Oftentimes, actors tend to delve so deeply into their roles to deliver the ultimate performance to viewers that their dedication is nothing short of sheerly commendable. If anything, some actors have even especially proven perfection in this field as they embrace the “darkness” of it all and stay in character even between scenes. Like Marvel’s Jon Bernthal.
Effortlessly enough, Bernthal’s name is one of the top names that come under this category, famous for his performance as the iconic Punisher in the super-verse for the tellies. But while he is one actor to be so creative while working, he isn’t the only one as three other actors from the MCU have also shown brilliance in working this way: Donald Glover, Jared Leto, and James Franco.
Marvel Actors Who Stay in Character Even Between Scenes
1. Jon Bernthal
It’s no news that Jon Bernthal is one of the most commendable actors of all time, especially for the outstanding performance he has given as the Punisher in the Marvel universe. But embracing this role was anything but easy for him, as he himself confessed that stepping into his fan-favorite character Frank Castle’s shoes was not an easy task.
As he shared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!: “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. 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.”
Well, those who are fairly acquainted with the character know exactly well what Bernthal means when he claims his antihero holds a really dark story. That said, it must have been incredibly hard for him to stay in the darkness of his character even while not playing him, even if “a little bit pretentious[ly].”
2. Donald Glover
Famous for playing Aaron Davis / Prowler in Spider-Man’s universe, Donald Glover is no foreigner when it comes to giving it his all while working on a project. If anything, he not only steps immaculately into character but also maintains consistency throughout filming. Just like the way he did while playing the idiosyncratic Teddy Perkins in Atlanta.
In an interview with Vulture, his co-star Derrick Haywood shared the same about him, saying: “They were calling him Teddy [on set], 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.”
What’s worth noting is that Glover also played the role of the lead character Earnest ‘Earn’ Marks in the series, so stepping away from that character and into this peculiar one must not have been an easy task. And yet, the actor proved his excellence as he not only underwent that drastic transformation but also resulted in one of his best performances of all time.
3. Jared Leto
Although Jared Leto‘s Marvel debut wasn’t one of the most recognized and commended ones, he still earned a name for playing Morbius in his titular solo movie. But while that movie ranks as one of his least successful ones that even he must be willing to escape, one other movie from the super-verse had him not even bothering to step out of character: Suicide Squad.
To give the ultimate performance as Joker, the actor simply decided to just never to step out of his character. As his co-star Karen Fukuhara shared about him during their appearance on CONAN on TBS: “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.’”
For what it’s worth, method acting for the Joker isn’t something new, but it isn’t something entirely easy either. To say the least, not everyone can master it, and the way Leto perfectly depicted it throughout his performance as the character in the DCU is truly admirable.
4. James Franco
James Franco, famous for playing the perfect Harry Osborn in Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man film series, has tried his hand at staying in character even between shoots as well. This happened while he was working on his critically acclaimed masterpiece from 2017 The Disaster Artist, where he embodied Tommy Wiseau as brilliantly as ever.
But, of course, stepping so deeply into character wasn’t the easiest of tasks for him in this project. As he shared with Good Morning America: “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.’”
If anything, Franco deserves tremendous respect for not only directing the movie and starring as the lead character in it at the same time, but also staying in character even while not shooting and acting as the director!
