BY: Ramona Duoba

To take on a role, actors are often required to transform themselves into someone else. It may require rigid diets for significant weight loss or gain or prosthetics and heavy makeup to become unrecognizable. Most importantly, these transformations must be real enough to convince the audience the portrayal is authentic and believable. Let’s take a look at Provokr’s list of transformative big-screen roles.

CHRISTIAN BALE 

Christian Bale is famous for his extreme physical transformations. In the 2018 film Vice, the Dick Cheney biopic, Bale shaved his head, bleached his eyebrows and gained 40 pounds to nail the former vice-president’s appearance. But, it was Bale’s transformation in the psychological thriller The Machinist that stands out. To play the emaciated Trevor Reznik, whose severe insomnia led to an accident, Bale lost 62 pounds to show the mental, emotional and physical downward spiral of Reznik. In an interview, Bale said, “My daily thing was generally like a bit of a coffee and an apple if I felt like it…to keep that really sunken look, you’ve got to be eating practically nothing.”

 

CHARLIZE THERON

Charlize Theron is considered one of Hollywood’s most beautiful leading women. Her role as Aileen Wournos in the film Monster earned Theron an Oscar for Best Actress and showcased her ability to transform herself for the big screen. She was unrecognizable with an extra 30 pounds on her otherwise statuesque figure. Theron told The Baltimore Sun, “There were no prosthetics except a cellophane-thin strip of plastic on my eyelids and a cream on my face to give me a sun-damaged look. But that’s my own hair; there were no wigs. This wasn’t a game we were playing called, ‘Let’s try to make Charlize look ugly.’ I didn’t want it to look like a caricature. I just wanted it to look like Aileen.”

 

EDDIE REDMAYNE

Eddie Redmayne in the Danish Girl is a love story about landscape artist Einar Wegener, who transitions into Lili with the help of his wife Gerda, played by Alicia Vikander. To create the character, Redmayne absorbed Lili Elbe’s autobiography Man into Woman, which chronicles her groundbreaking 1920’s gender reassignment surgeries. Redmayne watched the British TV series My Transsexual Summer and met with six transgender women from different generations. Redmayne told Variety the first time he appeared in public as Lili, wearing an auburn wig and lipstick, he was self-conscious, “The feeling of being gazed at and scrutinized and the fear…the fear is there.” 

 

JARED LETO

Jared Leto, actor and frontman of the band Thirty Seconds to Mars, was unrecognizable as Rayon, a transgender AIDS patient with a drug problem in the 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club. Leto lost 30 pounds and appeared on set weighing a mere 116 pounds. Leto told The New York Times about the weight loss, “It’s a great tool. It changes the way you think and feel, the way people treat you, the choices you make.” Leto remained in character for the 25-day shoot, which also earned him an Oscar for best-supporting actor.

 

JOAQUIN PHOENIX

Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in the Joker earned the actor an Oscar for his portrayal of failed comedian Arthur Fleck. Isolated, bullied and disregarded by society, Fleck descends into madness as he transforms into the Joker. Phoenix lost more than 50 pounds, a process which he said helped him get into the right headspace to play Joker, but which also took a mental toll. “It turns out, that affects your psychology,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, “You start to go mad.”

 

GARY OLDMAN

Gary Oldman’s career has spanned four decades with a long list of notable films. He is known for his in-depth research of his roles as well as his devotion to them. His desire to transform into character left him hospitalized after losing weight to play Sid Vicious of the punk rock band Sex Pistols for the film Sid & Nancy. In 2017 he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. In an interview, Oldman said, “I completely surround myself with the assignment….for instance, looking at not only Churchill’s way of walking and mannerisms and the way he sounds but also looking into the psychology.”

 

NICOLE KIDMAN

Nicole Kidman changed her appearance to play Virginia Woolf in 2002’s The Hours. Kidman’s makeup and prosthetics took three hours to apply daily. While she took on the physical changes of the character, she brought Woolf to life and earned a Best Actress Oscar. Her performance in Destroyer showed us an unexpected Kidman. Given her signature elegance, Kidman in Destroyer is anything but elegant. She plays Erin Bell, who is an LAPD cop. She’s a detective with a hard life, who let herself go and her bad choices show on her face. 

 

HILARY SWANK

Hilary Swank catapulted to stardom with the low-budget, indie film Boys Don’t Cry. She took a risk on a challenging role and what was then a provocative topic. “I broke into film with that movie, but it was like such a long shot, said Swank in an interview with IndieWire. The film tells the story of transgender Brandon Teena’s (Swank) exploration of his gender, his first romance and tragic murder. Swank earned only $3,000 for the film, but it earned her an Oscar for Best Actress. 

 

50 CENT

Rapper 50 Cent (Curtis James Jackson III) shocked fans when he lost more than 50 pounds for the 2011 movie Things Fall Apart. The rapper portrayed a football player with cancer and dropped from 214 pounds to 160. The film was based on the life story of one of 50 Cent’s childhood friends. He told Huffington Post, “Towards the end, it was really difficult. It was like, if I don’t get close enough to what my best friend looked like to me at that point before he passed, then I’m not doing the story justice.”

 

JANELLE MONAE

Janelle Monáe, as Marie Buchanon in the film Harriet, is a departure for Monáe, a singer, songwriter and producer. The Harriet Tubman biopic follows the story of the heroic abolitionist who escaped slavery and liberated hundreds of slaves through the underground railroad. Monáe’s character is fictional and her role in the film is to help Tubman transition into life after slavery. Monáe said in an interview, “She’s always been a part of my DNA, and when I got asked to be involved in the film and I read the script. I said, absolutely.”

 

JAKE GYLLENHAAL

Jake Gyllenhaal, in 2015’s Southpaw, turned himself into a junior middleweight boxing champion. To achieve his convincing look, Variety reported, “He’s spent six months working out six hours a day to build enough muscle to look like a professional boxer.” The film is a story of redemption after Billy “The Great” Hope loses his family, house, and manager.

 

ROONEY MARA

Rooney Mara changed her style to play Lisbeth Salander in the psychological thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Mara told Entertainment Weekly , “There were certainly things I was scared to do, but I never thought I wasn’t up for the challenge.” According to Mara, the most challenging thing to adjust to was her bleached eyebrows. “I just had to process, okay, this is what you look like now.” Her portrayal of a brilliant but antisocial investigator and hacker earned Mara an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in 2011.

 

TOM HANKS

Tom Hanks, in the 2000 movie Castaway, found himself stranded on a desert island. As a result, the actor had to lose weight, dropping from 225 pounds to 170. The film was shot in two parts. The heavy Hanks as Chuck Nolan and a year later after Hanks lost the weight, production resumed as the leaner Chuck Nolan, who was stranded for four years. His role in Philadephia was remarkable when the 37-year-old Hanks played a gay lawyer wasting away from AIDS. His character, Andrew Beckett, is fired from his law firm because of his diagnosis. It was a groundbreaking film that tackled HIV, homosexuality and homophobia. Hanks starred alongside Denzel Washington and received a Best Actor Oscar for his performance.

 

DENZEL WASHINGTON

Denzel Washington reunited with director Spike Lee for what is considered one of the defining roles of his career: Malcolm X. He received his third Oscar nomination for his performance as the legendary activist. The movie spans more than 20 years of the controversial black activist’s life. Washington portrays Malcolm from his imprisonment in the 50’s to his transformation as a Black Muslim and then as a leader in the Nation of Islam.

 

CATE BLANCHETT

Cate Blanchett, in the 2007 biographical musical film I’m Not There is one of six actors who depict different facets of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan’s public personas. It is one of Blanchett’s most fascinating transformations. The Hollywood Reporter’s review of the film recognized Blanchett, “The star of the show is undoubtedly Blanchett, who has great fun playing Dylan as a showboat who quite knowingly goes about creating his reputation for rebellious independence.” 

 

RENEE ZELLWEGER

Renee Zellweger is Judy Garland in the film Judy. Her transformation is impressive. She may don a dark wig and the makeup and wardrobe are just right, but it’s her genuine ability to sing. Zellweger’s vocals in Judy are all hers. The film focuses on the entertainer’s ups and downs and Zellweger matches Garland’s looks, demeanor and musicality. Zellweger was recognized for her portrayal of Garland with Golden Globe and Academy Award wins for Best Actress.

 

HEATH LEDGER

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight transformed into his version of the Joker. The late actor pushed himself physically and mentally. He isolated himself in a London hotel room for over a month to develop the character. He was heavily involved with makeup and wardrobe decisions for the Joker’s persona. Ledger put in every effort to set his performance apart from his predecessors, such as those played by Jack Nicholson or Cesar Romero. This extreme effort took a toll on the actor, leaving him exhausted and sleep-deprived. In the end, Ledger’s insomnia issues contributed to his premature death when the 28-year-old actor accidentally overdosed on prescription sleeping medication before the film’s release. 

 

ALLISON WILLIAMS

Allison Williams, in the provocative horror film Get Out, plays Rose Armitage, a young woman who brings her black boyfriend home to meet her parents. It’s a film that explores modern-day racial tensions. “She’s completely, unequivocally an evil person,” Williams said, in a conversation with Vanity Fair. “One of the most evil people. Irredeemable, no good qualities, no asterisks, just evil.”  

 

MARGOT ROBBIE

Margot Robbie, the Australian beauty, transformed into the five-foot-one figure skater Tonya Harding for the film I, Tonya. Robbie portrayed the disgraced figure skater from Portland, Oregon, who was involved in a scandal after her rival Nancy Kerrigan was whacked in the knee by a hired thug just before the 1994 Olympics. Robbie was obsessed with learning to skate and spent five months at the rink. She portrays Harding as a rough around the edges, misunderstood figure skater and the record-breaking skater who lands the first triple axel and becomes America’s villain. 

 

LUPITA NYONG’O

Lupita Nyong’o in Jordan Peele’s horror film Us plays dual roles as a normal human wife and mother, Adelaide Wilson, and Adelaide’s evil doppelgänger, Red. The 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actor Nyong’o worked seamlessly back and forth between the characters. Nyong’o said in an interview with Indiewire that she felt physically and emotionally drained, “I stretched my muscles and reached into the depth of my training and my being to work on this movie, and I definitely had a moment of rupture.”