History Main / DyeingForYourArt

* TomHardy (five-foot-ten, 180 lbs) put on forty pounds of muscle to play [[AxeCrazy British prisoner]] [[NamesTheSame Charles Bronson]] in ''{{Bronson}}''. If the teasers for ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' are any indication, he's gotten even bigger to play Bane.

* Andy Serkis, when he was cast to play Ian Dury in the recent biopic ''Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll'', spent time at the gym strengthening one side of his body so could realistically emulate Dury, who had a crippled arm and leg as a result of suffering polio in his childhood.

* James [=McAvoy=] bleached his hair to play punk Rory O'Shea in the Irish film ''InsideImDancing''.

* KarenGillan shaved her head for Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy

* One of the director/producers of ''{{Airplane}}'' tells the story of being pretty much a punk kid at the time the movie was made, and hesitantly approaching Robert Stack and asking if just possibly the actor would be willing to dye his hair for the movie. Stack laughed and made a comment to the effect of "Don't worry about it, kid, when you bought me, you bought the package."

* AnneHathaway lost a significant amount of weight to play Fantine in ''Film/LesMiserables2012''. She also did Fantine's TraumaticHaircut for real, on camera.

* RobertDowneyJr gained 20 pounds of muscle to play [[IronMan Tony Stark]] by adding weight training and significant diet changes to his usual Wing Chun training. Then he slimmed way down to play Film/SherlockHolmes, bulked ''back'' up to play Tony Stark again, slimmed ''back'' down to play Film/SherlockHolmes again, and bulked ''back'' up to play Tony Stark again.
* The already quite fit RyanReynolds and JessicaBiel both went through extremely intense training for their action-intensive roles in ''{{Blade}}: Trinity'' -- working out 4 hours a day, 7 days a week, for several months.
** Biel went on to lose a lot of that muscle mass, then gained a ton back for ''{{Total Recall 2012}}''.

** Honorable mention: When he auditioned, Paul [=McGann=] had a similar hairstyle to the one he has as the Eighth Doctor, but then he decided to shave his head. They made him wear a wig (which he absolutely hated) to get back the long curls, which had to be glued to his head, and his scalp had a reaction to the glue so his skin started flaking off. It's not an intentional example, but still, the poor guy's skin started coming off. It counts.[[hottip:*:Amusingly, for nearly three weeks, Eric Roberts didn't recognize him when he took his wig off.]]

* MargaretCho, shooting her short-lived sitcom ''AllAmericanGirl'', was forced to lose weight [[HollywoodPudgy to]] play [[RealityIsUnrealistic herself.]] She lost 30 pounds in three weeks and her kidneys collapsed as a result.

* AishwaryaRai had to gain weight for her role in ''Guru''. She then lost 22 pounds ''in three days'' for her role in ''{{Dhoom}} 2''.

** He also bulked up during ''Film/TheTenCommandments'' because he didn't want to appear scrawny next to Charlton Heston....which is why he's so fit in ''TheKingAndI''.

* Yul Brynner shaved his head for ''TheKingAndI'', and (like Telly Savalas) didn't grow it back.

[[quoteright:225:[[ChristianBale http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/baleweightchange_6558.jpg]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:225:Top: ChristianBale in ''TheMachinist''. Bottom: Bale in ''Film/BatmanBegins''... roughly six months later.]]-]

* Karl Urban, while already a bulky actor, gained some more muscle to fit better under JudgeDredd's armor in ''{{Dredd}}''.
* According to WordOfGod , Laura Linney ate donuts and gained 20 pounds for her role in ''{{Kinsey}}''. It's barely noticeable.

* Rain (Korean pop star) spent 8 hours a day in intense physical training, while eating nothing but salad and chicken, to play the lead in ''Ninja Assassin''.

* Pete O'Hern grew a beard for the Creator/PeterJackson film ''BadTaste''. Unfortunately for him, the film's low budget caused it to be filmed over four years, requiring him to keep the beard the whole time.

* Telly Savalas shaved his head to play Pontius Pilate in ''TheGreatestStoryEverTold'' -- and it became a trademark for the rest of his career.

** He has bleached his hair blond three times: ''{{Popeye}}'' (1980), ''Film/{{Toys}}'' (1992), and ''OneHourPhoto'' (2002). He also dyed it red for ''AugustRush''.

** RobertDowneyJr. did some pretty hefty physical training to bulk up for playing Tony Stark in the first one. In an interview, he said his logic was something along the lines of "I'm not going to be able to do this for too much longer, so I might as well while I can".
** ScarlettJohansson became the redheaded Comicbook/BlackWidow (which also saw the return of another blonde dying her hair, GwynethPaltrow) for the sequel.

* ArianaGrande dyed her hair the color of red velvet cupcakes when she was cast as Cat Valentine in ''{{Victorious}}'', to avoid having a cast completely of people with dark brown hair.

* ChristianBale already had to buff up a lot for his role in ''AmericanPsycho''. A few years later he lost 63 pounds to appear in ''TheMachinist'' (2004), making him unhealthily underweight. (He actually shot for the exact weight of the character in the script, even as the director and the producers told him he was skinny enough. He was eating an apple and a can of tuna per day.) He then gained 40 pounds above his ''normal'' weight to play Comicbook/{{Batman}} in ''Film/BatmanBegins'' (2005), Then he lost 20 pounds of that. Later, he again became underweight to play an inmate in a VietnamWar prisoner camp in ''Rescue Dawn''. Then he bulked up again to play Batman for the second time in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. Then he went skeletal again to play a crack addict in ''TheFighter'' (2010). Then he played Batman again in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' (2012). Let's just say Bale's refined DyeingForYourArt to an art form itself.

* ChristianBale already had to buff up a lot for his role in ''AmericanPsycho''. A few years later he lost 63 pounds to appear in ''TheMachinist'' (2004), making him unhealthily underweight. (He actually shot for the exact weight of the character in the script, even as the director and the producers told him he was skinny enough.) He then gained 40 pounds above his ''normal'' weight to play Comicbook/{{Batman}} in ''Film/BatmanBegins'' (2005), Then he lost 20 pounds of that. Later, he again became underweight to play an inmate in a VietnamWar prisoner camp in ''Rescue Dawn''. Then he bulked up again to play Batman for the second time in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. Then he went skeletal again to play a crack addict in ''TheFighter'' (2010). Then he played Batman again in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' (2012). Let's just say Bale's refined DyeingForYourArt to an art form itself.

[[folder:Videogames]]
* ReubenLangdon had [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuq2F66QeP4 his hair dyed white]] for the Japanese live-action commercial of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 3''. And he looks ALMOST exactly like Dante.
[[/folder]]

* JimCarrey's been putting on a lot of weight lately for his upcoming role as Curly in the upcoming ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' movie.

** He also shaved his head and lost weight for scenes in the AndyKaufman biopic ''ManOnTheMoon'' in which Kaufman was dying of cancer.

* NataliePortman's head was shaved, on camera, for ''VForVendetta''.

** Brad Dourif had his eyebrows repeatedly shaved to play Grima Wormtongue.
** Sean Astin put on weight for Sam too.