10 Actors Whose Experience on Set Was a Real Nightmare

As a rule, the more real-looking the outfit is, the more difficult it is for actors to wear it on the set. The history of cinematography is filled with many cases of when the wardrobe turned into a real instrument of torture.

We at Bright Side were astonished by the stories that are hidden behind some of the cult outfits from movies and we sincerely believe that each of the characters of our article deserves an individual Oscar statuette for their stamina and endurance. At the end of the article, we are going to tell you why the actors who embodied Batman onscreen hate his cult garment.

Rebecca Romijn — X-Men

In order to transform into the blue-skinned mutant Mystique, this actress had to sit for 12 exhausting hours of makeup during the shoot of the first part of this franchise. Later the crew managed to whittle this time down to 7 hours. But still, Rebecca had to spend most of her time in the makeup artist’s chair. The actress would go for makeup procedures at midnight so that she could be ready on the set by 9 AM together with other actors. At first, scales were glued to her body, then her skin was covered with blue paint. The most annoying thing about the costume was that it left blue marks everywhere. Later Romijn would joke that her colleagues could easily understand when she used the lavatory thanks to the colorful trace she left on the toilet seat.

Jeff Bridges — Tron

The costume designers had one big task — to deprive Bridges’ character, the “digitized” Flynn, of any anatomic characteristics. For that, the actor was dressed in a special bandage, which was covered with tight overalls. The bottom part of the costume was so tight to the body, that the actor once jokingly said that there were still scars from the bandages on his skin.

Doug Jones — The Shape of Water

The collection of Doug Jones’ roles is full of various monsters. That’s why it seems to be quite difficult to surprise him with makeup. But still, Doug is going to remember his work on the movie The Shape of Water for a long time. The actor’s shooting day would start 3 hours earlier than his colleagues’ - because that is how much time was spent on makeup. At first, 4 assistants would pull the latex suit over Jones’ body, then they’d put on the gloves with membranes on him, and finally, fiberglass neck pads and a helmet, in which a special gill control mechanism was built, were attached to him. The actor confessed that he felt totally helpless because he couldn’t even open a door by himself and he also could not breathe through his mouth.

Emma Stone — The Favourite

The action of the movie takes place in England in the 18th century, when ladies still wore tight corsets for the sake of fashion. The movie actresses all experienced what it was like to be squeezed into a “whale shell.” Emma Stone confessed that she couldn’t breathe normally during the first month of shooting and that smelling menthol would help her greatly during that period. But that was not the only trouble she faced: after a while the actress’s inner organs shifted. Luckily, Emma was soon able to overcome these issues, but she will definitely not forget that experience for a long time.

Oscar Isaac — X-Men: Apocalypse

The costume of the X-Men: Apocalypse movie’s main villain weighed 40 pounds, while the process of getting made up, which consisted of applying numerous layers of glue and latex, took several hours. Before the start of the project, Isaac was excited about the opportunity to work with many talented actors. And he was extremely disappointed when he eventually had to spend the most of the shooting in loneliness. In between takes, he was put on a specially designed saddle and rolled into a cool tent to get some relief. This happened every day. The process of removing the makeup was just as inconvenient: it was torn off his skin in pieces, which sounds like torture, doesn’t it?

Michelle Pfeiffer — Batman Returns

It has been almost 30 years since the shooting of Batman Returns, but the actress still recalls this nightmare experience. In 1992, technologies were not as developed as they are today and in order to get dressed in the latex costume, Michelle had to go through real torture. At first, she was sprinkled with talc from head to toe. After she finally managed to fit into the garment, they would suck out the extra air from inside with the help of a vacuum device. Finally, the latex was covered with a silicone-based gel to give it more gloss. The multi-hour wearing of the suit also turned an ordinary visit to the bathroom into a real adventure.

Anthony Daniels — Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode IV)

It took about 2 hours to put on the 60-pound costume. Moreover, part of the shooting took place in Tunisia, which has an extremely hot climate. On the very first workday, part of the costume’s left leg shattered and cut the actor’s leg. But perhaps the most terrible thing was the indifference from the crew: many people would simply forget that there was a real human behind that armor.

Peter Mayhew — Star Wars

Peter Mayhew’s suffering can be best understood and empathized with by dog owners. The thing is, Chewbacca’s costume was made of yak hair (a cloven-hoofed bull) and mohair. And since the shooting of the second part of the saga took place in the snowy area, Chewbacca’s skin would always get wet and start to smell bad. We bet that it was not only difficult for Peter, but for the rest of the crew as well.

Paul Bettany — Avengers: Age of Ultron

Originally, Paul did the voice over for the artificial intelligence called J.A.R.V.I.S. But everything changed in the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie when the actor was asked to transform into Vision. Bettany had to spend 3.5 hours in the makeup artists’ chair. At first, his face was covered with multi-layered makeup and then the actor was dressed in a tight spandex suit. The costume was also equipped with some kind of cooler (tubes with icy water) to keep the actor from overheating.

Lily James — Cinderella

Putting on that magical dress, which consisted of 12 layers of silk in different colors, took 45 minutes every time. In order to make her waist look stunning without retouching, Lily would wear an extremely tight corset. It was so rough that the actress had to start a special diet while shooting the movie. Lily shared, “When [the corset] was on we would be on continuous days so we wouldn’t stop for lunch —you’d be sort of eating on the move. In that case, I couldn’t untie the corset. So if you ate food it didn’t really digest properly and I’d be burping all afternoon in [Richard Madden]’s face, and it was just really sort of unpleasant. I’d have soup so that I could still eat, but it wouldn’t get stuck.”

Bonus: Batman

It seems that the only thing uniting all the actors who’ve played the legendary Batman is the hatred for this cult costume. They’ve all said that wearing the garment of this superhero was real torture. Val Kilmer shared that it took him one hour to put on the costume and 45 minutes to take it off. And he required a big team of assistants to do this. Also, the outfit didn’t have holes for ears, which caused issues with hearing. But the worst thing was that the costume lacked a fly and in order to use the restroom, actors had to use the help of the on-set assistants. Later Christian Bale urged designers to solve this issue and make life easier for his successors.

Which of these stories impressed you most of all? Do you think the result is worth the torture?