You have to be all muscle and mass to play a gladiator. At least that’s what Kit Harington assumed when he took the role of the uber-muscular Milo, in ‘Pompeii’ (2014). “So I went into quite a heavy training regime five weeks before filming. I started by bulking up, and then when I got out there, I had four weeks to shred down and get toned,” Harington explained. It became addictive. “It’s the best shape I’ve been in, and I was hell-bent on getting in a certain way.”
Becoming obsessed, Harington found himself the victim of body dysmorphia, which is excessive anxiety about body appearance. When he hit the point of overdoing it, he succumbed to exhaustion. His trainer stepped in to help Harington scale back on his gym visits. Three times a day, six days a week, was a bit much. In the end, Harington said that he was proud of his achievement in strength and conditioning.
J.K. Simmons Gets Pumped for ‘Justice League’
J.K. Simmons couldn’t have done it without Aaron Williamson, his ex-Marine elite-level trainer. Although, embodying 'Justice League' Commissioner Jim Gordon took a lion’s share of the work from Simmons. On the other hand, Williamson is credited for bulking up the likes of Zac Efron, Sylvester Stallone, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jai Courtney, and Jamie Foxx.
None of Simmon’s previous roles had demanded a ripped-out physique. He took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 'Whiplash,' playing an abusive teacher, so playing the commissioner of Gotham City and Batman’s go-to guy required a flip. The strength he built impressed trainer Williamson, who posted a picture of his ripped client saying, “Every time we train together I forget he’s 61 years old. So much respect for this guy.”
50 Cent Drops Down in 'All Things Fall Apart'
Rapper 50 Cent took time out of his music career to work on a passion project. He wrote, produced, financed, and starred in 'All Things Fall Apart,' a movie about a Heisman-hopeful football star named Deon, whose fortunes are tackled by cancer. To prep for the role, the rapper from Queens lost almost 60 pounds. His motivation stemmed from losing a friend to cancer.
When a picture of the rapper got out, his gaunt visage shocked everyone. He weighed just 160 pounds. The sacrifice he undertook to star in the film directed by Mario Van Peebles was brutal. He went on a liquid diet and spent three grueling hours a day on the treadmill. This went on for nine months. “I was starving,” he said. He also went through the painful process of tattoo removal to play the part, joking, “It cuts down on the amount of time I have to spend in makeup covering them up.”
Emile Hirsch Deprived Himself for ‘Into the Wild’
Emile Hirsch played Chris McCandless, a man who starved to death in the Alaskan Wilderness hoping to be saved. To get into such a deprived state, Hirsch had to give up food. “I weighed about 156 pounds when I got the part, and I weighed 130 pounds throughout most of the film,” Hirsch said. But, as the character he portrayed neared death, he lost significant body fat. “And then I went down to 115 pounds for the weight loss in the Alaska segment,” he said.
Wasting away like that was a mental and physical challenge. To do it, he explains, “was a lot of running and being very hungry and dreaming of candy all the time.” It was all he could think of! Even though he was starving, candy was all he craved. “It was like, Steak? No. Like a Take 5 Candy Bar. That was like the ideal,” Hirsch said.
Ben Kingsley Emulates the Mahatma for ‘Gandhi’
Ben Kingsley, who said he was “frightened but determined to get the role,” also said he had little time to prepare for it. “I was offered the role in September, left for India in October and started shooting in November,” Kingsley recalls. Once he arrived at the land of the Mahatma, he completely immersed himself. “I practiced yoga in the morning...In the evenings I did my shoots and, in the night, I took spinning classes,” Kingsley explained.
Learning to spin thread with an authentic wooden spinning machine, Kingsley thought, would be better than trying to fake it on automated spinning machines. Beyond those efforts, Kingsley shaved his head and lost 20 pounds, authentically, by abiding by Gandhi’s vegetarian diet. He also practiced meditation and studied yoga. This is what it takes, he believes.