10 Movie Roles That Traumatised Actors
7. Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange)
Kubrick is famed for being as much of an artist as he is an auteur in film. But, it would seem, this comes at a cost to those he utilises to deliver his vision - namely, the actors he abused in the name of cinema.
Malcolm McDowell, the star of A Clockwork Orange, was one such victim to Kubrick's incessant search for the perfect shot, and it almost cost him his eyesight in the process.
The infamous Ludavico scene, where McDowell's character Alex is subjected to experimental rehabilitation that involves forced viewing of selected gory clips, was one that involved a dangerous eye-ball mangling prop. One such prop actually scratched McDowell's cornea in the process of wearing it, and required drops to be applied every 15 seconds to avoid more permanent damage. Yikes.
Whilst McDowell's character is a depraved, twisted young man, he had every faith in Kubrick to make a film that would be a lasting piece of cinema, and wasn't effected in the same way other entries on this list were in the case of attuning himself to Alex's disturbed tendencies. Acting in the film was a great joy for him - but the potential blinding from the medieval-looking 'lid-locks' is a memory that still sticks with him today.