“Castrating lambs, clipping feet, dipping them, I had to do all of it.”

While Margot Robbie had no gymnastics experience before taking on the role of Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, she spent months training in acrobatics and stunt work to prepare.

And that wasn't her only impressive transformation. 

For I, Tonya, she learned to ice skate to portray figure skater Tonya Harding. Ahead of Focus, she was taught practical pickpocketing by a professional sleight-of-hand artist, and for Barbie, she underwent training in rollerblading, dancing, and high-energy choreo.

In preparation for her role as Maria Callas in the movie Maria, Angelina Jolie spent almost seven months training as an opera singer with various vocal coaches. 

Speaking about the experience, Jolie said: “Everybody here knows, I was terribly nervous. I spent almost seven months training because when you work with Pablo, you can’t do anything by half. He demands, in the most wonderful way, that you really do the work and you really learn and train.”

We all know that Robert De Niro is one of the greatest actors of his generation, and he's clearly dedicated to his craft, because he's learned some impressive skills for his roles over the years. We can't just pick one skill that De Niro learned for a role, so let's just list a few. He learned the saxophone for his role in New York, New York, lived in Sicily and learned Italian for The Godfather Part II, got a legit cab licence for Taxi Driver, and learned the Latin mass for True Confessions – now that's commitment. 

When Joseph took the role of real-life wire-walker Phillipe Petit, it was clear that he'd have to learn to walk the wire himself. 

What was interesting is that it was Phillipe himself who taught Joseph the skills needed to portray him: "Philippe insisted that he be the first one to teach me how to walk on the wire. He doesn't do anything halfway, this guy, so he orchestrated this really elaborate workshop. It was just me and him all day long for eight days straight."

One of the key components of Michelle's role was to master the use of the iconic whip, and that she did. Speaking about learning how to use the whip, she said: "It was very graceful and elegant. And actually very dancelike and beautiful. And kind of more feline really.”

The great Robin Williams was not one to cut corners, as proved by his commitment to his role in Moscow on the Hudson, where he plays a Russian saxophonist. For the part, in order to get the authenticity desired by the director, he spent five hours a day for five months learning Russian – that's a serious undertaking. 

When Meryl got the role as Roberta Guaspari, a violinist, she actually declined it at first, thinking she didn't have enough time to prepare. But, after an inspiring letter from the director, she decided to get a teacher, and took the part. She set about learning the basics of the violin: 

"I begged for some more time, because I don't play an instrument and I didn't know to what extent I could fake it. I imagined they would digitally realise my fingers, but it turns out they couldn't do that, so they gave me an extra four weeks. I had a couple of months before we started shooting."

She even kept playing after shooting had wrapped!

For her role in Winter's Bone, Jennifer learned some potentially very valuable skills, if she's ever stuck in a forest that is. She learned how to skin and cook a squirrel. Speaking about her survival skills, she said this: "I can shoot quite well, and I didn't think I'd ever be able to say this but, yes, I can skin and cook a squirrel."

Speaking of working with animals, Ruth Wilson also learned some skills that I'm not too sure she ever imagined she'd have when preparing for Dark River. 

Speaking about her preparation, she said: “I went and stayed with this great couple called Malcolm and Hazel up in Yorkshire, and they taught me loads of skills of what you need to do [with the animals] on a farm: dragging them around, shearing them, castrating lambs, clipping feet, dipping them, I had to do all of it.”

That's right, she knows how to castrate a lamb. 

Tenet was a fairly baffling movie, but the task that John David Washington undertook must have been fairly confusing too. For the film, he had to learn how to speak backwards. It's hard enough to remember lines as it is, let alone backwards lines!

You could probably write an entire list just full of things Tom Cruise has learned for his roles, and particularly his stunts, but this one may be the most impressive. For Mission Impossible: Fallout, he learned how to fly a helicopter in order to perform his own stunt, as he often insists on. While learning to fly a helicopter is a mean feat, when Tom Cruise is involved, anything is possible. 

Man of the moment, Timothée Chalamet, is clearly a talented actor, but for Call Me By Your Name, he picked up a series of other impressive skills, including guitar, piano, and Italian.

“We got to be in Italy for three months learning Italian and learning the piano and the guitar. I already knew how to speak French…But I picked up the Italian, too," he revealed.

Many actors have learned horse riding for a role, and Daniel Kaluuya is no different. He learned from equestrian Randy Savvy, who not only taught him how to handle the horse, but also how to appear like someone who had always been comfortable with the animals. 

The veteran equestrian was pleased with Daniel's work when he saw the film: "For him [Daniel], connecting that link was important. And he ended up getting some good takeaways from it. I saw some stuff on the screen like, okay, bro, I see you.”

Additional photo credits: Kate Green, Frazer Harrison, Amy Sussman / Getty Images