10 Insane Ways Actors Prepared For Famous Movie Scenes

9. Daniel Day-Lewis Spent Three Sleepless Nights In Solitary Confinement For His Interrogation Scene - In The Name Of The Father

Surely no actor in human history has put themselves through the wringer in the pursuit of their craft more than Daniel Day-Lewis.

He famously lived in the wilderness while preparing for The Last of the Mohicans, and even caught pneumonia after refusing to wear period-inaccurate clothing on Gangs of New York.

But in the fantastic 1993 drama In the Name of the Father, the legendary performer put a concerted amount of effort into preparing specifically for the unforgettable scene where his wrongly-accused Irish prisoner Gerry Conlon is coerced into signing a confession.

Distraught at the mental and physical abuse he's been put through by the police - including them threatening to murder his father (Pete Postlethwaite) - Conlon tearfully signs the confession.

In order to understand how any innocent man could willingly sign a confession which would effectively ruin their life, Day-Lewis spent three nights in solitary confinement in an active jail, and was kept awake by fellow prisoners who would bang on the door with tin cups throughout his nights there.

Better still, he was interrogated by three teams of Special Branch officers for a whole nine hours, and while on set, insisted that the crew throw cold water on him and verbally berate him.

The results speak for themselves, because it's easily the best scene in the movie and the one that likely secured Day-Lewis his well-earned Best Actor Oscar nomination.