Playing the titular character in ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ required a significant weight-gain commitment for Renee Zellweger, so when the sequel, Edge of Reason, came around, the same 30-pound weight-gain requirement did too. Zellwegger said, “I knew that it was essential in repeating the journey…And if you’re not going to become the character and be the character, then I don’t really see the point in undertaking the experience.” Gaining weight was not her concern, delivering her best “Bridget Jones” was all.
To fill out from a size 4 to a 14, she ate burgers with the crew, sampling all the local burger joints. Keeping the weight on was a bit more difficult than she thought because the demanding schedule of the shoot kept her on her toes and burning calories. And, according to a crew member, some measures had to be taken. “In one scene they had to pad out her bottom,” said the crew member.
Natalie Portman Transforms Her Figure for ‘Black Swan’
Natalie Portman said preparing for her role in 'Black Swan' took a huge physical and emotional toll. “It was about a year of ballet preparation that sort of ramped up as the film got closer. It started out for a couple of hours a day, then five hours a day, then more like eight hours and it was very intense but really fun, too,” Portman said. At her side were some of the world’s top dancers, coaches, and teachers in the ballet universe.
Portman was 29 when she chiseled off 20 pounds to create Nina, a beautiful young ballerina whose relentless ambition drives her to the edge of sanity. Her diet, equally crazy, subsisted on very little besides rabbit food—a lot of carrots and almonds. Between extreme dieting and brutal 8-hour-long dance rehearsals, Portman said, “There were some nights that I thought I literally was going to die.”
Matt Damon “Ate Nothing but Chicken” for ‘Courage Under Fire’
Transforming his body to play an army medic Specialist, Andrew Ilario, in 'Courage Under Fire' (1996) was an enormous sacrifice for award-winning actor Matt Damon. He said, “I had to run about 13 miles a day, which wasn’t even the hard part. The hard part was the diet.” The same thing every single day. “All I ate was chicken breast!," Damon shared on Reddit.
Losing weight produced a drastic transformation. The Massachusetts-born actor got down to 139 pounds, which was a big drop from his normal weight of 190 pounds. It took a significant strain on his health; Damon was placed on adrenal gland medication for a year to repair damage from extreme stress. But it was worth it. Damon’s method-acting commitment impressed director Francis Ford Coppola, who gave him the lead in 'The Rainmaker' the following year.
Vincent D’Onofrio Tips the Scales for ‘Full Metal Jacket’
To get into the role of an overweight Marine recruit, in Stanley Kubrick’s 'Full Metal Jacket,' he had to pack on 75 pounds. It required some discipline. “My usual breakfast consisted of steak, three eggs, a half a loaf of bread and a quart of milk,” D’Onofrio said. In the film, D'Onofrio starts out as a slow-witted oaf. Everyone is surprised when the inept recruit transforms into a vicious demented killer after his spirit is crushed by the extremely ruthless drills and taunts of the villainous drill sergeant.
Prepping for the character altered not just his looks, but his life as well. “Women didn’t look at me; most of the time I was looking at their backs as they were running away. People used to say things to me twice, because they thought I was stupid.”And his body became foreign to him. “My thighs were tremendous, my arms were tremendous, even my nose was fat. I had a tough time trying my shoelaces, but this was the only way I could play Leonard, because I had to be weak-minded in the same way,” explained D’Onofrio. It affected his self-perception.
George Clooney Hit a Low Point on the Set of ‘Syriana’
George Clooney won the Best Actor Academy Award for his role as a CIA operative in 'Syriana' (2005), yet he endured more pain than he had ever known while filming it. In one of the stunts he performed, something went wrong. A spinal injury left him in excruciating pain. Clooney was lying in a hospital bed completely immobilized, and suffering headaches on par with that of a stroke. “You start thinking in terms of, you don’t want to leave a mess, so go in the garage, go in the car, start the engine,” Clooney considered.
The injury kept him from the publicity rounds for 'Ocean’s Twelve,' released in 2004. In the end, surgery was able to correct the injury, but he still gets headaches occasionally. To prepare for the role of agent Robert Barnes, Clooney shaved back his hairline to age himself. He doesn’t look back fondly on filming the Oscar-winning role. "It wasn’t the fault of the film or director," he explained. “It’s just that everybody has that year where you age a decade, and this was that one for me.”