Celebrities are known to do whatever it takes to get into character for a major film role, regardless of the consequences.
Whether it be method acting, working out to achieve an extreme physique, or piling on a load of weight to become unrecognisable – actors will stop at nothing to ensure they perform the role to the best of their ability.
Christian Bale, Adrien Brody and Robert De Niro have all been known to get into character months, sometimes years, before filming and now another actor has joined the ranks.
One Hollywood star was spotted recently on the set of his new TV show, sporting an entirely different look. So much so that unless you’d have told me who he was, I would never have guessed the reality.
Wearing an oversized grey suit, wire-rimmed glasses and holding a walking stick, you’d be mistaken if you thought this was simply an ageing businessman going about his everyday business.
Nope, it is in fact a renowned Hollywood actor dressed for their latest role – but I’ll let you off if you don’t recognise him.
Take a closer look for yourself, see if you can figure out who it is:
If you’ve worked it out, you’ve done better than me. I was genuinely staring at my screen for a good five minutes trying to rack my brain.
Alright, alright, I’ll put you out of your misery. The mystery man is none other than Russell Crowe. Did you guess?
According to The Sun, the 54-year-old actor wore a full prosthetic fat suit to get into the character of TV executive Roger Ailes in his new TV show The Loudest Voice in the Room.
The show will take ‘a look at the rise and fall of former Chairman and CEO of Fox News’, according to IMDB, and will also star Naomi Watts and Seth MacFarlane.
It’s a far cry from when Crowe hit the gym hard ahead of his iconic role in Gladiator as Maximus Decimus Meridius.
He reportedly followed a gruelling regime to become the veteran Roman soldier, consuming six to eight ‘protein-heavy’ meals a day and taking part in a vigorous fitness programme.
And Crowe isn’t the only actor willing to transform themselves for a role, with Christian Bale being perhaps the most notorious for it.
Even though Bale had spent the late nineties and early noughties playing acutely-toned and agile characters, it was in 2004’s The Machinist – where he played a haggard insomniac – that he cemented his reputation as a method actor worthy of comparison to his heroes growing up.
Bale lost a huge 65 pounds when he played Trevor Reznik, surviving on an apple and can of tuna per day, taking up chain-smoking to appease any other cravings. Yikes.
Most recently though, he had yet another extreme makeover in preparation for his role as former vice president Dick Cheney in Vice.
Take a look at the trailer below:
Anyone else think him and Crowe look relatively similar in their new roles, or is that just me? Probably just me.
Makeup or no makeup, fat suit or not, I think we can all agree that both transformations are pretty bloody impressive.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).