Top 10 Actors Who Got Drunk to Shoot Their Movies

In “Lawless,” Shia plays one of three brothers who makes and sells moonshine in Prohibition-era Virginia. Shia would binge drink said moonshine off set in order to get into his role and give himself an authentic bloated appearance. His drinking, coupled with his intense method acting, scared his co-star Mia Wasikowska into almost quitting the movie, as she called up her lawyer and asked to be replaced. The movie’s director, John Hillcoat, even admits that Shia took things “too far”. But hey, his performance was pretty good, so he has that going for him!

This movie follows, well, a few drinking buddies and was filmed in a real brewery. As the story goes, the crew used real beer during filming rather than a non-alcoholic substitute, and Kendrick discovered this the hard way when she chugged a beer, not knowing that it was real. Co-star Jake Johnson later said that Kendrick is “one of the biggest lightweights [he’s] ever been around,” as she was instantly wasted after downing the drink. Olivia Wilde also told Sam Jones that the entire cast was tipsy throughout filming, as the beer was cheaper than water. So where is this brewery, exactly?

In “Bad Santa,” Thornton plays Willie Soke, a belligerent and perpetually drunk thief who poses as a department store Santa in order to rob shopping malls. To get into his alcoholic character, Billy Bob drank during filming, telling Film4, “If you’re going to play a guy like this, you can’t be sort of drunk, you know? And I wasn’t sort of drunk. You have to go completely into it.” So there you go. If you’re wondering how Thornton nailed the appearance of being plastered so well, it’s because he was.

Filming a sex scene is difficult enough. Filming a sex scene with one of the greatest actors of all time with one of the greatest directors of all time behind the camera is something else entirely. Robbie was extremely nervous for her upcoming sex scene with DiCaprio, so to calm her nerves, she took three shots of tequila. And here’s a little acting tip from Robbie herself for all of you wannabe actors out there: “Acting 101: three shots of tequila and you’ll be fine.” Hey, if it makes you hold your own against Leo… to each their own then!

It is now a thing of legend: “Apocalypse Now” was absolute Hell-on-Earth to film, and perhaps none endured that Hell more than Martin Sheen. Sheen was drinking heavily throughout the duration of the shoot and was three sheets to the wind while filming the famous Saigon hotel scene. He later told The Guardian, “I was swacked – couldn’t hardly stand up.” He was so sauced that he actually punched the mirror and cut his hand open, but when director Francis Coppola tried to stop filming, Sheen told him that he wanted to “wrestle this demon” and refused to quit.



Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.



Fred Astaire

“Holiday Inn” (1942)



Neve Campbell, Denise Richards & Matt Dillon

“Wild Things” (1998)



Rebecca Romijn

“X-Men” (2000)

There’s a scene in this movie that sees the Narrator and Tyler Durden drunkenly hitting golf balls, and doing it quite convincingly. The reason it was so convincing was because both actors were actually hammered while they filmed it. Never one to skip on some authentic performances, director David Fincher rolled the camera as the two actors were drinking and decided to have them hit golf balls into the side of an off-camera catering truck. It would suck to be the owner of said truck, but hey, it made for an interesting little scene.