10 Actors Who Lost a DANGEROUS Amount of Weight for a Role

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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.

Transcript

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!

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