There is more to Kate Winslet than diving ships and Shakespearean plays. In “The Reader” Winslet dove into a role of a prison camp guard, taking place in WWII Germany.
She annoyed her kids when she took on a German accent and kept using it off the set. She didn’t break character, not even when she read them bedtime stories. They said, “Mum, just be plain. Don’t do any funny stuff like voices.”
Hoffman Didn't Sleep
Dustin Hoffman was trained at the celebrated Actor’s Studio in NYC. In "Marathon Man", he played opposite Laurence Olivier, a classically trained actor. When Hoffman had a scene in which his character did not sleep for three nights, Hoffman stayed up for three nights.
Legendarily, when he told Olivier his method, the response of the classically trained actor was, “Why don’t you just try acting?” Hoffman had the last laugh. Method acting made him a two-time Oscar winner ("Kramer vs. Kramer" and "Rain Man").
Then There Was the Slap
But it took a toll. Sleep deprivation nearly compromised his sanity. Hoffman narrowly averted a psychotic break. And in "Kramer vs. Kramer", he went overboard accosting Meryl Streep in off-camera clashes.
On camera, an unscripted slap in the face was as unwelcome as his heckling of the actress over her recently deceased boyfriend.
There Were Some Dark Moments
In the end, it was worth it. While the actress felt that the role took her to a dark place, she did end up grabbing an Oscar for it. She pulled off that accent with such professionalism, for a minute there she was thought to be a native German.
Kate said that it was like she'd escaped from a serious car accident and needed to understand what has just happened. She already earned her title of a fabulous actress, but after this appearance, she showed sides that weren't revealed before.
Marlon Brando Went Psycho
Marlon Brando needs no introduction, but you might not know how the fabled actor physically tortured himself each night during the 1946 Broadway run of "Truckline Café". The final scene depicts his character, a psychopath, emerging from an icy lake.
Brando had a stagehand dump an ice-cold bucket of water over his head as he ran up and down the stairs getting properly winded for the lake scene.