10 Actors That Totally Underprepared For A Movie Role
Ewan McGregor's French accent needed a LOT of work in Beauty and the Beast!
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00:00From clearly talented A-list stars not realising their version of the French accent wasn't up to
00:05scratch, to debuting heroes not exactly getting off to the best of starts in the super-sphere,
00:10it's plain to see that this bunch of actors weren't 100% prepared for what was heading their
00:14way. Gareth here from WarCulture.com and here are 10 actors that totally underprepared for a movie
00:19role. During the events of Netflix's dance comedy flick Work It, Sabrina Carpenter's Quinn Ackerman
00:28ultimately goes from awkward mover to dance machine. But in order to convincingly portray
00:33the fact that her character wasn't initially quite at the same level of those busting a
00:36move around her, the star who isn't exactly known for being a bad dancer in real life
00:40had a clever idea. As Carpenter would explain in a Buzzfeed interview with some of her castmates,
00:45the actor specifically opted to not fully learn the routines she was asked to perform in certain
00:50scenes. In particular, the moment that saw Ackerman auditioning for a place on the Thunderbirds team
00:55actually boasted a Carpenter who had no idea what was going on. In fact, Carpenter was actually
01:00taking her lead from the two girls in front of her, meaning that she intentionally was always
01:04an awkward count behind as she brilliantly flailed around on stage. For a time, it felt as though
01:13there wasn't actually a soul walking the earth who hadn't at least picked up one of J.K. Rowling's
01:17Harry Potter novels for a quick skim to see what all the fuss was about. Surprisingly though,
01:21one of the most notable presences in the eventual big screen adaptations of The Wizarding World
01:26actually never so much as turned a page of the source material during his time in the cloak.
01:30Not really feeling the need to add this particular element to his preparations for the all-important
01:35role of Albus Dumbledore, Michael Gambon went on record on a number of occasions to confess
01:39that he had little desire to comb through Rowling's pages. On top of stating that it's safer to just
01:44simply follow the script he is handed, the actor who stepped in for the late Richard Harris in the
01:49part would also note that if he had opted to read them, he'd likely get upset about the scenes that
01:53were missing in the screenplay. Had Gambon actually given the books a read however, there's
01:57a chance he would have potentially been able to dodge the odd backlash sent his way by those who
02:02felt his version of the character wasn't faithful to the one on the page. With a number of upset
02:06Potterheads feeling the Brits take on the powerful wizard was far harsher than the one they'd spent
02:11time with in the novels. Boo hoo. Another star who didn't exactly throw themselves
02:18into books and various other forms of research when heading into a project, instead opting to
02:22take the script as gospel like Gambon before him. Kit Harington wasn't exactly an expert on all
02:27things Pompeii going into the flick of the same name. Largely due to the rather busy Game of
02:32Thrones star just not having enough time beforehand, Harington actually only got around to taking in
02:36the remains of the city itself that was destroyed after an eruption from Mount Vesuvius after he'd
02:41wrapped on the film. And while the star would admit to being ashamed at the lack of historical
02:45research he did when preparing for the role of Milo, a Celtic slave turned gladiator in the city
02:50during the year of the fateful event, he was pleasantly surprised to realise just how historically
02:54accurate the team behind the film actually were when creating the world his character existed in
02:58on screen. Or the accurate set building in the world. Harington noted that around 30 different
03:03sets were crafted in Toronto for the shoot. Still couldn't stop this particular historical epic
03:08going down in history as the wrong sort of disaster flick however.
03:12James McAvoy – Charles Xavier X-Men First Class
03:15When the star found out that he was being entrusted with bringing to life the earlier
03:18years of the leader of the X-Men himself, it's not hard to see why James McAvoy quickly assumed
03:23he needed to perform one rather specific action in the lead up. So before he first set foot onto
03:28the set of X-Men First Class all those years ago, the Scottish sensation decided about a
03:33month in advance of filming that he was going to bite the bald bullet and shave off his precious
03:37hair. Only when he revealed his shiny preparation to the team behind the X-Men prequel, he soon
03:41discovered that being bald was most definitely not part of the plan for Charles Xavier at this point
03:46in the story. Far from it in fact, they actually wanted McAvoy to have long hair in that 2014
03:51outing. So the star was ultimately forced to sit in a make-up chair for a grand total of 15 hours
03:56in order to equip him with hair extensions for his Professor X debut.
04:00Viggo Mortensen – Aragorn The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
04:03As Peter Jackson's ambitious journey to bring the epic trilogy of The Lord of the Rings to the big
04:08screen got underway all those years ago, the director initially rewarded Stuart Townsend
04:12with the meaty role of Aragorn. However, it soon became clear that Townsend was just too
04:17darn young for the role of the future King of Gondor, so a replacement in the form of Viggo
04:21Mortensen was swapped in rather late in the casting day. After being convinced by his Lord
04:25of the Rings loving son that it was a role worth taking though, the actor who would eventually
04:29become synonymous with the badass ranger-turned-leader of men arrived on set and immediately
04:34felt underprepared, as he put it. And with the rest of the cast already beginning shooting,
04:38and some of them being out in New Zealand for weeks or months at the point of his arrival,
04:42it's not hard to see why the gifted thespian felt as though he was playing some serious catch-up in
04:46those early days on set. If that wasn't enough to deal with, Mortensen also confessed to feeling
04:51understandably awkward about the concept of replacing another actor for the first time too.
04:55Despite these early concerns, however, Viggo soon found his human-sized feet,
04:59and went on to produce one of the most gripping performances the critically acclaimed series had
05:03to offer. Due to the fact that original Wolverine actor Dougray Scott was forced to drop out of the
05:11first X-Men movie due to scheduling conflicts later on, Hugh Jackman was eventually thrown
05:16into the mutant party three weeks into the film's shoot. And as the eventual megastar would
05:20ultimately explain years later, he was asked by the studio if he could get into shirtless Logan
05:24Shape for the 2000 flick in just three weeks, eventually noting how he might have overpromised.
05:30Not exactly nailing the physique they were looking for, director Bryan Singer swiftly
05:33decided to push his topless moments back four months to the end of the shoot. Now expecting
05:38any actor to get into the sort of freakish shape Jackman ultimately would in later mutant entries
05:43in such a small space of time was always going to be unrealistic, but assuming they are completely
05:47aware of the existence of the animal their on-screen character is named after, that's not
05:51too much to ask, right? Well, as it goes, Jackman was actually under the impression that Wolverines
05:56weren't a real thing during his early days in the role, and his call to heavily research wolves
06:01instead soon backfired after being informed by Singer that not only was he not playing that type
06:06of furry creature, but that those make-believe Wolverines were anything but. All those hours
06:11spent howling at the moon and for what? 4. Marlon Brando, Doctor Moreau, The Island of Doctor Moreau
06:17The Marlon Brando spotted popping up in the likes of The Island of Doctor Moreau and Free
06:20Money towards the end of his career was a far cry from the legendary performer who'd captivated
06:25generations with his mesmerising work in everything from A Streetcar Named Desire to The Godfather.
06:30By the time he'd rocked up on set for that aforementioned Moreau project,
06:33the iconic thespian seemed very much bored with the world of filmmaking,
06:36according to the film's screenwriter Ron Hutchinson, and the mind behind the script
06:40of The Island of Doctor Moreau would even go as far as to say that the overweight,
06:44unprepared, mocking, dismissive star seemed as though he was here to sabotage this movie.
06:48Now it is worth noting how the star's daughter had tragically committed suicide in the lead-up
06:52to shooting on the 1996 sci-fi flick, something that must have no doubt impacted his preparations
06:58and overall state of mind whilst working on the ultimately doomed picture. But between reportedly
07:02having to have the lines he didn't want to learn read out to him through an earpiece,
07:05and often even refusing to leave his trailer altogether, it's clear that Brando simply
07:09wasn't prepared to play ball when it came time to unleash what would ultimately go on to be branded
07:13as perhaps his worst film by critic Roger Ebert.
07:19Scottish acting powerhouse Ewan McGregor has proven time and time again that he's more than
07:24capable of mastering another accent. Despite utterly nailing everything from a smooth RP
07:28to an American twang though, one particular accent McGregor wasn't quite as confident with
07:33ultimately left him with a bit of egg on his face during the recording of a little Disney remake by
07:37the name of Beauty and the Beast. As the star himself would explain on The Graham Norton Show
07:41a few years back, the fact McGregor had been married to a French woman for 20 years left him
07:46feeling foolishly confident about his ability to unleash a French-sounding voice as Lumiere.
07:51Unfortunately for him though, the folks capturing the Scot's voice didn't want the er-er sounds he
07:56was delivering throughout, leaving him sounding entirely Mexican as he then again attempted to
08:00speak the candelabra lines. In fact, his delivery was so disastrous, the star would confess to having
08:05to go back and redo some of his lines in order to cover up his initial lack of proper prep.
08:102. Tom Hardy – Bronson, Bronson
08:13Very few would question Tom Hardy's ability to entirely transform into another human being
08:18at this current moment in time. However, back before he was the household acting icon he is
08:22today, it's safe to say that one person in particular wasn't entirely convinced that
08:26the person tasked with bringing him to life in a movie had what it took to play him convincingly.
08:31In fact, when none other than real-life bare-knuckle boxer and criminal Charles Bronson
08:35first laid eyes on Hardy, he complained and couldn't see how the actor, who probably
08:39weighed about 11 stone drenched with stones in his pockets, would be able to play the meaty figure
08:43in 2008's Bronson. After not being able to look at Hardy without feeling that he'd been hard done by,
08:48Bronson ultimately changed his tune the minute he saw the rising star put his mind to packing
08:53on the pounds, however. And after telling Charlie that he'd fix it, the stacked Hardy
08:57that turned up in front of him during a meeting two weeks later ended up leaving Bronson thoroughly
09:01impressed. As the infamous figure himself put it, you won't want to meet him in a dark alley at 3am.
09:07Taika Waititi, Adolf Hitler, Jojo Rabbit
09:10When it comes to playing any real-life historical figure, no matter how despicable and infamous,
09:14there's usually a level of research most actors will commit to in order to understand the person
09:19they're playing. Taika Waititi had other ideas, though, and instead of scanning through many a
09:24book or documentary to piece together vital information in the lead-up to playing a version
09:28of Adolf Hitler in his 2019 flick Jojo Rabbit, he did the complete opposite, claiming that he
09:33didn't even do so much as a lick of research for his part of Jojo's imaginary pal Hitler.
09:37The fact this was also a version of the vile figure dreamed up by a 10-year-old,
09:41ultimately resulted in a portrayal of himself that just so happened to boast a bad haircut,
09:46a s***ty little moustache, and a mediocre German accent. The mind behind the movie was also very
09:51much aware how folks likely wouldn't enjoy the imaginary friend version of the character as much
09:55had he played him like the actual Hitler, because as Taika effectively summed up,
09:59he was such an F in C word, and everyone knows that as well.
10:29Best of days