With method acting, actors go over and above to truly understand and immerse themselves in the characters they are playing, particularly when they're based on real people. This might be coupled with getting into shape or, conversely, drastically losing or gaining weight. It can also be seen when an actor learns a particular craft, be it singing, dancing, playing a sport, or an instrument.
Oftentimes, the hard work pays off, as many of the Oscar nominees, both in films and acting, have included movies where actors took things to another level and put in plenty of extra work in training to deliver convincing portrayals.
Riz Ahmed Learned To Play Drums (Sound Of Metal)
Not only did this versatile actor learn American Sign Language for his Oscar-nominated role in the movie Sound of Metal, but Riz Ahmed also had to learn to play the drums, at least convincingly enough to make it seem real.
According to the best movie on Amazon Prime Video.
Ryan Gosling Learned To Play Piano (La La Land)
Ryan Gosling might not have technically been playing the piano in his scenes in La La Land, as the music was recorded separately by an actual pianist, but his keyboard work was all real. If it wasn't, anyone who knows how to play the piano would instantly be able to spot the inconsistency in his finger movements, so it was critical that the scenes were believable.
To train for the role, Gosling learned to play "City of Stars" for four months, and he practiced daily, according to CBC. So, while the music heard in the movie might not actually be Gosling, he did learn how to play the song, and this made it possible to avoid using hand doubles while filming.
Rachel Weisz Learned To Play Accordion, Fiddle, Guitar, & Banjo (The Brothers Bloom)
Rachel Weisz did not play any instrument prior to her role in this film, but in the span of a single scene, she had to play four of them: accordion, fiddle, guitar, and banjo. According to Express UK, she spent hours learning each one.
Weisz noted that she learned the accordion from a professor who only spoke Serbian, so the experience was particularly challenging. In addition to learning to play the instruments enough for it to look convincing, she also had to learn card tricks, which the actor said were not faked in the movie – it was all her.
Rami Malek Learned How To Play Piano (Bohemian Rhapsody)
To make sure the close-up shots of him playing the piano looked realistic, Rami Malek spent time learning how to play the first verse of "Bohemian Rhapsody," according to iNews. Prior to that, Malek had no musical experience at all, including singing. Yet he pulled both off convincingly.
The singing, however, was only partly Malek: most of the singing in Rami Malek's best movie, according to IMDb.
Bradley Cooper Learned To Play Guitar & Piano (A Star Is Born)
Not only did Bradley Cooper stun viewers when he revealed his lovely singing voice in A Star is Born, but he also revealed that he could play guitar. Or, at least he could after studying the craft for the role. Cooper took guitar, vocal, and piano lessons for half a year before filming the movie, according to Harper's Bazaar.
He even performed at Glastonbury, footage of which was used in the actual movie, as part of his practice. Interestingly, however, the audio heard in the movie is not that of Cooper actually playing but rather Lukas Nelson, son of Willy Nelson, and his band. Nelson hilariously called Cooper's guitar playing skills a "five or a six" out of 10.
Adrien Brody Learned To Play Piano (The Pianist)
It took practicing for four hours a day for Adrien Brody to be able to convincingly play the piano as Jewish composer Wladyslaw Szpilman in The Pianist, according to TheVintageNews.com. He took method acting to the highest point, losing 30 pounds and keeping isolated from others in order to truly understand the mind of a man who had lost everything. He learned to play a variety of Chopin ages, all while being hungry, lonely, and learning a dialect, too.
Was it all worth it? Brody did take home the Best Actor Academy Award that year for the role and had the iconic, impromptu kiss with Halle Berry when accepting the statue. The Pianist is also ranked as Adrien Brody's best movie, according to IMDb.
Nicolas Cage Learned To Play Mandolin (Captain Corelli's Mandolin)
Nicolas Cage went all-out for his role in Captain Corelli's Mandolin, a movie based on the 1994 novel of the same name by Louis de Bernieres about an officer in the Italian army who had a ion for playing the mandolin and trained his men to sing along. It would make sense that to take on such a role, Cage would have to know how to play the instrument that was core to the story.
Indeed he did, according to an interview with Independent.ie, not only learning the basics of how to play but also mastering the instrument. He said in the interview: "Somewhere inside I felt I had some sort of ability. I just really dedicated myself, going home every night and practicing for a couple of hours." And the playing heard in the movie is indeed Cage, who spent weekends away in Venice to take music lessons.
Taron Egerton Learned To Play Piano (Rocketman)
It was a tall order in and of itself for Taron Egerton to portray musical icon Sir Elton John in Rocketman. He had to learn how to emulate the musician's signature look, style, mannerisms, and even voice. He also had to learn to sing his iconic tunes. But Egerton also had to learn how to play the piano.
Even though it isn't him playing in every scene, he still had to learn enough so it would seem real. Thus, Egerton took lessons, according to Taron Egerton's best movies, according to IMDb.
Christian Bale Learned To Play Drums (The Big Short)
Sometimes, the scene doesn't even have to be integral to the plot of the movie, but an actor will put in the time to learn the instrument in order to add to the authenticity of their character. Christian Bale, who is known for his method acting, is one such actor, who decided that for his small scene in The Big Short where he plays the drums, it had to look real.
So, he took lessons with Scott Wittenburg, a drum teacher at the Musician's Institute, according to Pitchfork. He was chosen because of his background in teaching a heavy metal class, and he spent about a half dozen 1 to 3-hour classes with Bale. They started with the basics until Bale was ready to him repeat after Wittenburg to learn the sequences of the song, "By Demons Be Driven" by Pantera, which the actor delivered in ionate form in the movie.
Joaquin Phoenix And Reese Witherspoon Learned To Play Autoharp & Guitar (Walk The Line)
It's difficult enough to learn how to sing without any formal training, but then to learn how to play an instrument as well and do so at the same time while also being in harmony with another person, is a feat. Yet, both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon accomplished this for the movie Walk the Line, where they played Johnny Cash and June Carter, according to LiveAbout.com.
Witherspoon said it was difficult since she had never played an instrument before, but she took lessons to learn how to play the autoharp, according to MTV.com. Meanwhile, The Seattle Times reported that Phoenix bought a guitar and started plucking basic chords, slowly learning the rhythms then emulating how Cash held the guitar, with his arm looped around its back. Both were nominated for Oscars for their roles, with Witherspoon winning.
