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A dazzling smile has long been at least as important to a Hollywood star as his acting ability.
But when Oscar winner Jamie Foxx wanted to get into character as a down-and-out, he made the ultimate sacrifice – and had a tooth chipped out with a chisel.
The 40-year-old star revealed: ‘My teeth are just so big and white – a homeless person would never have them.
Toothsome star: Jamie's usual gleaming smile
‘I wanted to break up my big shining piano keys to give them a little character.’
Foxx plays schizophrenic Nathaniel Ayers in the film The Soloist.
His character is a musical genius who ends up sleeping rough on the streets of Los Angeles.
He revealed: ‘I spent hours getting the nuances of the person, making him real. I pushed things a bit...put a gap in my teeth.
‘Some might think I f***** up my grill for nothing but I just wanted to come up with something to make the part unique. I had one chipped out with a chisel.’
The film, made by British director Joe Wright and due for release next year, tells how Foxx’s character is rescued by a journalist, played by Robert Downey Jr, and of their friendship.
Career Gap: Fox as a vagrant without a tooth
Foxx also lost 20lb for the movie and took cello lessons from members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. But one of his biggest challenges was trying to push himself into the same mental state as his character.
‘We’re all a little crazy in Hollywood but going to the edge was really scary,’ he told an American magazine. ‘The character hears voices in his head, and I had to submerse myself into that state. There were some scary moments.
‘Sometimes I didn’t know what was real. I’d go to sleep at night hearing voices.’
It is not the first time Foxx has altered his appearance for a film. He had prosthetic eyelids to stop him seeing when he portrayed blind singer Ray Charles in the movie Ray – which won him an Oscar in 2004.
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