Jon Bernthal And Other Actors Who Stay In Character Between Scenes
Life on set is different for each and every actor. An actor could meet a future spouse on set just like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie did, annoy cast and crew in Val Kilmer fashion, never meet their co-star onset, or end up meeting a co-star and hating them completely. The possibilites of what could happen on the set of a movie or a television series are endless.
Regardless of what happens during shooting, at the end of the day, actors are required to go into a creative space in their head that makes the magic happen. How they choose to do this is different from actor to actor. To keep the character alive, some, like Jon Bernthal choose not to break character between scenes.
8 Jon Bernthal
Jon Bernthal, in conversation with talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, revealed that he stayed in character on the set of The Punisher. “If I was maybe a better actor I could…you know, go to the bars and the nightclubs and just kinda show up and be like, ‘I’m The Punisher’, but I have to sort of stay in it,” Bernthal said. “You stay in character?” an amused Kimmel asked. “ Yeah, a little bit pretentious... It’s a lot of isolation and sort of not having too much fun. He lives in a world of darkness, so I think my job is to kind of embrace that,” Bernthal replied.
7 Jared Leto
When playing ‘The Joker’ in Suicide Squad, Jared Leto chose to keep his character alive at all times. When the cast had a sit-down with Conan, Leto’s co-star said of her time with the actor: “Whenever I met Jared he never broke character. So, I would say, ‘Hi, I’m Karen Fukuhara. Nice to meet you. I’m Katana’ and he would come at me with ‘[cue Evil Laugh] Hi pretty.’”
6 Cecily Tyson
Viola Davis’ meeting with her idol Cicely Tyson on the set of How to Get Away With Murder did not quite go as planned. Cicely, in an interview with GoldDerby, said of that moment: “The first day on arrival, Viola was standing at the door of the studio waiting to greet me and she was all smiling. I had become so deeply embedded in the character that I just walked right by her. She said it devastated her. She said to me later on, “Uh oh, I better get to work!” When I start working, that’s not me, that’s that character. That’s the mother, Ophelia, and we’re not speaking. We have no relationship at that time. So when I walk into the studio, that’s who I was, Ophelia.”
5 James Franco
James Franco probably had one of the hardest ‘stay in character’ moments during the making of Disaster Artist. Not only did he have to play the part of an actor, but he was a director as well. Speaking to Good Morning America, Franco said, “I was directing the film. I was acting in it, playing a character that was a director, acting in his own movie. Everybody that came to set, my brother would prep them, like, ‘This set isn’t normal. James is directing in character.’”
4 Donald Glover
In an interview with Vulture, Donald Glover's co-star Derrick Haywood, who played the role of Benny Hope in Atlanta, revealed that Glover maintained his character Teddy Perkins throughout filming. “They called him Teddy on set?” Vulture asked. “Yes! They were calling him Teddy, he acted as Teddy. There was no Donald on set whatsoever. I kid you not. Our engagement on season one compared to our engagement on this episode was drastically different. He was really Teddy Perkins on set.” Haywood said.
3 Daniel Day-Lewis
Time and again, actors have disclosed that working with Daniel Day-Lewis equals working with whichever character he is playing at the time and not necessarily who he is in real life. Paul Thomas Anderson, in conversation with Jimmy Kimmel, said of working with Lewis, “You don’t go to work with Daniel Day-Lewis. You go to work with whoever his character is. That’s who you see when you get to work in the morning, and that’s who leaves at night.”
2 Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep’s co-star Anne Hathaway considers her one of the best actresses she’s ever worked with. That is largely attributed to the fact that Streep embodies every role she plays so well. Hathaway, in conversation with Access Hollywood, said of working with Streep: “She’s always at the very center of her character, of the scene, of whatever it is she’s doing. She’s always completely in touch with the truth. So, when you are doing a scene with her, you kind of by default get in the same place.” So engulfed was Meryl in her role, that she was only nice to Hathaway once, and kept character until filming wrapped.
1 Jim Carrey
In the making of Man in the Moon, not once did Jim Carrey break character during filming. Through a Netflix documentary, Jim & Andy, Carrey shared how he immersed himself into his role. Speaking to Variety, Carey said of the process, “I’m not saying that I don’t get caught up in the story. The story’s f****ing compelling sometimes, but it was definitely an important moment in the process where I found myself subjugating Jim Carrey for Andy Kaufman and then at the end of it, looking for Jim Carrey again.”
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