10 Actors That Totally Overprepared For A Role
7. Daniel Day-Lewis Almost Died - Gangs Of New York
There aren't many performers that can match how notoriously linked to the phrase “method acting” Daniel Day-Lewis is. Not just content with playing a part, the English actor has lived almost every role that he’s performed in some fashion.
Learning how to fluently speak Dutch for The Unbearable Lightness of Being, commanding to be fed and carried around as the cerebral-palsy stricken writer of My Left Foot and spending a month in the forest skinning and eating animals for The Last of the Mohicans… it seems there's nothing Day-Lewis won’t do to get into character and he has routinely turned out award-winning performances because of it.
Naturally, picking a stand-out set of method acting circumstances from his career is subjective but on the set of Gangs of New York, Day-Lewis caught hypothermia due to his insistence on wearing period correct outfits. Furthermore, the actor denied modern medicines and nearly died because of it.
To prepare for the role of Bill the Butcher, Day-Lewis trained in the namesake profession and wandered the streets of Rome, where the piece was being filmed, getting into fights with strangers. We can only assume he came out on top every time.
Few actors prepare for a role like Daniel Day-Lewis, who put his life on the line for the sake of Gangs of New York.