15 Actors Who Absolutely Hated Their Costumes

Simple tasks like sitting down, eating, and hearing what other people are saying are nearly impossible in certain costumes, causing actors to really hate the whole experience. And while it may have been tough at the moment, these stars still say they’re grateful to have taken on the role.

Find out which costumes these actors hated…

1. Jennifer Lawrence

For Jennifer Lawrence, her role as Mystique in the X-Men series was a big undertaking when it came to the wardrobe department. Every day before filming, she spent eight hours in the makeup chair getting every inch of her body painted. Unfortunately, Jennifer quickly realized that the paint really irritated her skin -- and also made it impossible to sit down to use the bathroom.

“I love these movies -- it’s just the paint. I was 20 and I didn’t care about fumes and toxins, and now I’m almost 25 and I’m like, ‘I can’t even pronounce this and that’s going in my nose? I’m breathing that?’” Jennifer told EW.

2. Ryan Reynolds

Back when Ryan Reynolds was working on Green Lantern, he didn’t actually wear a superhero costume for the majority of filming. Instead, he wore a motion capture suit that he says was incredibly uncomfortable and left him overheating.

“It’s made of actual woven misery,” Ryan told GQ. “Whatever material they’ve used, they’ve managed to make it the most heat-conducting substance known to man. I literally begged them to just put me in a non-breathable rubber unitard.”

3. Michelle Pfeiffer

Michelle Pfeiffer wasn’t a big fan of her costume when she played Catwoman in Batman Returns. After joining the cast at the last minute, the film’s team had to rush to get Michelle fitted in the iconic costume. Unfortunately, Michelle says it ended up being quite uncomfortable.

“It was the most uncomfortable costume I’ve ever been in. They had to powder me down, help me inside and then vacuum-pack the suit,” Michelle shared with The Hollywood Reporter. “The face mask was smashing my face and choking me…We had a lot of bugs to work out.”

4. Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey admits that he absolutely hated getting put into his costume and makeup for How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Looking back, he says the whole process 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 quit the movie.

“Literally the makeup was like being buried alive every day. The first day was eight and a half hours, and I went back to my trailer and put my leg through the wall,” he said on The Graham Norton Show.

He continued, “I told [director] Ron Howard I couldn’t do the movie. Then [producer] Brian Grazer came in, being the fix-it man and came up with a brilliant idea, which was to hire a gentleman who is trained to teach CIA operatives how to endure torture. And so, that’s how I got through The Grinch…It was horrifying…I did the makeup 100 times. ”

5. Tom Holland

While filming the Spider-Man movies, Tom Holland often struggled with his costume. Looking back, he says the team tried to make the suit more comfortable for him but it just didn’t work out. And when he asked for a zip so he could more easily go to the bathroom, he was turned down.

“I remember them bragging about, they added in these fans that you could click, and it would supposedly cool me down. They worked once. I have these hot batteries in my helmet heating my head up,” he said on The Graham Norton Show, adding, “There’s a hole underneath the eye socket where we used to be able to feed a tube down, and I could drink without taking the suit off because it takes a lot of time.”

6. Emma Stone

Emma Stone had some difficulties while filming The Favourite because she had to wear a corset for the first time. While discussing the movie, Emma explained that she could barely breathe in her costume and the corset ended up shifting her organs around.

“It’s historically accurate, but I couldn’t f--king breathe... After about a month, my organs shifted because they have to. It was only temporary, but it was gross,” she said on The Graham Norton Show. “The bottom half of my stomach, whatever, I’m not a doctor, whatever is in there, went down that way, and I guess just my ribs stayed up.”

7. Rachel Brosnahan

Rachel Brosnahan also had troubles while wearing a corset on the set of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and it ended up actually injuring her. The actress says that the whole thing affected her to the point where she can no longer “take super deep breaths anymore.”

“We talk so fast on the show that to get all the words out, you can’t really take very many breaths. And I think I wasn’t breathing a lot, and I was a little bit constrained, and apparently, some of my ribs are sort of fused together a little bit,” Rachel shared on The Late Late Show.

8. Simone Ashley

Bridgerton star Simone Ashley is yet another actress who had difficulty wearing a corset while filming. Simone explained that on one occasion, she ate lunch before starting work and ended up throwing up because the corset was so tight.

“I realized when you wear the corset, you just don’t eat,” she told Glamour UK. “It changes your body. I had a smaller waist very momentarily. Then, the minute you stop wearing it, you’re just back to how your body is. I had a lot of pain with the corset, too. I think I tore my shoulder at one point!”

9. Regé-Jean Page

When Regé-Jean Page was filming Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, he was required to wear a very uncomfortable costume made up of metal armor. Looking back, he says he got incredibly overheated and it was impossible to sit down.

“Like, filming in armor is not where you want to be... You’re hot all day. You can’t sit down. The sweat goes nowhere -- it just kind of hangs out,” he explained to BBC Radio 1. “It becomes a scuba suit, just with your own juices.”

10. Val Kilmer

When Val Kilmer took on the iconic role of Batman in Batman Forever, it wasn’t the experience he had imagined. Reflecting on the experience, Val says it was hard to sit down and it was difficult to hear other people. After a while, he says people stopped trying to talk to him and it became very isolating.

“Whatever boyhood excitement I had was crushed by the reality of the Batsuit. Yes, every boy wants to be Batman. They actually want to be him…not necessarily play him in a movie,” he said in the documentary Val.

11. Malin Akerman

When Malin Akerman portrayed Silk Spectre in the 2009 film Watchmen, she was initially excited to try on the suit. Unfortunately, it ended up being quite a different experience than what she had thought it would be.

“I thought it was really f--king hot. Then I tried it on, and I thought it was really f--king uncomfortable. And the smell? When you take it off, it smells like a human condom,” Malin shared during a BUILD Series interview.

12. Kit Harington

Kit Harington admits he had a hard time playing Jon Snow in Game of Thrones at times because his costume was really hard to deal with. Towards the end of filming, Kit explained that the fur costumes were smelly and got heavier every year.

“It weighs a ton. It smells awful,” he explained on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “Whenever we went out there and you put it back on, you feel back in the character again. That’s great, but everything else about it is just...I think they add weight to it every year.”

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 skintight outfit was like a “wetsuit” and she got so overheated that there was a moment where she started hallucinating. On top of that, her role was so demanding that the costume often ended up “shredded” and had to be replaced every few days.

“It was so hot, I would wring out my socks at the end of the day,” she said on Nightline. “They’re like tires. You would just go through sets of them. Every time you get a new costume, you just feel real nice and then three days later, it's like the discount Widow.”

14. Paul Bettany

Paul Bettany had to suit up to play Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron as well as on WandaVision but the costume was always a struggle for him. Looking back, he says it took over three hours to get ready which ended up being “painful” and “uncomfortable.” He admits there were times on set where the anxiety inside the suit caused him to flip out and want to tear it off.

“You’re working in it for 10 hours and not really being able to hear well. There’s only this much of your face open to the air. The first day is not the problem. The second day is not the problem. The third day gets a bit tough. By the fourth and fifth day of the week, you are really having to meditate on the line of actors, thousands of them, who would love to be in your position. You have to concentrate on how lucky you are,” Paul told USA Today.

15. Margot Robbie

Margot Robbie says the costume she wears while playing Harley Quinn isn’t her favorite thing. While discussing filming, Margot explained that the outfit made her self-conscious. On top of that, she added that the bangles she had to wear had spikes that would cause her to accidentally stab herself.

“As Margot, no, I don't like wearing that,” Margo told the New York Times. “I’m eating burgers at lunchtime, and then you go do a scene where you’re hosed down and soaking wet in a white T-shirt, it’s so clingy and you’re self-conscious about it.”