3. Daniel Day-Lewis Broke Ribs Because He Wouldn't Get Out Of The Wheelchair For My Left Foot
As Eddie Redmayne would go on to discover, acting in a wheelchair can lead to 'complications', but the actor who set the precedent for methoding yourself into injury in order to play someone confined to a wheelchair was, obviously, Daniel Day-Lewis. For his first Best Actor Oscar, Day-Lewis got himself typically deeply involved in the role of Christy Brown, an Irish artist who had cerebral palsy, leading to a standard Day-Lewis broken bone or two. To play Brown, Day-Lewis learned how to paint with his foot and remained in-character throughout the production, refusing to leave his wheelchair and requiring people to spoon-feed him during visits to the canteen. The result of Day-Lewis staying in his hunched-up position for such a lengthy period of time was that the actor ended up with two broken ribs.