Ouch! Taking method acting too far

From MSNBC’s The Scoop:

Aaron Eckhart is willing to suffer for his art.

The “Thank You For Smoking” star is appearing in a film called “Bill” with Jessica Alba, and he says he put clothespins on his private parts to help his acting.

“I had to pretend that my nuts hurt, so I put a clothespin on my nuts,” Eckhart told Men’s Journal. “Otherwise, you’re just learning your lines and saying them. There’s no art in that. People say, ‘Why do you want to put a clothespin on your nuts?’ You know why? Because that’s what I do for a living.”

He’s joking, right? The Scoop seems to be reporting it straight, but I’m sure that sarcasm is in effect here. Because if a guy can get to his age without ever getting nailed by something or somebody (say, a cute blonde girl in grade school who had some ill-defined anger issues expressed by punching boys in the balls, hypothetically speaking of course) and then act on the basis of that memory, then I think we have a new entry in the Guiness Book of World Records. (World's first testicle-protecting force field or world's worst actor, you pick.)

However, even joking about something like this … Aaron, you just might need some professional counseling. Get some help, honey.

Oh, and about the uh - hypothetical scrotum nailing by that cute blonde girl in grade school? Yeah, she grew out of that. A loooooonnnng time ago - I swear! :)