12 Actors Who Immersed Themselves Too Far In Movie Scenes

While discussing actors who go too far for roles, there's no way you can limit yourself to just one example of Daniel Day-Lewis. Because of how serious he takes his work, he could've easily appeared on every entry on this list.

Day-Lewis' breakout role and the first performance to earn him an Oscar was as paraplegic Irish artist, Christy Brown in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot. Christy was born with cerebral palsy, giving him limited strength in every part of his body except his left foot, which he used to paint.

Day-Lewis was so committed to the role, he acted like he had cerebral palsy during production, even when he was talking to his agent. During lunch, he refused to eat with his hands and instead, asked an assistant to feed him. He spent so much time in a hunched position, he broke two of his ribs during production.

Like Christy, Day-Lewis learned to write, paint, and pick up objects with foot. Ironically, he was only able to do this with his right foot, forcing the director to invert many of his scenes.