10 More Actors Who Took Method Acting Way Too Far
8. Aaron Eckhart - Rabbit Hole
To prepare for his role in Rabbit Hole, Aaron Eckhart pretended he'd lost a child.
Yup, you read that right.
While on The Howard Stern Show in 2014, Eckhart opened up about the drastic methods he took to prepare for the role of Howard Corbett, who lost his four-year-old son in a car crash. Eckhart attended a real support group for parents who had lost children, and created a fake story about losing a child himself.
Eckhart described breaking down in tears at the support group, describing the life and death of his fake child after getting lost in his own fabrication:
“Oh yeah, 100%, I lost it. You really believe that you just lost a child. You are as close to reality in that sense as possible. I don’t want to be rude to people who have lost a child, but yeah, you feel right there, you feel like your character.”
Many people weren't happy after Eckhart admitted this, suggesting that instead of pretending to lose a child, Eckhart should've sat in on the support group and listened to other people's stories instead of making up his own.