One star mentioned that her costume was “made from accurate distressed fabric”, another mentioned that her “organs dislodged” from the costume, while a third compared her look to a “scuba suit” filled with “her own juices”.
Costumes are an integral part of bringing a persona to life in film and TV, but they’re not always an actor’s favorite part of the process. For intense roles that require a lot of specific results, getting into costume can take hours — and can end up being extremely uncomfortable and restrictive.
Easy tasks like sitting, eating, and listening to what other people are saying are practically impossible in certain costumes, causing actors to essentially hate the entire experience. And while it may have been difficult at the time, these stars still say they’re grateful to have taken on the role.
Find out which costumes these actors hated…
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1. Jennifer Lawrence
For Jennifer Lawrence, her role as Mystique within the X-Males The collection was a huge undertaking when it came to the costume department. Every day before filming, she spent eight hours in the makeup chair painting every inch of her body. Unfortunately, Jennifer soon realized that the paint was actually irritating her pores and skin — and also made it impossible to sit down to use the bathroom.
“I like those movies — it’s just the paint. I was 20 and I didn’t care about smoke and toxins, and now I’m almost 25 and I’m like, ‘I can’t even pronounce this and this is going up my nostril? I’m breathing this?’” Jennifer told EW.
2. Ryan Reynolds
Again when Ryan Reynolds was involved in Inexperienced LanternHe didn’t actually wear a superhero costume for almost all of the filming. Instead, he wore a motion capture swimsuit which he says was extremely uncomfortable and left him overheated.
“It’s made of precision-fabricated fabric,” Ryan told GQ. “No matter what materials they used, they managed to make it probably the most heat-conducting substance known to man. I actually begged them to just put me in a non-breathable rubber suit.”
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3. Michelle Pfeiffer
Michelle Pfeiffer wasn’t a big fan of her costume when she played Catwoman in Batman returns. After becoming a cast member at the last minute, the film’s crew had to rush to get Michelle into the iconic costume. Unfortunately, Michelle says it ended up being quite uncomfortable.
“It was probably the most uncomfortable suit I’ve ever worn. They had to powder me, help me get in, and then vacuum-pack the suit,” Michelle shared with The Hollywood Reporter. “The face mask was crushing my face and suffocating me… We had a lot of bugs to deal with.”
4. Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey admits he completely hated having to put on his costume and makeup for How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Wanting to do it again, he says the whole course was like torture and on the first day of filming, he was in the makeup chair for over eight hours. At one point, he almost stopped the film.
“The makeup was actually like being buried alive day after day. The first day was eight and a half hours, and I went back to my trailer and put my leg up on the wall,” he said in Graham Norton’s Gift.
He continued, “I informed (director) Ron Howard that I couldn’t do the movie. Then (producer) Brian Grazer came in, being the fixer, and came up with a great concept, which was to hire a gentleman who was skilled at teaching CIA agents how to endure torture. And so that’s how I got through.” The Grinch…It was horrible…I did the makeup 100 times.”
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5. Tom Holland
While filming the Spider-Man In the movies, Tom Holland typically struggled with his suit. Wanting it again, he says the crew tried to make the suit more comfortable for him, but it just didn’t work. And when he asked for a zipper so he could go to the bathroom more easily, he was turned down.
“I remember them bragging, they added these followers that you can click on, and it can supposedly cool me down. They worked once. I have these hot batteries in my helmet heating up my head,” he mentioned in Graham Norton’s Giftincluding, “There’s a gap below the eye socket where we used to be able to put a tube in, and I could drink without taking my bathing suit off, because that takes a long time.”
6. Emma Stone
Emma Stone had some difficulties during filming The Favorite as a result of which she had to wear a corset for the first time. While discussing the film, Emma explained that she could barely breathe in her costume and the corset ended up moving her organs.
“It’s traditionally correct, but I couldn’t breathe… After a few months, my organs moved as they should. It was only momentary, but it was disgusting,” she said in Graham Norton’s Gift. “The lower half of my abdomen, it doesn’t matter, I’m not a doctor, whatever is in there, it went down there, and I think only my ribs were left standing.”
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7. Rachel Brosnahan
Rachel Brosnahan also had problems wearing a corset on the set of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and ended up really hurting her. The actress says the whole thing affected her to the point where she could no longer “breathe deeply.”
“We speak so fast in the present tense that in order to get all the sentences out, you can’t breathe very much. And I guess I wasn’t breathing very much, and I was a little bit self-conscious, and apparently, some of my ribs are kind of fused together a little bit,” Rachel shared in The late late present.
8. Simone Ashley
Bridgerton Star Simone Ashley is yet another actress who had trouble wearing a corset while filming. Simone explained that at one event, she ate lunch before starting work and ended up vomiting because the corset was too tight.
“I noticed that whenever you put the corset on, you just don’t eat,” she told Glamour UK. “It changes your physique. I had a smaller waist very momentarily. Then the minute you stop wearing it, you just go back to how your body is. I also had a lot of pain with the corset on. I think I tore my shoulder at one point!”
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9. Regé-Jean Web Page
When Regé-Jean Web Page was filming Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among ThievesHe was forced to wear a really uncomfortable costume made of steel armor. Wanting to do it again, he says he became extremely overheated and was unable to sit down.
“Like, filming in body armor is not the place you want to be… You’re boiling hot all day. You can’t sit down. The sweat doesn’t go anywhere — it just hangs out,” he told BBC Radio 1. “It becomes a wetsuit, just your own juices.”
10. Val Kilmer
When Val Kilmer took on the long-term role of Batman in Batman without endIt wasn’t the experience he had imagined. Reflecting on the experience, Val says it was hard to sit and it was hard to hear other people. After a while, he says people stopped trying to talk to him and it became very isolating.
“No matter what childhood pleasure I had, it was overshadowed by the truth of the Batsuit. Of course, every kid wants to be Batman. They really want to be him… not necessarily play him in a movie,” he mentioned in the documentary. OK.
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11. Malin Akerman
When Malin Akerman played Silk Spectre in the 2009 film WatchmenShe was initially excited to try on the swimsuit. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very different experience than she had thought it would be.
“I assumed it was really f–king hot. Then I tried it on, and I assumed it was really f–king uncomfortable. And the odor? After you take it off, it smells like a human condom,” Malin shared during a BUILD Sequence interview.
12. Harington Package
Harington Pack admits he had a hard time playing Jon Snow in Recreation of Thrones in instances as a result of their costume was really laborious to deal with. Towards the top of filming, the Pack defined that the skin costumes were smelly and got heavier each year.
“It weighs a ton. It smells horrible,” he said in The Belated Present with Stephen Colbert. “Whenever we went to the grocery store and you put it back on, you felt like you were back in character. That’s cool, but everything else about it is just… I think they add weight to it every year.”
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13. Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson wasn’t a big fan of the costume she wore while playing Black Widow in The Avengers. She says the tight-fitting outfit was like a “wetsuit” and she became so overheated that at one point she began hallucinating. Plus, her role was so demanding that the costume would often end up “torn” and had to be replaced every few days.
“It was so hot I was wringing out my socks at the end of the day,” she said in Night line. “They’re like tires. You’d just go through units of them. Every time you get a new costume, you just feel really good and then three days later, it’s like the cheap Widow.”
14. Paulo Bettany
Paul Bettany needed both a swimsuit and imaginative vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron besides in WandaVision However, the costume was always a struggle for him. Looking back, he says it took him over three hours to get ready for what ended up being “painful” and “uncomfortable.” He admits that there were times on set where the anxiety contained in the costume made him freak out and want to rip it off.
“You’re working on this for 10 hours and you probably can’t hear well. You only have part of your face exposed to the air. The first day is not the problem. The second day is not the problem. The third day gets a little tough. The fourth and fifth day of the week, you really have to meditate on the line of actors, hundreds of them, who wish they were in your shoes. It’s important to focus on how lucky you are,” Paul told USA Right this moment.
15. Margot Robbie
Margot Robbie says the costume she wears while playing Harley Quinn isn’t her favorite thing about it. While discussing filming, Margot explained that the outfit made her feel self-conscious. She also added that the bracelets she had to wear had spikes that could cause her to accidentally stab herself.
“Like Margot, no, I don’t like carrying that around,” Margo told New York Times. “I’m eating burgers at lunch, and then you’re definitely going to do a scene where you’re wet and soaking wet in a white T-shirt, it’s so sticky and you’re self-conscious about it.”
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