10 Actors Who Took A Ridiculously Long Time To Prepare For Iconic Roles

3. Timothy Spall - Mr. Turner

Time Spent Preparing: Two years Filmmaker Mike Leigh and Timothy Spall have worked together on a total of five features over the years, but for their fifth film together - which Leigh cast Spall in seven years before cameras rolled - Leigh insisted Spall get preparing early. And by early, he meant 24 whole months in advance. To play the artist J.M.W. Turner in the biopic Mr. Turner, Spall was taking lessons on how to paint two years before filming even began (alongside getting through mountains of research with his director to form an authentic portrait of Turner). Under the tutelage of portraitist and teacher Tim Wright, Spall learned how to work in pencil, charcoal, water colour, acrylic and oils, completing 400 pictures and 15 full-size paintings during his two-year 'course'. While he was preparing to play Turner, Spall completed work on seven films, three TV series and even made an appearance at the 2012 Olympics. Throughout all, he was still conducting research and learning to paint for what would be a Cannes award-winning film.