When it comes to losing weight for a role, these actors have no fear. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at actors who took a role so seriously that they lost a whole bunch of weight - often, what appeared to be a dangerous amount.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at actors who took a role so seriously that
00:13they lost a whole bunch of weight, often what appeared to be a dangerous amount.
00:24Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer You might have thought that of all of his
00:27collaborations with Christopher Nolan, it was his role as Scarecrow that would have
00:30required Cillian Murphy to lose weight.
00:34While a Scarecrow might insinuate a slimmer being, the real J. Robert Oppenheimer was
00:38actually a rather emaciated person.
00:40So as the titular Oppenheimer in Nolan's 2023 film, Murphy took on the task of matching
00:45the physical look of the real guy.
00:48Doing so wasn't easy, and even according to Murphy himself, it wasn't particularly
00:52healthy either.
00:53While he hasn't disclosed the amount he lost, he did say that he had to lose quite
00:56a bit of weight, and he doesn't advise others to do what he did.
01:03Chris Hemsworth – In the Heart of the Sea Based on the true story that inspired the
01:13novel Moby Dick, In the Heart of the Sea tells of a whaling ship attacked by a white whale
01:17and the struggles to survive as the crew battle the whale, the sea, and each other.
01:21Left with a few supplies, those who survive the initial attack grow more and more emaciated
01:25as the lack of sustenance takes its toll.
01:34To portray that slow starvation, the film's star Chris Hemsworth lost 33 pounds in one
01:39month, consuming just 500 calories per day.
01:42While Hemsworth feels the emotional and physical toll was necessary to do the role justice,
01:46he, as he told Jimmy Kimmel, never wants to do it again.
01:56Matt Damon – Courage Under Fire Matt Damon became a star in 1997 with the
02:07release of Good Will Hunting.
02:08Given that we hadn't seen much of Damon on the big screen yet, the slimmed-down version
02:11of himself in 1996's Courage Under Fire probably didn't register with most moviegoers.
02:16However, to play his part as specialist Andrew Illario in the war drama, Damon dropped more
02:21than a few pounds.
02:22Depending on who you ask, the number is anywhere from 40 to 60, but regardless of where the
02:26truth is in that range, it's a whole lot.
02:38According to Newsweek, he dropped the weight with a combination of his own made-up diet
02:42and running 13 miles every day.
02:43That's basically a marathon every two days.
02:5450 Cent – All Things Fall Apart All Things Fall Apart was a 2011 direct-to-video
03:04movie starring Curtis 50 Cent Jackson, about a talented college football player whose NFL
03:08dreams are dashed when he's diagnosed with cancer.
03:11As the film's lead, Jackson had to portray the character as the disease took its toll,
03:14which meant losing quite a bit of weight.
03:22To accomplish this goal, he went on a liquid diet and worked out up to three hours every
03:25day.
03:26It saw 50 Cent go from 214 pounds to 160 pounds in just nine weeks.
03:41Joaquin Phoenix – Joker Reshoots are a pretty common thing in the
03:51movie business, but not on the Joker set.
03:53It's all because of Joaquin Phoenix.
03:55It's not that Phoenix pulled some diva moves and refused to do them.
03:58Rather, as co-star Zossie Beetz explained, Phoenix lost so much weight that they wouldn't
04:02have been able to go back later for reshoots.
04:09It was director Todd Phillips' idea that the Joker character look hungry and unhealthy,
04:13like a malnourished wolf.
04:14To accomplish said look, Phoenix reportedly didn't eat much more than an apple a day,
04:17a diet that, by his own admission, made him go mad.
04:27Adam Driver – Silence
04:40Silence is the story of two Jesuit priests who journey from Portugal to Japan in the
04:4317th century, searching for their mentor.
04:45A trip like that, especially centuries ago, would no doubt result in some weight loss.
04:50Director Martin Scorsese wanted to visually see the physical toll of such a journey on
04:53the actors playing these roles.
04:55Both Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver complied with the director's wishes.
05:05Garfield lost 40 pounds, and Driver dropped upwards of 51 pounds.
05:09He started the process prior to filming, but continued to lose weight during the shoot
05:12to mimic what the character would have gone through as the voyage continued.
05:24Michael Fassbender – Hunger
05:34The historical drama Hunger tells the story of the hunger strike that took place amongst
05:38Irish Republican prisoners in Northern Ireland in 1981.
05:41The man who led that hunger strike was Bobby Sands, portrayed in the film by actor Michael
05:45Fassbender.
05:46Now, obviously, if the character you're playing goes on a hunger strike, your physical
05:50appearance will need to display the effects of said strike.
05:52To get to that point, Fassbender, working with a nutritionist, walked four and a half
05:55miles and took in just 900 calories a day for ten weeks.
05:59Reports put his total weight loss at 40 pounds.
06:12Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
06:21Both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto won Academy Awards for their performances in 2013's
06:25Dallas Buyers Club.
06:26One thing that helped both actors win was how much weight they lost.
06:30Their beautiful and emotional performances were no doubt improved by the physical changes
06:33they took on in losing weight to play AIDS-HIV patients in the 1980s.
06:43McConaughey, who weighed in at 183 pounds prior to being cast in the film, dropped down
06:47to 136 for the part.
06:49Leto basically stopped eating to lose weight quickly and hit a low of 114 pounds.
07:02Tom Hanks – Cast Away
07:08In 1993, Tom Hanks dropped 26 pounds to play an attorney with AIDS suing his former law
07:12firm for wrongful termination in the film Philadelphia.
07:23Seven years later, audiences witnessed Hanks drop pounds again when he was stranded on
07:26a deserted island in Cast Away.
07:28However, before losing the weight, Hanks actually put on 50 pounds to accentuate the
07:32subsequent weight loss.
07:33After filming much of the movie, the production took a break so Hanks could grow his hair
07:37and beard out and lose the weight, which he did.
07:3955 pounds worth.
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08:06Christian Bale – The Machinist
08:07To say that Christian Bale was committed to his performance in 2004's The Machinist
08:21would be an understatement.
08:23Bale took on the role of an insomniac machinist with the full weight of his talent, and much
08:27less weight on his body.
08:35We don't know exactly how much he weighed before getting the role, but we do know that
08:38it was 62 pounds more than his weight during filming.
08:40The psychological thriller is a good film, but it definitely isn't an easy watch due
08:44in no small part to the strikingly emaciated look of its star.
08:57Which of these weight loss transformations struck you the most?
08:59Let us know in the comments!