From Christian Bale to Gerard Butler, celebrities have sure been throwing the pounds around in the name of entertainment.
-Carolyn French
Christian Bale has made it perfectly clear, in his oh-so subtle way, that the amount of weight (30lbs) he dropped for The Fighterwas not an enjoyable experience. However, it had to have been easier than what he managed to pull off for The Machinist, which was so horrifying that we will get back to that one later!
While scarcely eating for months on end is never fun, being obligated to kill yourself at the gym isn’t exactly a piece of cake.
Let’s start with the stars that shrunk down in order to make their characters more believable, before moving on to those who did the polar opposite by gaining a massive amount of muscle…
Matt Damon, Courage Under Fire
We all remember when Matt chubbed-up for The Informant! You couldn’t walk into a supermarket without gazing upon one of those infamous pics. But what was perhaps even more unnerving was when he dropped 40lbs in 100 days, and his gorgeous face shrunk away, to play a heroin-addicted soldier in the gritty action flick Courage Under Fire. The loss was so extreme that Matt had to take medication for a few years because of the stress inflicted on his adrenal gland.
50 Cent, Things Fall Apart
The “Don’t Push Me” rapper terrified fans when he went from 214lbs pounds to 160 in nine weeks for an upcoming drama about a football star who is diagnosed with cancer. How did he do it? A liquid diet while exercising vigorously three hours a day.
Colin Farrell, Triage
Onetime party boy Colin was the hottest thing on two legs until he joined the Scary Skinny Club to play the part of a war reporter in Bosnia. The Irish actor has yet to dish the deets on his dramatic weight loss, so he obviously wants to keep us in suspense…
Christian Bale, The Machinist
This is what we were warning you about! If you haven’t seen it, The Machinist is not for the faint of heart. Bale played an industrial worker who, after not sleeping for a year, teeters on the brink of insanity. The star shed 63lbs – and without even being asked to!
Tom Hanks, Castaway
The beloved Oscar-winner gained 50lbs before shooting began to ensure that he looked like a saggy, middle-aged male, and then took a year off to lose the weight and grow his hair out so that could look as though he’d been living on a deserted island.
Next: celebs who bulked up!Demi Moore, G.I. Jane
From stripper heels and g-strings to combat boots and Army fatigues. Just a year after appearing in the steamy thriller Striptease, Demi worked her butt off via Navy SEAL training, obstacle-course training, swimming, and squats for her role in G.I. Jane. What’s more, she shaved her head and learned how to perfect the one-arm pushup.
Gerard Butler, 300
“This is Sparta!” Gerard took his role as King Leonidas very seriously. Most of the actors in 300 trained for eight to ten weeks, while the Scotsman prepared for twelve weeks by lifting weights and sticking to an excessively strict diet.
Ryan Reynolds, Blade Trinity
You don’t have to agree with People magazine’s assessment that he is the Sexiest Man Alive in order to appreciate his finely toned physique. Ryan gained 20lbs of muscle and dropped his body fat from 11 to 3 percent before starring in Blade: Trinity.
Jake Gyllenhaal, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
The film received mixed reviews but his body didn’t! Although Jake has never been unfit, he did need to spend hours in and out of the gym to portray a warrior in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. For a detailed description of his diet and exercise routines, go here.
Taylor Lautner, The Twilight Saga: New Moon
From scrawny teen to strapping man! Our favorite werewolf had to gain 30lbs of muscle (plus an eight-pack) for The Twilight Saga: New Moon. It isn’t really our place, but what was Taylor Swiftthinking when she dumped this boy??
Tell us: Have you ever experienced a dramatic body transformation?
Carolyn French is an assistant editor at BettyConfidential.
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