Screen acting history is littered with examples of thesps putting some major commitment into roles and being justly rewarded for it. Think Christian Bale losing weight for The Machinist and being handed the Batman gig as a result, or Al Pacino living as a blind man for Scent of a Woman and being repaid with an Oscar, but those people aren't the concern of this list. Its concern - and concern is the right word - is for the poor souls that took a part particularly seriously, only for them to take no real benefit from all their hard work. Here are 10 actors that put in some serious dedication, only for their efforts to go largely unrewarded.
10. Jared Leto - Chapter 27
The Commitment: Best known for his unfathomable beauty and for acting as lead singer for ineffectual emo screamers 30 Seconds to Mars, Jared Leto took the drinking pints of ice cream and olive oil approach to prepare for his role as John Lennon's rotund killer Mark Chapman. Leto emerged 67 pounds heavier from his anti-diet unrecognisably porcine, ready to channel his inner psycho-loser.
The Result: He probably thought it was going to be the film that proved his mettle as a serious actor, and Jared Leto
is fittingly dead-eyed and creepy as Mark Chapman...it's just that no-one bothered to see the film and find out, it going on to be a major flop. The critics that did see Chapter 27 mostly dismissed it, and as it also starred Lindsay Lohan, who can blame them? Leto also has to live with the fact that, with an added five stone - five stone which gave him gout and confined him to a wheelchair - he bore an uncanny resemblance to Chapman, and no-one needs that.