Lost in Character/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character (mostly an actor) ends up forgetting who he/she is.

  • Straight: Bob plays Emperor Evulz, but he begins to act like his character even off the set.
  • Exaggerated: Bob becomes the Complete Monster character he played in the movies.
    • Everyone who played a part in the movie "Tales of Troperia" believe that they are their characters.
  • Downplayed: Bob thinks he's Emperor Evulz, In Name Only, but still acts like Bob.
  • Justified: Bob is a method actor and that is how he gets into character.
  • Inverted: A character believes himself to be merely an actor.
  • Subverted: Bob acts like Emperor Evulz off the set, but he was just practicing his lines, and immediately goes back to acting like Bob.
  • Double Subverted: But that was just an act. Bob really believes he's Emperor Evulz, who must pretend to be Bob in order to keep his cover.
  • Parodied: Bob, Alice, Charlie and Dean all get lost in character, and fight across the city in mimicry of the movie they're shooting.
  • Zig Zagged: ... except it was a publicity stunt, only it turns out the actors really do believe they're the characters, or is it still a publicity stunt?
  • Averted: Bob is only the character on the screen, but acts normal everywhere else.
  • Enforced: The directors don't tell the actors that they're in a movie and let them really believe they are their characters.
  • Lampshaded: This happens so often there's a specialized clinic that Deprograms actors who believe they are their character.
  • Invoked: Bob Completely gets into his role, even hypnotizing himself in order to get his best performance.
  • Exploited: Alice hates Bob, and gets him the role of the Emperor because then she can goad him into committing a crime.
  • Defied: Bob has a Survival Mantra that helps him wind down after acting.
  • Discussed: "If we can talk to Bob while he thinks he's the emperor, we may be able to convince him to help us bring down the corrupt director by convincing him he's a rival villain!"
  • Conversed: "You'd think an actor who is so easily wrapped up in their role would take precautions against it."

Back to Lost in Character

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Lost_in_Character/Playing_With?oldid=862173"