12 Times Actors Didn’t Have to Act and Showed Their True Emotions

Acting requires a lot of work, including the emotional kind. Sometimes, actors don’t just remember lines, but actually act the way they really feel. And at times, they can get into their characters so deeply that they need time to recover from the emotions they experienced.

At Bright Side, we found the movies where actors experienced true emotions.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1

In the scene where Peeta is shown on TV and Katniss almost cries seeing him, her emotions were sincere.

The fact is that Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, who played Katniss and Peeta, became good friends during the filming of the franchise. In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1, they had very few scenes together, and Lawrence missed her friend so much that seeing him on screen made her really emotional.

Men in Black

In one of the movie scenes, agent K had to get important information from a pug, Frank. Actor Tommy Lee Jones who played the agent had to shake a real dog and talk to it at the same time.

The scene was so funny that the actor had to try hard not to laugh. You can even see that the always serious agent K is smiling.

The Devil Wears Prada

When portraying the cruel Miranda Priestly, Meryl Streep used acting techniques based on Stanislavski’s system. According to this method, an actor has to identify with the character and experience the character’s inner motivation and emotions.

Throughout filming, Streep had to remain distant from her colleagues to keep with her cold and calculating façade as Miranda. She got into character so much that she intimidated Anne Hathaway, who played Andy. After filming ended, Streep even had problems with her mental health, which made her give up on using this method for other film roles.

Kill Your Darlings

Daniel Radcliffe, who played Allen Ginsberg, confessed that he had to improvise a lot on set. So, in the dramatic scene where Lucien (Dane DeHaan) says goodbye to Allen while informing him about his departure to Paris, Radcliffe’s tears were sincere.

In an interview, the actor said that before shooting the scene, film director John Krokidas took Radcliffe and DeHaan to different parts of the room and explained their tasks to them separately. The director asked Radcliffe to not let Lucien go no matter what.

We all remember what happened in the movie. Radcliffe’s character begged his friend to not leave him. But when Lucien let Allen know sharply that nothing could be changed, Allen burst into tears and left. Radcliffe confessed that the scene wasn’t written in the script, he just felt that way and cried for real.

Jaws

The expressions of surprise and fear on the face of the shark’s first victim were real. In fact, actress Susan Backlinie wasn’t warned that the line she was attached to would pull her underwater. This helped provoke the genuine emotions of a person who is grabbed by a shark and pulled underwater.

Edward Scissorhands

At the time of his casting, Johnny Depp wanted to break out of his teen idol status. He thoroughly prepared for the role. He watched Charlie Chaplin movies to understand how to express emotion without dialogue.

The actor wasn’t sure if Tim Burton was happy with his performance. During filming, the crew lived in a country club, and 2 young girls knocked on Johnny Depp’s door asking for Tom Hanks. After that, the actor couldn’t get rid of the idea that he would be replaced by Hanks.

His concerns turned out to be unwarranted. Eventually, the feeling of insecurity, which was necessary for Depp’s character, became stronger, and Burton found Depp’s acting very convincing. By the way, the director joked that some of the scars on Depp’s face were real because the actor needed some time to adjust to wearing scissors on his hands.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1

Robert Pattinson, who played Edward, confessed that in some romantic honeymoon scenes, Kristen Stewart got too carried away. Perhaps the reason was that the actress was really in love with Pattinson — they dated during the filming of the saga.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

One of the most emotional scenes of the whole franchise took place in the seventh movie. This was Harry and Hermione’s dance when they had to continue to look for Horcruxes after Ron had left them. According to the script, the scene had to emphasize the deep connection between the friends, which became even stronger in these dark times.

In the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, Emma Watson revealed that she was afraid to perform in this scene. She was sure that they would feel awkward dancing with each other.

But the fact that Watson and Radcliffe had known each other for more than 9 years helped them. Watson confessed that she wouldn’t have been able to do this scene with any other actor because there were so many hidden feelings expressed in it.

The Pursuit of Happyness

During filming, Will Smith, who played the starring role, connected to his character, Chris Gardner. The actor wanted to convey the story as truthfully as possible. And it touched him so much that when his character was offered a long-awaited position in the company in one of the final scenes, he really cried.

Another thing that made Smith so emotionally invested in the story was the fact that his own 8-year-old son, Jaden, starred alongside him and portrayed Gardner’s son who had to live in poverty with his father.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Among other facts about Freddie Mercury’s life, the movie showed his relationship with Mary Austin. The roles of the singer and his girlfriend were played by Rami Malek and Lucy Boynton.

The actors were really in love with each other and started dating during filming. Perhaps this was what helped Malek and Boynton show the passion and tenderness that remained between their characters when they separated and were just friends.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swann’s kissing scene where Elizabeth distracted him with a kiss so that she could handcuff him to the ship and abandon him became legendary. Later, Keira Knightley, who played Swann, confessed that she really liked kissing Johnny Depp.

The actress said, “I think my 14-year-old self was yelping with pleasure. It was fantastic! What more can a girl ask for?” When answering the question of who she liked to kiss most of all among the actors she had to act with, she mentioned Johnny Depp, rating him even higher than Orlando Bloom, who was her love interest in the franchise.

Joker

Joaquin Phoenix, who played the starring role, is known for not liking to rehearse or do table reads. In the movie, Joker, he also tried to act spontaneously, using his own anxiety and excitement.

When Phoenix stepped into the role of the Joker, he had to put all other actors who portrayed the character of the Joker out of his mind, and that was what made his performance unique. And it was really hard for him to do this because Heath Ledger, who brilliantly portrayed The Joker in The Dark Knight, used to be his best friend.

The actor did extensive research on different personality disorders so that even psychiatrists would not be able to identify what his character was. He also practiced many different kinds of laughter to express the nature of his character better. Phoenix was capable to discover new aspects of the character’s personality up until the very last day of shooting.

Were the actors’ performances in these movies really truthful, in your opinion? Did you believe them? Tell us in the comments below.