10 More Movie Performances Even More Impressive When You Know The Truth

Those little details that make already awesome movie performances that bit more amazing.

By Gareth Morgan /

While many understandably choose to steer clear of the ins and outs that go into the creation of a big screen offering in an attempt to fully immerse themselves in the cinematic story being told, there's something unquestionably fascinating about discovering the real-life effort that often goes into the forging of this performance art.

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That's not to say that what separates an incredible turn from a simply serviceable movie showing always boils down to purely how much torture an actor is willing to put themselves through for the good of a flick.

But the knowledge of the genuine struggles and scenarios this collection of actors had to overcome and what lengths they were all too happy to go to in order to breathe life into their characters most definitely adds some extra sparkle to an already stunning piece of work.

From putting their bodies through undoubted hell when trying to legitimately punch their way to success, to pulling double duty and ultimately playing a part in two of the most acclaimed films of the year, if you admired the following performances before reading this list, prepare to appreciate them on a whole other level by the time the next ten entries are in the rear-view mirror.

10. Daniel Craig's Impressive Memorising Alters The Shoot - Knives Out

Despite spending much of their formative years mastering the art of committing pages of dialogue to memory when honing their craft on the stage, a great many of the thespians transitioning from stage-to-screen aren't often required to memorise much more than a scene or a few pages at a time due to the stop-start nature of filmmaking as a whole.

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But that still didn't stop former 007 himself Daniel Craig from going the extra mile during the making of Rian Johnson's 2019 smash-hit whodunnit Knives Out when it came to the all-important final section of that thriller.

As the director himself would reveal, the British sensation opted to learn the entire 30-page gripping conclusion which mostly consisted of Benoit Blanc monologuing on how he came to landing on the film's murder suspect. This insistence on being able to perform the scene like he would a soliloquy on stage resulted in Johnson being able to lean into longer takes and less cuts when producing said final stages of his ensemble epic, with the director claiming that Craig's work got better and better as each take grew in length.

You can keep your movie magic. All this actor needs is a License to Remember...

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