Whether it’s a haircut or sleeping rough, these 5 stars have all done something to help them get into character. Natalie Portman even ended up winning an Oscar for their performance after she got into her character by wearing the special swan-like costumes created just for her ‘Black Swan’ role, while Christina Aguilera prepared for her role in ‘Burlesque’ with the help of Cher who was intentionally mean to her to keep tensions high.
Ben Foster
Ben Foster slept on the streets for two weeks when preparing for his role as a homeless police informer ‘Rampart’: “Just living in those clothes helped me, getting my stink in it. It was a great exercise in empathy and being present because everyone is reduced to, ‘Well, there’s no roof here,’ if you’re not getting into the shelter that night and it’s raining. I was trading cigarettes for Fig Newtons. It’s tough at night.”
“There’s violence there but there’s also a beautiful community that tries to take care of their own. You have families sleeping next to families. I went out with a piece of cardboard, a knapsack and my wardrobe – bare bones. I was sleeping head to feet along the buildings and I took my experience back to (director) Oren (Moverman) and some things felt right. Like a journalist, you bring it (to) your editor/director and hope they don’t cut the s**t out of it and they honour what you brought them.”
Reese Witherspoon
Reese cut her hair for her role in ‘Water for Elephants’: “I debated about whether or not I was going to wear a wig. Ultimately, after lots of discussion and screen-testing, I decided, ‘I’m just going to cut my hair. I’m just going to dye it white. I’m just going to do it.’ It was really transforming for me. I didn’t even recognize myself. It’s a real gift, as an actress, to have people around you, who are artisans that are the best at what they do, creating period costumes for you and set design. It’s a very collaborative medium. You’re only as good as the people that you collaborate with, so we were very lucky to have the best people in the business designing the film.”
Natalie Portman
When preparing for her role in ‘Black Swan’, Natalie felt that the costumes created by Rodarte for the film really helped her get into her character: “The costumes were really, really incredible. Rodarte did the ballet costumes. They were magnificent and really did help me feel swan-like. Even from the beginning they made those knit-scarves so that from the beginning there was this feather-like suggestion of swan-ness from the start of the film. Clothes, make-up, all of that sort of aspect of a character really help you get into… you look in the mirror and you see a different person. You get that feedback.”
Meryl Streep
Meryl locked herself away in her own home while getting ready to play the role of Margaret Thatcher in ‘The Iron Lady’: “I thought I’d really be prepared to do this one, some of them you can just sort of roll out of bed and go to work (laughs). This one, I realized that there would be a different kind of challenge. So I knew I had to read a lot, I gave a lot of time to that. But in terms of having the time to prepare, to immerse myself in the character, a lot of things happened in my life that I couldn’t get ready – life took over.”
“So Phyllida had given us two weeks of rehearsal in London, I came and said, ‘Can we have one week of rehearsal, can I just sit in my house and eat, sleep and dream Margaret Thatcher for the other week?’ And Phyllida said, ‘Yes.’ So that was amazing. I sort of went to jail, shut myself up and did all the cramming that I could. It was nerve-racking.”
Christina Aguilera
Christina found her costar Cher helped her get into character during the filming of ‘Burlesque’: “She was really good at making me feel comfortable from day one. She was just very open but she would motivate me as an actor. And this being my first time I absorbed her like a sponge and really observed how she worked. She would motivate me off camera by going ‘what are you looking at b***h’. She would get me mad intentionally to help me with the scene which shows what an amazing professional she is.”
