10 Subtle Instances Of Method Acting You Didn't Even Know About

7. The Cast Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Lived At The Hospital

Jack Nicholson One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
MGM-UA

Jack Nicholson is no stranger to going method, but he took the whole cast with him for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, even though there wasn't any obvious necessity for their doing so.

The film takes place in a mental institution, and with filming taking place in an actual mental hospital, Nicholson and co got very close to their subject. Each actor was given a patient to shadow and learn from for their performances, and many of them even slept on the wards at night. Some of the patients even ended up working as part of the crew, although - unbeknown to the actors - some of them were considered criminally insane.

Group therapy sessions were also held to bring the two groups closer together, and it's said that when Jack Nicholson arrived on set, he could hardly tell them apart. It all worked, of course, with the movie winning five major Academy Awards.

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