10 Movie Industry Secrets You Didn't Know
8. A-Listers Are Increasingly Wearing Ear-Pieces For Dialogue
It's a common expectation that actors learn their lines before shooting, beyond the outliers like Marlon Brando and John Barrymore using cue cards - for laziness and alcohol-induced forgetfulness respectively.
However, a few years ago reports emerged that Johnny Depp was having his lines fed to him via an earpiece in order to avoid learning them.
Combined with Depp's personal troubles at the time, it was easy to view this through the lens of an over-the-hill actor who has lost their love of their craft. And yet, it's a technique which is actually relatively common among actors of Depp's stature.
To be completely fair to Depp, he has defended the use of an earpiece, claiming that he uses it to have environmental sounds such as explosions piped into his ear to more easily immerse himself in scenes while on set.
But more to the point, Robert Downey Jr. recently admitted that he's been using an earpiece since 2009's Sherlock Holmes, because it prevents him from having to avoid learning lines which are constantly being rewritten, in turn allowing him to spend more time with his family during shooting.
Avengers: Endgame directors the Russo brothers even commended the method given how easily it allowed them to write new lines and quickly have him perform them on set.
But the practise goes back much further than 2009: Marlon Brando used an earpiece on 1996's The Island of Dr. Moreau, and Tom Cruise employed the technique while shooting a tricky driving scene in 1990's Days of Thunder.
There's no doubt whatsoever that many more actors use an "earwig" than would ever want to let on for the sake of vanity, fearing that the general public might view them as less of an actor were the truth revealed.