Did you know..

Do you ever wonder why actors go ‘mad’ after casting as a character they played insanely well? Have you ever thought of how a actor can switch so easily between a variety of roles and still be themselves in the end. A good example of this would be the joker. The character joker from the movie Batman: The Dark Knight. This character was played by Heath ledger. He who in fact ended up committing suicide after filming his role as the joker due to the psychological stresses of the part. But he was not the only one this happened to. As an actor/actress when taking on the role as a character they have to suppress their true selves. When finished with the role many have been known to say that a part of that particular character stays with them affecting making it affect them psychologically. “Just as each actor leaves his mark, the Joker leaves his mark on them. As fun as the role can be, it's proven challenging for many, including forcing them to face physical and mental dangers. Heath Ledger's tragic death before the release of 2008's The Dark Knight is the most well-known example, as many still believe the role contributed to his death. But Ledger's not the first or last actor to put himself in harm's way to play the joker,(looper.com)”.  The joker is such a challenging role to portray for any person. Just imagine how hard it would be to act as a psychologically crazy person and not come out a little crazy yourself. Other than the joker there are many more roles in-which have scared the actor/actress after due to their serious commitment to the role. If you were born in the 1980 to the 1990’s you may have watched the  movie Roger rabbit as a child. The main character Bob Hoskins who only acted with imaginary characters the whole movie actually went a little mad because of it.  He said, according to Express, "I think I went a bit mad while working on that. Lost my mind. The voice of the rabbit was there just behind the camera all the time, you just had to know where the rabbit would be at all times, and Jessica Rabbit and all these weasels. The trouble was, I had learnt how to hallucinate." His role in the movie may of ended but psychologically the characters from his role is still with him. Another well known character is pennywise from the Steven kings’ movie It. Although there is an older version of the movie, Bill Skarsgård who played in the 2019 remake of It himself was haunted by his own character from the movie. He told Entertainment Weekly that portraying the evil clown lead to the character showing up in his dreams every night, even post-filming.

"It's just like being in a very destructive relationship," Skarsgård said. "People don't really realize it until they're out of it. All your friends go, ‘You need to dump this piece of sh—, he or she is destroying your life.' And then once you're out of it, you see, ‘I was so miserable.'  With this role he didn’t play a crazy character but rather one that played with people’s deepest fears and played mind tricks in order to feed off their fear which is a very draining role to play. “Getting into character is not just as simple as “putting on” or “taking off” a role. Performing arts scholar Mark Seton argues that playing a character is a complex process that cannot be separated from the life of the actor.

Sometimes actors are unable to let go of the emotions associated with their characters. This type of boundary blurring can result in them carrying the role into everyday life – with negative effects.”,( theconversation.com). This is something that I’ve come to realize recently is that actors/actresses risk a lot for our enjoyment. I’m not just talking about physically with stunts but mentally as well simply for the entertainment of others. We really do take the film community for granted. All of the efforts and strain on their mental/ physical health is truly appreciated.