10 Actors Who Destroyed Their Bodies To Bring Characters To Life
Who knew drastically putting on a ton of weight could have serious consequences down the road?
Contrary to what some might think, acting isn't what you'd call a cushy profession. Far from it.
Sure, once you reach the top of the mountain there's a good chance you'll be invited to a ton of fancy awards dinners and get paid a ridiculous amount of money to pretend to be another individual. However, that doesn't necessarily mean the land of make believe is all sunshine and rainbows.
Often an actor is required to physically alter their body in order to truthfully portray another being in a feature, or there character is involved in a certain heart-stopping stunt. Both of which can be potentially life threatening if not executed carefully.
But, surely that's what prosthetics and stunt people are for, right?
Well, this lot clearly felt their bodies were up to the job and they all unfortunately paid the price for wanting to bring the 'real thing' to the screen.
Extreme dieting, unfortunate landings mid-scene and even just plain old nutty method acting have all left these 10 actors' bodies looking worse for wear in the aftermath. But, at least all their hard work resulted in some truly compelling characters...for the most part.
10. Sylvester Stallone Broke His Neck Battling 'Stone Cold' - The Expendables
Sylvester Stallone has put his body through the wringer on more than one occasion throughout his 50 year (!) acting career.
There was the time he broke his finger saving a penalty from Brazilian football legend Pele in Escape to Glory (1981) and that moment Dolph Lundgren sent him to the hospital with a swollen heart after thumping him in the chest filming Rocky IV (1985).
Thankfully, Stallone learnt from these various injuries and made sure he wasn't putting his body in this sort of danger as he entered his 60's...yeah, right!
At 63 years-young Sly found himself involved in a scrap with WWE legend 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin whilst filming the first Expendables (2010) movie. If that wasn't insane enough, the Rambo/Rocky actor decided to go all in during the scene and ended up with a hairline fracture to his neck for his troubles.
Speaking after the entire ordeal had gone down, Stallone said:
'I haven't told anyone this, but I had to have a very serious operation afterwards. I now have a metal plate in my neck.'
He may not be a spring 'Italian Stallion' anymore, but Stallone is still willing to put his body through hell in pursuit of realistic badassery.