9 Times Method Actors Actually Forgot Who They Really Were

6. Jim Carrey Couldn't Stop Being Andy Kaufman Whilst Shooting Man On The Moon

After the studio passed over Edward Norton in favour of the more commercially viable Jim Carrey, Carrey wanted to prove he was the right choice to play Andy Kaufman in Milos Forman's Man On The Moon. He went ahead and basically did all the things Tropic Thunder's Kirk Lazarus was designed as a character to mock, like refusing to break character and insisting he was referred to by Kaufman's name instead of his own at all times.

Carrey's obsession, however, bled into his own life: he ended up living as Kaufman - there are apparently 200 hours of documentary footage to prove it - and playing Kaufman-esque pranks not just on set (he would serenade Universal studio execs and inexplicably bring Hell's Angels to the shoot), but at home, too.

At one point, a medic was called to attend to Carrey after he got a bloody nose, claiming Kaufman alter-ego Tony Clifton had given it to him. This had no bearing whatsoever on the movie; it should also be noted at this point that both Kaufman and 'Tony Clifton' had by this point been dead for 15 years.