The Dark Knight isn't so fearless after all.
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00:00Sometimes, the production of a movie will require actors to do
00:03something they might not be comfortable with, whether that's
00:06learning an incredibly difficult skill, or even facing a deep-
00:09seated fear. Our big screen heroes might seem all cool and
00:13infallible, but they're still mere mortals, just like the rest
00:17of us. So, with that in mind then, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture,
00:20here with 10 Movies That Forced Actors to Face Their Fears.
00:2410. Ryan Reynolds' Fear of Flying in Green Lantern
00:29There are many reasons why Ryan Reynolds probably regrets doing
00:32Green Lantern. The film was trounced by critics, and has
00:36become such a laughingstock in the years since that Deadpool 2
00:40even saw Reynolds joke about killing himself before he could
00:43sign on for the project. Green Lantern wasn't a total waste of
00:47time, though. Not only did Reynolds meet his future wife
00:50Blake lively while shooting the film, but the experience of
00:53starring in a superhero epic also allowed the sharp-tongued
00:57Canadian to overcome one of his biggest fears, flying. As
01:01Reynolds explained on the Today Show while promoting the film,
01:04I'm a little afraid to fly. I've always had problems with
01:08aeroplanes. In the film, I'm up on high wires all the time. We
01:11were flying all over the place, sometimes at 60 feet per second.
01:15It was really interesting and really terrifying at first.
01:18Having a fear of flying, and yet signing up for a film where
01:22your character is a pilot who later gains the power of flight?
01:25That's a boss move right there.
01:27Number 9. Salma Hayek's fear of snakes in From Dusk Till Dawn
01:32Though you'd expect the filmmakers and actors to be on the
01:35same page before agreeing to shoot a movie together, that
01:38isn't always the case. Just ask Salma Hayek, who agreed to star
01:42in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's horror thriller
01:45From Dusk Till Dawn, only to be thrown one hell of a curveball
01:49when the time came to shoot her famous dance scene.
01:52That curveball? An enormous snake.
01:55I have a phobia, Hayek recalled in a chat with E! News. It was
01:58not in the script. I agreed to the movie, and then Robert
02:01Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino decided that the dance is with
02:05the snake on me. Understandably, she then refused to do the
02:08scene, but when Rodriguez and Tarantino indicated they'd be
02:11willing to replace her, Hayek opted to conquer her fear rather
02:15than walk away.
02:16Frankly, I really needed to pay the rent, she added.
02:198. Daniel Craig's Fear of Heights in Casino Royale
02:24It's easy to forget these days, but back in the mid-2000s,
02:27there was a lot of backlash over the casting of Daniel Craig
02:31as the next James Bond. As casting director Devi McWilliams
02:35recalled in a recent chat with Entertainment Weekly,
02:38It was unbelievably negative, I have to say. The press
02:41response was awful, and I felt so sorry for him.
02:44In the end, Craig proved the doubters wrong when the brilliant
02:47Casino Royale released in November 2006. But it wasn't just
02:52the press that the blue-eyed Brit had to overcome in the early
02:55days of his 007 journey. It was his own personal fears.
02:59More specifically, Craig's fear of heights reared its head when
03:02he was told that he would have to climb a 200-foot-tall crane
03:06for the movie's opening parkour sequence.
03:09It was borderline fun and fear, said the actor, but there was
03:12no time for my fear of heights. You just have to do it.
03:15And though Craig obviously didn't do every stunt in this scene,
03:18he clearly did enough to make himself rather terrified.
03:227. Chris Evans' Fear of Taking on a Life-Changing Role in
03:26Captain America The First Avenger
03:29Chris Evans may be a kick-ass superhero on the big screen, but
03:33he has just as much anxiety and stress in his life as anyone
03:36else. In fact, it was these mental struggles that nearly
03:39caused him to pass on the role of a lifetime, with the actor
03:43initially refusing to don the stars and stripes of Captain
03:46America because, in his own words, it was the thing that I
03:49was most scared of. While promoting Captain America The
03:52First Avenger back in 2011, Evans described how he was
03:56initially quite fearful of taking on the part, mainly
04:00because he was hesitant to sign his soul away to a six-picture
04:03deal, but also because he didn't want all the fame and
04:06attention that would come with being a gigantic movie star.
04:09He said, I chose to do this movie because it was the thing
04:12that I think I was the most scared of. I was scared because
04:15initially it was nine pictures. Then it came down to six
04:18movies. Even six movies. That's ten years, dude. My freedom
04:22is gone if I do this movie. It clearly worked out for the
04:26best, though, and in recent years, Evans has talked about
04:28how pushing through that fear and taking the role was one of
04:31the best decisions he ever made.
04:346. Jennifer Aniston's Fear of Going Underwater in Cake
04:39Due to her career-defining role in 90s sitcom Friends,
04:42we don't tend to think of Jennifer Aniston as a dramatic
04:45actress. However, in 2014, she was racking up award
04:49nominations all over the place for her work in indie flick
04:53Cake, where she plays a woman suffering from chronic pain
04:56after surviving a car accident that killed her son. It was a
04:59tough role to take on in general, but Aniston found one
05:02particular aspect of the shoot far more challenging than the
05:06rest. In a chat with E! News, she described how a select few
05:09scenes in which her character undergoes water therapy were
05:12incredibly difficult for her to do, all because of a childhood
05:16incident that led to her developing a fear of being
05:19submerged. She said,
05:20I was a kid and I was riding this tricycle around a
05:23swimming pool, and I drove my tricycle into the swimming pool
05:26and I didn't let go, and my brother tried to help me. So I
05:29can't go underwater and no one will believe me. I honestly
05:32can't. Aniston's fear was so tricky to overcome that it
05:35reportedly took around 30 takes to get a single pool shot done
05:39right. In the end, though, she received a ton of critical
05:42acclaim for her performance, so her bravery paid off.
05:465. Ethan Hawke's Fear of Scary Movies in Sinister
05:50Ethan Hawke and director Scott Derrickson are currently in
05:53theatres with their critically acclaimed horror flick The
05:56Black Phone, but this isn't the first time they've
05:59collaborated to create a spooktacular time at the movies.
06:03In 2012, their first horror film together, Sinister, was also
06:07well-received by critics, with praise going to its strong
06:10performances, shocking finale, and creepy atmosphere.
06:14It's an effective movie, no doubt, and it was the thought of
06:17being involved with something so scary that nearly made Hawke
06:20pass on the role entirely.
06:22For years, I never wanted to make one of these movies, he
06:25said while promoting the film. It's because I thought it would
06:27be absolutely terrifying to make it.
06:29Producer Jason Blum had actually been trying to get Hawke to do
06:33a horror movie since Paranormal Activity in 2007, but the actor
06:38always refused, simply because he thought the experience would
06:41be too traumatic.
06:42In the end, though, Hawke discovered that making horror
06:45movies was surprisingly fun.
06:46He went on to make The Purge in 2013, and with The Black
06:50Phone's success, there will undoubtedly be more big screen
06:53scares in his future.
06:554. Robert Pattinson's Fear of Horses in Water for Elephants
07:00Robert Pattinson was last seen as the embodiment of bad guy's
07:03fear in Matt Reeves' The Batman, but that doesn't mean the
07:07actor is a fearless badass in reality.
07:09In fact, our current Dark Knight has a fear that some might
07:12think is a tad unusual.
07:14He's scared of horses.
07:15Pattinson was forced to confront this fear while making his
07:182011 romantic drama Water for Elephants, in which he stars as
07:23a promising veterinary student who ends up getting a job at
07:26the circus.
07:27This required him to interact with animals like elephants and
07:30horses, and though the filmmakers didn't force him to put his
07:33jockeying skills to the test, he did have an encounter with a
07:36horse that left him rather shaken.
07:38He said,
07:39"...I had to get knocked down by a horse.
07:41That was terrifying.
07:42It was just one split second, but it was a fully grown stallion.
07:45I'm kind of relatively scared of horses as well."
07:48Pattinson also revealed that one of his Elephant co-stars picked
07:51him up using its mouth, so it doesn't really seem like the guy
07:54had the best of luck around animals.
07:573.
07:57Emma Watson's Fear of Singing in Beauty and the Beast
08:01We all have those moments where we think that we're pretty good
08:04at singing.
08:04In the shower, most of us can belt out a tune like nobody's
08:08watching, which hopefully they aren't.
08:10And who doesn't feel like a pop star after a bit of drunken
08:13karaoke?
08:13Emma Watson is under no such illusions, however, with the
08:16actress not being confident that she had the vocal chops to
08:19star as Belle in Disney's live-action remake of Beauty and
08:23the Beast.
08:23She described the prospect of singing on such a grand stage as
08:27terrifying, because it was something she'd never attempted
08:30before.
08:30There's no doubt that starring as an iconic Disney character in
08:33a $200 million blockbuster was a daunting hill to climb.
08:37But the experience of making Beauty and the Beast actually
08:40helped Watson combat her fear.
08:42She said,
08:43"'I was afraid to sing in front of three people, and by the
08:45end, I was singing live in front of 300.'"
08:48She also received praise for her performance, and the film
08:51grossed over a billion dollars to boot.
08:53So, not really a bad result.
08:55Number 2.
08:56Ryan Reynolds' Claustrophobia in Buried
08:59A year before he battled his fear of flying in Green Lantern,
09:03Ryan Reynolds was conquering another, much more potent
09:06personal demon during the production of his 2010 thriller
09:10Buried, Claustrophobia.
09:12In the movie, Reynolds plays Paul Conroy, a truck driver
09:15working in Iraq who wakes up to discover that he's been buried
09:18alive.
09:19As you'd expect, much of the film was shot with Reynolds lying
09:22in an actual coffin, and this led to the actor suffering from
09:25anxiety, insomnia, and complete and utter panic for the duration
09:29of filming.
09:30"'I'd go home and I'd pace until sun up, like a vampire, and
09:33then climb into a coffin to film,' he said.
09:35"'I was losing my mind.
09:37I hadn't slept in days, weeks.'"
09:39Reynolds also suffered from frequent panic attacks due to
09:42being enclosed in such a tight space for hours on end.
09:45Even worse, director Rodrigo Cortez has mentioned that one of
09:48the coffins used during filming was specially reinforced so
09:51that Reynolds could feel the pressure of all the sand piling
09:54on top of him.
09:55All things considered, it's really no surprise that he was
09:58freaking out on a regular basis.
10:00Number 1.
10:01Christian Bale's Fear of the Batsuit in Batman Begins
10:05Going back and watching Batman Begins, it's clear as day that
10:08the Batsuit wasn't very comfortable for Christian Bale to
10:11wear.
10:12For starters, the design of the cowl meant that he couldn't
10:15simply turn his head.
10:16He had to turn his entire upper body if he wanted to look in a
10:19different direction.
10:21And then there's the fact that being bolted into a sweaty
10:23rubber suit for hours at a time doesn't sound like the most
10:26enjoyable of experiences.
10:28The actor himself would agree with that, but you might be
10:31surprised to learn just how uncomfortable the suit truly
10:34was.
10:34Bale hated it to the point of fear, and even came close to
10:37throwing in the towel and asking the filmmakers to recast the
10:40role.
10:41"'I felt like they should recast,' Bale recalled while
10:44promoting 2012's The Dark Knight Rises.
10:47"'I really did because it was so claustrophobic that I didn't
10:49feel like I could breathe.
10:51I felt they've made a mistake and I can't do this.'"
10:53Fortunately, Bale developed a method to overcome this anxiety,
10:57and would ask the crew to leave him alone for 15 or 20 minutes
11:01while he performed some breathing exercises.
11:03The success of Batman Begins would then lead to one of the
11:06greatest movie sequels ever made, where Bale was granted the
11:10suit upgrade he was clearly in need of.
11:13And that concludes our list.
11:14If you can think of any that we missed, then do let us know in
11:17the comments below.
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11:22Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there.
11:24And I can be found across various social medias just by
11:27searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:29I've been Ellie with WhatCulture.
11:30I hope you have a magical day, and I'll see you real soon.