Acting is hard, and directing actors is even harder. Some of the best directors have spent decades mastering their art so they can draw out the precise emotions they're looking for. Other directors, as we have shown you before , just decide that the whole "acting" thing is overrated and that it's easier to get a good scene by genuinely traumatizing someone. Here are some examples of the latter school of thought.

5 Matthew McConaughey Is as Strange as His Characters

Paramount Pictures

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We're assuming that the set of The Wolf of Wall Street wasn't as crazy as the story they were portraying, since, you know, everyone was still alive when the film wrapped (even if a goldfish did take a shit in Jonah Hill's mouth). But there is one behind-the-scenes story that at least gives us insight into the ridiculous world of Matthew McConaughey.

One of the stranger scenes in the film (a statement we don't make lightly) is when Leonardo DiCaprio and McConaughey sit down to lunch and McConaughey's character reveals how utterly insane he is. For DiCaprio's character, this is his introduction to the bizarre, coked-out world of Wall Street traders. It all culminates in McConaughey doing this crazy ritual where he pounds on his chest and hums to produce a song that sounds halfway between a war dance and an intro to a Kanye West track:

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It's so weird that it's almost too silly. Who comes up with this shit? Well, nobody. That chest-thumping ritual is something McConaughey does on his own, in real life. DiCaprio saw him doing it on the set and, rather than slowly backing away like most people would, asked him what was up. Apparently it's what McConaughey does to relax and get his voice ready before scenes, and DiCaprio thought it was so weird, he asked to do a take of the scene with McConaughey's little ritual in it.