Celebrity

The Best/Worst Movie Transformations Of All Time

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Margot RobbieGetty

As character roles demand more and more from actors on the big screen, we take a look at the most dramatic actor-transformations over the past decade – the good, the bad, and the plain ugly…

1. Margot Robbie

Margot Robbie
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The gorgeous Oscar-nominee Margot Robbie in her new film, Mary Queen of Scots (2018) undertakes a shocking transformation as Elizabeth I. With ghostly-white skin, pockmarks and auburn red ringlets, we’ll forgive you for failing to recognise the Aussie beauty.

2. Rooney Mara

Rooney Mara
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American-born Rooney Mara’s portrayal of computer hacker Lisabeth Salander in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011), still stuns us today. Shaving her head and eyebrows, losing a remarkable amount of weight and getting various piercings, Mara nails the gothic look and intimidates the audience. Bravo.

3. Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep
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Academy-awards-nominee Meryl Streep, renowned for her versatile roles, takes on the part of a terrifying witch in the 2014 film Into the Woods. A crowd favourite, Streep gave young children nightmares with her elongated fingers, ash-blue hair and wrinkled skin. 

4. Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron
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American-South African actress Charlize Theron completely transforms in 2003 film Monster, playing former prostitute and serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Blotchy and bare-faced, Theron is presented as ‘rough’ and raw, far from the beauty we know her as.

6. Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway
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A historical transformation, the 2012 film Les Miserables saw Anne Hathaway take on the character of Fantine. With a short haircut and gaunt figure, she nailed the brief of desperate and starving. A far cry from the confident and charming Hathaway we know and love. 

7. Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey
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Heartthrob Matthew McConaughey has captured hearts since his first comedy appearance in Dazed and Confused, but in Gold (2016) we’re not quite as head-over-heels… McConaughey as Kenny Wells, works his most remarkable transformation yet with a big belly and bald head. 

8. Eddie Redmayne 

Eddie Redmayne
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In The Danish Girl (2015), Eddie Redmayne embodies artist Einar Wegener, one of the first men to undergo a sex-change operation. A confronting role, we hardly recognise him as an elegant, red-lipped woman. What a makeover!

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