"I Didn’t Do Any Research" — 14 Iconic Characters Actors Barely Google Searched Before Accepting The Role

I respect it, NGL.

1. Jacob Elordi first found out about Elvis from Lilo & Stitch.

A24 / Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images

The actor, who stars as Elvis Presley in the upcoming Priscilla, told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that his knowledge of the rock 'n' roll star was limited to the Disney cartoon before he took the role. "The most I knew of Elvis [Presley] was in Lilo & Stitch, which is a lot!" he shared.

Of course, once he accepted the part, he researched the character extensively and even adopted Elvis' bacon-based diet. 

You can watch the video here:

youtube.com

2. Hugh Jackman wasn't a comic book fan, had never heard of the X-Men, and didn't even know wolverines were real animals before accepting his iconic Wolverine role.

20th Century Fox / Cindy Ord / Getty Images

"I knew nothing," he told Men's Health. "I didn't even know a wolverine was a real thing. I remember going to an IMAX, watching a documentary on wolves, thinking Wolverine was part wolf." The director told him to "go to the zoo" after he started moving like a wolf on set. 

He's since read the comics.

3. Micheal Gambon didn't read any of the Harry Potter books before appearing in the films as Dumbledore.

Warner Bros. / Karwai Tang / WireImage

He didn't want to mess with the screenwriter's vision — "No point in reading the books because you're playing with [screenwriter] Steve Kloves' words," Gambon said. 

4. And Tom Felton didn't read the Harry Potter books before playing Draco Malfoy, either.

Warner Bros. / Karwai Tang / WireImage

"Essentially they asked me which part of the book I was most excited to see in a film and I panicked, knowing full well that I didn’t know anything about the book. So I just said the same thing as the kid next to me and lied — pretty poorly, I imagine, because Chris Columbus, the director, saw straight through my lie," he shared in his memoir Beyond the Wand. I mean, you can't deny that that's VERY Draco.

5. Before filming Our Flag Means Death, Taika Waititi looked up the Wikipedia page for Blackbeard, didn't finish reading it, and then ignored the little information he found.

HBO Max / Samir Hussein / WireImage / Getty Images

Speaking to Wired, the actor and director said "I just played Blackbeard in Our Flag Means Death. I went on Wikipedia, I typed in 'Blackbeard,' and there's too many words. I read the first part, which is like, 'He's from Bristol.' Then I looked at the Bristolian accent, which is like Stephen Merchant. And I thought, 'Nah, too hard.' So, I just did my own accent." He's so real for that.

You can watch him talking about it here:

youtube.com

6. Billy Burke had never read the Twilight books before accepting his role as Charlie Swan in the movies. In fact, he'd never even heard of the franchise.

Summit Entertainment / Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

"I had no idea what Twilight was, at all. Catherine Hardwicke had seen a movie that I did a number of years ago, called Dill Scallion, and she requested to have me in. So, I came in and we talked a little bit about it... But, I just thought it was a really nice love story. I didn’t really pay attention to the whole vampire aspect, actually," the actor told Collider.

"I haven't read the books, I still have not cracked... I'm not a good reader — I can't sit down and read books very well, I don't have the attention span," he said. His loss...

7. Ewan McGregor didn't read Jane Austen's Emma before playing Frank Churchill in the movie of the novel.

Miramax / Chelsea Lauren / Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz

When asked by The Guardian what the worst thing he'd done was, he replied, "Work wise? My character Frank Churchill on Emma. I made the decision to do that film because I thought I should be seen to be doing something different from Trainspotting. My decision-making was wrong. It's the only time I've done that."

He also played author James Joyce in another movie, Nora, without knowing who he was, the article says.

8. Rafe Spall didn't read War of the Worlds before playing George in the BBC adaptation.

Karwai Tang / WireImage / BBC

When asked why he hadn't read the H.G. Wells book, the actor replied "It's another avenue that could aid but I felt alright with it and I wanted to treat it as a thing unto itself."

And in the same interview, he said he's not all that jazzed about sci-fi as a genre; "it isn't my go-to, I'm not mad keen on it, no but God bless you if you are," he said.

9. Taika Waititi didn't research Hitler at all before playing him in Jojo Rabbit (probably a good thing, TBH).

Searchlight Pictures / Amy Sussman / Getty Images

"I didn’t have to do any research, and I didn’t do any research. I didn’t base him on anything I’d seen about Hitler before," he told Deadline. He added that he was playing a 10-year-old's version of Hitler, rather than the actual man — "I just made him a version of myself that happened to have a bad haircut and a sh*tty little mustache. And a mediocre German accent," Waititi said. He added that it'd be "too weird to play the actual Hitler."

10. Bill Murray thought that Garfield was a Coen brothers film.

Sony / Scott Olson / Getty Images

Speaking to GQ, the actor said that he thought director Joel Coen was THAT Joel Coen (of Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou?) fame. He was not. 

"I looked at the script, and it said, ‘So-and-so and Joel Coen.’ And I thought: Christ, well, I love those Coens! They're funny. So I sorta read a few pages of it and thought, Yeah, I'd like to do that," Murray said. 

He forgot about accepting the role before the time came for him to read the lines; then, he said he wondered  “‘Who the hell cut this thing? Who did this? What the f*ck was Coen thinking?’ And then they explained it to me: It wasn't written by that Joel Coen.’”

11. Kit Harrington only got to actually look at the remains of Pompeii after playing Milo in, well, Pompeii.

Sony Pictures / Stefania D'alessandro / Getty Images

He was just too busy to look at the volcanic remnants of the ancient city before filming. "I didn't have time before we started shooting. I know it's bizarre, but I went after we wrapped. I wanted to go to this place that I'd be pretended to be in for so long. I'm ashamed to say I didn't do a whole amount of historical research, I took the script as gospel," he told the BBC.

"But then I went to all the exhibitions and I was pleasantly surprised to see that we were very historically accurate," he added. So, it all worked out.

12. Paul Bettany didn't know who Vision was before taking the role.

20th Century Fox / Loic Venance / AFP via Getty Images

When asked if he'd prepared for the role, the actor said "No, not at all. It was very different world in the ‘70s when I grew up. I guess they [Avengers] were around, but we really had our own comics and stuff like the Eagle with Dan Dare and the Mekon and stuff like that. Really, what we knew was from TV shows... We knew Batman, and we knew Spider-Man, and we knew Superman."

"Everybody I would talk to knows the characters and read comics as kids, and we just didn’t," he added. But he did end up reading the comics on set before filming.  

13. Viggo Mortenson felt "unprepared" for the role of Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, and had never read the books.

Carlos Alvarez / Getty Images

Mortenson almost said "no" to the role because the call asking him to replace 27-year-old Stuart Townsend was so last-minute (plus, he'd never heard of the character). Thankfully, his son had, and encouraged him to take the role — "he knew the story, you know. I didn't," the actor said.

The actor was brought onto the project a few weeks into filming, meaning everyone else had a headstart on perfecting their characters. "I felt unprepared. The other actors had been there for weeks and months, in some cases preparing for the arduous task of shooting the whole trilogy. I also felt awkward because I'd never been in a position of replacing another actor," he said.

14. Brian Cox signed up to reality TV show 007: Road To A Million because he thought it was the next Bond film.

Prime Video / V Anderson / WireImage via Getty Images

Speaking to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, the actor said "Oh, finally they’re getting me in a James Bond movie. I thought, ‘Yes, of course!’". Unfortunately,  “there was no script and there was no James Bond movie.”

Instead, he ended up taking the role of a games controller in the competition reality show. Look, I struggle with fine print too, Brian.

Can you think of any other examples? Let us know in the comments below!