who was put to death in Florida for the murder of six men, Theron shaved her eyebrows, used prosthetic teeth and gained 14kg. The transformation coupled with her epic performance as Wournos, netted her an Oscar for Best Actress. Probably the closest thing Hollywood has these days to Harrison Ford. With his goofy grin, effortless charm and swoon-worthy physique, the man is as at home in a rom-com as an action movie or drama, which run the gamut from heartfelt Mud to dark-ashell Killer Joe. For The Dallas Buyer’s Club, though, he threw out not only his trademark charm, but most of his body weight. To play spiky and mostly selfish Aids sufferer Ron Woodroof, he lost 20kg and looks more and more gaunt throughout the film, even though his character softens. One of Hollywood’s most famous method actors, he commits to every role he takes – and in the past it could take a toll on the man’s body. Perhaps the most famous example of this was in Raging Bull, where De Niro not only got into boxing-fit shape to play Jake Lamotta – incidentally, the former world middleweight champion was his trainer – but also embarked on a binge-eating tour of Italy and France to play Lamotta in his overweight retirement. Rumour has it he gained between 66 to 97kg. One of the most recognisable stars in the world was transformed for her role as a rabbi in the HBO miniseries, Angels In America. Using a cracked voice and hiding behind a wiry beard and prosthetics, she is the very picture of an aged Jewish holy-man. Blink and you won’t even believe it’s her. He has changed his bodyweight and appearance for so many films that he could have a list all to himself. He’s appeared as an emaciated insomniac (The Mechanic), a whip-thin crack addict for his Oscar-winning turn in The Fighter, an overweight conman (American Hustle) and, well, Batman (Nolan’s trilogy) in which he looked like he could bench-press a car. Both his ripped physique and his hairline have gone for his latest role as Dick Cheney in Vice, making him look uncannily like the former US vice president. To most, he is instantly recognisable as the resident British fop. This makes his turn in Cloud Atlas a shock. Along with the rest of the cast he plays multiple roles through the movie’s splintering narrative, but most viewers have to wait until the end to find out he is the cannibal Kona Chief. Yes, that’s Hugh Grant, slicing through a settler’s throat and licking the blood off his blade. Most movie buffs associate him with Marvel’s God of Thunder. But the Australian actor has popped up in other films such as A Perfect Getaway and Blackhat, looking as buff as in the films where he’s wielding Mjolnir. So, taking a look at the work he did on his body for the maritime epic In The Heart Of The Sea is quite an eye-opener. To say he looks emaciated is an understatement – in his Instagram picture he actually looks quite ill and a million miles away from how he looks in the Avengers flicks.