CGI can work wonders. It can turn notable performers into monsters, aliens, or Galactus. But at the end of the day nothing is more convincing than an actor genuinely looking like the character they’ve been hired to play. And, while CGI can help change someone into something decidedly inhuman, it’s only so-so in terms of altering an actor’s physicality while still having them play someone who is very much human. That is, it’s so-so in comparison to an actor actually shedding weight or packing on muscle. When they do that, it’s noticeable that it was a wholly organic alteration.
Videos by ComicBook.com
It’s a standard for those about to play a superhero. Even if they’re already a Henry Cavill, that actor is going to put on muscle to play Superman. But these following actors? They drastically changed their bodies. And, oftentimes, they’ve done so more than once.
10) Kumail Nanjiani for Eternals
Eternals may not have gone over very well with audiences, but it’s clear the actors and director Chloé Zhao took the material very seriously. And, as far as body alterations go, no one took it more seriously than comedic actor Kumail Nanjiani, who looked far different as Kingo than he did as Dinesh on Silicon Valley.
Nanjiani, who wrote the lovely The Big Sick alongside his wife Emily V. Gordon, gained 25 pounds of muscle for the role. He also lowered his body fat to 10%, all over the course of just 10 months.
9) Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler & Southpaw
For Nightcrawler‘s October 2013 shoot, Jake Gyllenhaal lost about 30 pounds to accurately convey Lou Bloom’s starved look. He lost the weight via a limited diet of kale salads and chewing gum alongside daily 15-mile runs.
When Southpaw was filmed eight months later, Gyllenhaal had gone from that emaciated look to bulky and intimidating. He had gained about eighteen pounds of muscle, accomplished via six hours of training per day with a regiment including 2,000 sit-ups, boxing, weightlifting, and eight-mile runs.
8) Joaquin Phoenix for Joker
Joaquin Phoenix is an actor who devotes himself entirely to his performances. No two of them are the same because of his considerable range, but he hasn’t quite changed his body as many times or as drastically as our number one choice on this list, who is similarly chameleonic.
However, for Joker, Phoenix lost a massive 52 pounds. To pull this off he ate only 500 calories per day, with a diet made up mostly of lettuce and steamed vegetables. It took an emotional toll on him, but he undoubtedly pulled off the transformation, as Arthur’s emaciated look definitely made the viewer worry for the character.
7) Natalie Portman & Mila Kunis for Black Swan
Natalie Portman was always a fit performer, but she underwent grueling training to portray Nina Sayers in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. She and Mila Kunis trained for six months prior to the start of filming.
On her part, Portman worked out for five hours a day via ballet, cross-training, and swimming. Then, as filming neared, she began choreography training. Kunis went the cardio and Pilates route, which she did five hours a day, seven days a week, for about six months, all while limiting her diet to 1,200 calories per day.
6) Chris Pratt for Guardians of the Galaxy
Like Kumail Nanjiani, Chris Pratt was once an actor known almost exclusively for his work in the comedy world. And, like Nanjiani, he significantly changed his body to become a convincing superhero for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Parks and Recreation veteran lost 60 pounds in six months, going from about 250 pounds to 190 or 195 pounds with about 10% body fat. He achieved this feat with the assistance of swimming, strict dieting, P90X, and cardiovascular exercises. His new physique was also given a shout-out in an episode of Parks. Though, there, his Andy simply stopped drinking beer.
5) Jonah Hill for 21 Jump Street & War Dogs
These days, Jonah Hill has a lean build, to the point that people haven’t recognized him in promo images for Outcome, a movie he directed and stars in alongside Keanu Reeves. For years, fans have known him as a more heavyset performer, especially around the time he was breaking out courtesy of Superbad.
Hill’s weight at this point in time is less for Outcome than it is for his health in general, but he has undergone transformations in the past for a role. For instance, he dropped 30 pounds for 21 Jump Street and gained 40 pounds for War Dogs.
4) Charlize Theron for Monster
The same year she starred in The Italian Job Charlize Theron played her Academy Award winning role of serial killer Aileen Carol Wuornos. It was a performance that was rightly heralded as transformative, not just because of how devoted Theron’s performance was, but because of how different she looked from any of her other roles, before or since.
To play Wuornos, Theron put on 30 pounds, primarily via processed and sugary-heavy foods. Thanks to that along with the makeup and prosthetics, Theron is basically unrecognizable, but it’s actually not her largest weight gain for a role. That would be Tully in 2018, for which she gained 50 pounds.
3) Michael Fassbender for Hunger
Michael Fassbender was bulked up for 300 in 2006, but just two years later he was skinny as a rail for Steve McQueen’s phenomenal Hunger. The film follows Bobby Sands, a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who died on a hunger strike at the age of 27 while imprisoned at HM Prison Maze.
Fassbender lost over 40 pounds to convincingly portray Sands, lowering his total weight to 128 pounds. His diet to accomplish this included daily portions of sardines, nuts, and berries.
2) Matthew McConaughey & Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club
To play the character of Ron Woodroof, who contracted HIV via an unprotected sexual encounter with a woman, Dallas Buyers Club star Matthew McConaughey lost upwards of 50 pounds. To do this he consumed fish, tapioca pudding, and “as much wine as [he] wanted to drink,” according to Business Insider.
To play Rayon, the role which won him an Oscar, Jared Leto dropped about 40 pounds, bringing him down to 114 pounds total. According to CNN, when Leto was asked how he pulled this off, he said “I stopped eating.”
1) Christian Bale for The Machinist, Batman Begins, The Fighter, etc.
Christian Bale is the defending champion of actors who put their body through a league of paces for roles. This goes back to at least American Psycho in 2000, where he bulked up via an all-lean protein diet. But his greatest accomplishment on this front was the one-two punch of The Machinist (2004) and Batman Begins (2005).
For The Machinist, Bale was all skin and bones, losing over 60 pounds to get himself down to just 120 pounds. To do this he allowed himself only water, one apple, and one cup of coffee per day. He also chain-smoked cigarettes and drank whiskey to accomplish this. Not healthy by any stretch of the imagination, but it shows on screen. Almost as impressive is the fact that, about six months after The Machinist was shot, he was then shooting his debut Batman movie, which saw him add 100 pounds of muscle.
That’s not all, either, because he then lost at least 55 pounds for the following year’s Rescue Dawn, bulked up again for The Dark Knight in 2008, lost 30 pounds for The Fighter in 2010, bulked up once more for The Dark Knight Rises, put on 40 pounds for American Hustle (via doughnuts and cheeseburgers), lost that for Exodus: Gods and Kings, and put it back on for Vice. The star of The Bride! has largely slowed down these massive transformations, which is probably for the best. 20 years of them assuredly take their toll.
Which of these transformations impressed you the most? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Studio Pierrot -
Image Courtesy of Madhouse -
Courtesy of David Production
