Heath Ledger
Undoubtedly, one of the most famous cases in which an actor got so into character that it affected his personality and possibly worsened his psychological condition. Ledger locked himself in a hotel room where he only thought about the Joker and tried to fully get into character. At that time, he wrote a diary where he recorded all his disturbing thoughts. It is believed that after that, he had severe depression which prompted him to take larger amounts of medication, causing an accidental death.
Shelley Duvall
During the filming of The Shining, Shelley Duvall nearly had a nervous breakdown over the treatment she received of her from Stanley Kubrick, who pushed her to the limit of her nerves so that she could play the real angst of the character she is playing. interpreted. At one point, the woman began to lose her hair due to anxiety caused by her, and Jack Nicholson also treated her badly, causing damage that affected her until she finished filming.
Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer wanted to fully become Jim Morrison. The man learned 50 Doors songs (out of 15 that were to appear on the tape) and demanded to meet the rest of the band (except Ray Manzarek) to ask how the man would react to certain situations. The actor got to the point where he demanded that Oliver Stone call him Jim, and many believe that his addictions were made worse by his desire to fully become Morrison.
Daniel Day-Lewis
Although he has never had a psychological break, we wonder what will go on in the mind of Daniel Day-Lewis, who broke two ribs filming My Left Foot, who insisted on living as if he were Abraham Lincoln throughout the filming of the movie Lincoln, and who he decided to spend six months in a forest completely alone and without help from anyone. In that last adventure, man learned to hunt, skin animals, and use their skins... We don't know how normal it is. The truth is that, for that kind of thing, he is considered one of the best actors in history.
Marilyn burns
One of the actresses in Texas Chainsaw Massacre suffered a terrible experience during filming in the part where she is attacked by the villain with a sledgehammer over and over her head, while smelling the stink from Gunnar Hansen's suit, while tied up and had to scream over and over again. The woman herself confessed that she thought she would never finish filming the sequence and that she became more frightened, but she managed to calm down once she was released and she was able to finish the film.
Al Pacino
Those who have watched Al Pacino's career know that the actor exists before and after Scarface.
It seems that his work to get into the skin of Tony Montana was so good that he has not been able to completely get out of it. While before the role, Pacino was a bit calmer, both his voice and his body changed once he took on the character. Sure, he's not a violent drug addict, but he's certainly another man.
