10 Actors Who Destroyed Their Bodies To Bring Characters To Life
1. George Clooney's Torture Scene Changes His Life - Syriana
Looking through George Clooney's back catalogue, you'll notice that the iconic actor hasn't exactly opted to drastically alter his physical appearance for a great deal of his roles.
But that doesn't mean he hasn't completely destroyed his body in the process of bringing a character to the big screen.
During the shooting of geopolitical thriller Syriana (2005), Clooney's character Bob Barnes was involved in a torture scene which unfortunately went horrifically wrong. The actor, taped to a chair, ended up cracking his skull after the seat was kicked over. But, that was merely the beginning of his issues.
Clooney bruised his brain and badly injured his spine, causing spinal fluid to leak out of his nose. Things got so unbearable for the actor that he even contemplated suicide whilst lying in his hospital bed.
He told Rolling Stone Magazine:
'I was lying in a hospital bed with an IV in my arm, unable to move, having these headaches where it feels like you’re having a stroke, and for a short three-week period, I started to think, ‘I may have to do something drastic about this.’ You start to think in terms of, you don’t want to leave a mess, so go in the garage, go in the car, start the engine.'
Thankfully, the actor made it through the frightening ordeal. Clooney also managed to bag himself the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his troubles, but he's never been the same since.
To this day, he still suffers chronic back pain from his Syriana accident.