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Mark Wahlberg gained 30 pounds for the movie *Father Stu* (2022), where he played a boxer who becomes a Catholic priest living with a rare muscular degenerative disease. He said, “I was just turning 50 by the time we finished the movie, and I was eating 11,000 calories a day. That drastic weight gain really took a toll on me over the course of the last seven, eight months.”
Charles Melton gained around 40 pounds for his role in the movie *May December* (2023). The director Todd Haynes said he wanted Charles to gain the weight to “change his chiseled self into something more familiar: a suburban man in this place.”
Kumail Nanjiani gained about 25 pounds of muscle for the Marvel movie *Eternals* (2021). To do this, he worked out five days a week doing a bodybuilding split, where he focused on one or two muscle groups at a time. He also followed a high-protein, moderate-fat diet and kept his carbs low during the week, then loaded up on the weekends.
Joaquin Phoenix lost 52 pounds for *Joker* (2019) because director Todd Phillips thought the character would be “super thin.” Joaquin lost the weight with the guidance of a doctor but said the experience still affected his eating habits and mental health afterward.
Matthew McConaughey lost 47 pounds for his role as an emaciated AIDS patient in *Dallas Buyers Club* (2013). He got down to 143 pounds in a super unhealthy and unrealistic way, which left him “always hungry and irritable.” McConaughey said the whole process was “tough going, I’m not going to lie. The dieting was pretty hardcore. I was losing 7 pounds every week. I’d have a Diet Coke, two egg whites in the morning, a piece of chicken, then another Diet Coke.”
Jared Leto lost 40 pounds for the film *Dallas Buyers Club* (2013). He’s said the weight loss affected him. “It changes the way you walk, the way you sit, the way you think.”
Jared Leto also lost 28 pounds to play a heroin addict in *Requiem for a Dream* (2000). At one point, he was even chewing on shoe leather to try to curb his hunger. This unhealthy behavior left him “in a constant state of hunger,” and he said he “started fainting when I was on set.”
Jared Leto further gained 60 pounds to play Mark David Chapman, John Lennon’s murderer, in *Chapter 27* (2007). The diet caused him to get gout. “I couldn’t walk long distances; I had a wheelchair because it was so painful. My body was in shock from the amount of weight I gained.”
Christian Bale lost 63 pounds in the four months of pre-production for *The Machinist* (2004). His daily diet was an apple, a can of tuna, and coffee.
Christian Bale also put on 40 pounds in a short amount of time to play former Vice President Dick Cheney in *Vice* (2018). To gain the weight, he shared the one specific food that he ate often. “I’ve just eaten a lot of pies, so far,” he told Variety. He also went to a professional to help him gain the weight. “It’s never healthy to put on that amount of weight in a short amount of time, but I did it in the healthiest manner,” he said.
Bradley Cooper had to gain a noticeable amount of weight for his role in *American Sniper* (2014). He ended up gaining over 40 pounds while training. Bradley said, “It was a real shock to my body. If it’s pizza and cake, that’s one thing. Putting 6,000 calories a day in your body gets old quick.” During this time, Bradley’s daily diet included five meals, a pre- and post-workout drink, and energy bars.
50 Cent lost over 50 pounds in 10 weeks to play a cancer patient in *All Things Fall Apart* (2011). He did this by having a liquid diet and running on the treadmill for three hours a day. His manager told him to see a doctor when a lot of the weight came off, but 50 Cent said, “I just didn’t want to go because I had to match the look in my mind. I was so into what I was doing that I wasn’t really concerned with that. I just kept looking at myself in the mirror feeling like I have to be smaller. I had to match.”
Chris Hemsworth lost 33 pounds in four weeks for *In the Heart of the Sea* (2015), where he played a starving whaler. To lose weight, he ate only 500 calories a day. “At one point, a day’s rations were a boiled egg, a couple of crackers, and a celery stick,” he said.
Matt Damon lost 50 pounds for a role as a heroin addict that required only two days of filming in *Courage Under Fire* (1996). His diet consisted mostly of chicken breast. His daily intake was around 100 calories, and he ran 13 miles a day, which caused him to experience hot flashes and dizzy spells. The diet damaged his adrenal gland, and he spent a year and a half on medication to try and fix it.
Tom Hardy bulked up a lot for his role as Bane in *The Dark Knight Rises* (2012). He gained over 30 pounds for it. He said about the drastic physical change, “I haven’t damaged my body, but I’m certainly a bit achier than I used to be! I certainly have joints that click that probably shouldn’t click, you know what I mean? And carrying my children is a little bit harder than it used to be.”
And finally, for *The Midnight Sky* (2020), George Clooney lost 30 pounds to play an astronomer with cancer. George ended up hospitalized with pancreatitis four days before filming began. “I think I was trying too hard to lose the weight quickly and probably wasn’t taking care of myself,” he said.
Source: Various sources
If you’re dealing with an eating disorder and need someone to talk to, the National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237. For 24/7 crisis support, text “NEDA” to 741741.