10 Actors Who Were Haunted By Their Movie Roles

There’s no business quite like show business; just ask any actor.

It’s a one-of-a-kind profession allowing its inhabitants to portray someone or something that they're not. Albeit fun and fruitful to its professionals for the most part, it can also be a frightening task as some roles can take a lot longer to leave their actors than simply hanging up their costumes or taking off their makeup at the end of the day, and this can cause devastating consequences.

Actors need to channel their characters every thought and feeling, and as such, a tango takes place between the two. However, some on-screen counterparts can gain the upper hand in this particular dance and assume control, leaving their off-screen performers unable to maintain the right balance and thus losing themselves to the irregular rhythm, assuming its part of the process.

This is an ideology that has largely been made prevalent through 'method acting' in which actors will go to extreme and often unhealthy lengths to harness the physicality and psychology of their character, which can lead to weight loss, personality changes and even the development of psychotic disorders.

It can take weeks, months and years for some actors to heal from the detrimental damage some roles have caused them. As such, the following ten actors have all been honest and open regarding their struggles to shed themselves of certain characters and overall experiences.

You’d be forgiven for struggling to shake a character such as Pennywise, a shape-shifting, child-eating alien who just happens to take the appearance of your deepest and darkest fears.

Tim Curry brought the character to life originally back in 1990 for the character’s first on-screen outing, and fast forward 27 years, Pennywise returned to Derry under new management. The man tasked with the job? The youngest brother of the illustrious Skarsgård family, Bill.

But don’t let his age fool you, as Bill Skarsgård might just happen to be the best of a very good bunch. The 32-year-old excelled in the Pennywise role and exceeded most people's expectations, as he didn’t half bring his A-game and put his stamp on the sinister role.

However, to portray evil, you must embody said evil, and that’s exactly what Skarsgård did, but it wasn’t without its consequences. The actor spent months before production began on Andy Muschietti's adaption finding and harnessing the character’s voice, mannerisms and psyche.

As a result of his commitment and dedication to doing the character justice on the silver screen, Skarsgård told Entertainment Weekly that Pennywise would visit him in his nightmares as “I was home, done with the movie, and I started having very strange and vivid Pennywise dreams. Every night, he came and visited… This was a process of letting go of the monster.”

Skarsgård appeared to enjoy the experiences, but hey, whatever floats your boat!