As the psychotic Max Cady, Robert De Niro put himself through the wringer when trying to pull this look off. He even paid a dentist a pretty penny and tried to get his teeth shaved down. The actor got semi-permanent tattoos and did an impressive amount of research on sex offenders.
The character creeped out not only viewers but the director himself Martin Scorsese. The actor even tried to freak out Scorsese with threatening messages on his voice machine.
Isabella Adjani – Possession
As we have seen, acting in a horror can be a grueling experience for many people and the film "Possession" is no exception. The film is known for having one of the most horrific scenes in cinema history, and the woman at the center of it all was Isabella Adjani.
The actress had to go through therapy for a few years after the film was released as the trauma was just too overbearing.
Klaus Kinski – Aguirre, The Wrath of God
Perhaps of the greatest actors to have ever lived, Klaus Kinski is still no easy man to work with. The director Werner Herzog certainly knew this when going in but apparently didn't want to compromise on his choice. The actor clashed with everyone.
During the filming of "Aguirre, The Wrath of God," Kinski went overboard and aimed and shot at extras multiple times because, according to him, they were playing cards too loudly. Actors.
Dustin Hoffman – Kramer vs. Kramer
Playing a divorced couple, Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep got deep into character inevitably leading to some tension surfacing. At one point Hoffman was so deep in character that he actually ended up slapping Meryl Steep in the face.
The actress recounted that incident recently and expressed how much the Tootsie actor went too far.
Charlize Theron – Atomic Blonde
Like we saw with "Monster", Charlize Theron does not shy away from challenges, and while her transformation to becoming Aileen Wuornos got her an Oscar, her role as a spy in the film "Atomic Blonde" got her attention as a hardcore action star.
In 2017, the actress did all her own stunts and ended up enduring a lot of physical pain. Theron bruised her ribs during the filming of action scenes and at one point even clenched her teeth so hard that she cracked two of them.