Multiple Actors Expose the Downsides of Their On-Screen Muscles: “Don’t do it”
Recently, we explored the topic of superhero physiques, discussing how actors portraying these characters must maintain impressive bodies, often setting a standard for physical appearance, whether they like it or not. While superhero films are a prime example, many actors bulk up for various roles across genres.
Although some fans have expressed concerns about these standards, the majority of our readers seemed to disagree, believing these expectations are not harmful. At the time, we focused on actors like Hugh Jackman and Henry Cavill.
In this report, however, we’ll present the other side of the story, this time from the actors themselves. We’ve gathered several statements where they acknowledge that achieving such physiques can be a dangerous practice.
First up is Hugh Jackman, who shared this insight about his physique: “70% is diet, only 30% is training.” During his appearance on Stephen Colbert’s show, he further emphasized, advising fans with a clear warning: “Don’t do it.”
HJ: It ends with dehydration… Don’t do this at home. You drink 3 gallons of water, and then 36 hours before you shoot, you stop , but because you’ve been drinking so much water, you just keep peeing.
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SC: But that’s a day and a half, if you don’t drink water for three days, you die.
HJ: Yeah, so you get as close as you can, and then you get your claws on! You lose, like, 10 pounds.
During his appearance on Graham Norton’s popular show, Henry Cavill went into even more detail than Jackman about the downsides of maintaining such a physique:
The most important thing is your health , so you can stay fit and not hurt yourself when you’re doing these crazy things like jumping on mattresses and out of planes. Of course you have to look a certain way physically, especially in shirtless scenes, but it’s about staying healthy. (…) That’s [dehydration] the worst part.
The diet is hard and you’re hungry, but when you’re dehydrated for three days, you get to a point where you can smell the water around you. It makes your skin very thin and it sits on top of the muscles. The first day you drink a litre and a half; the second, half a litre; the third, you don’t drink; and, on the fourth, you shoot. Sometimes you don’t shoot the scene until the end of the day and you are the most miserable person on the planet.
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Zac Efron also opened up about the toll that maintaining such a physique can take on mental health, sharing the significant challenges he faced:
I don’t know if the Baywatch look is really achievable. There’s too little water in the skin, it’s fake, it looks like CGI, it required lasix and strong diuretics to get it. I don’t need to do that, I’d rather have an extra 2 or 3% fat. (…) I started to develop insomnia and fell into a pretty severe depression for a long time. Something about that experience burned me out, it was hard for me to focus again. In the end, they attributed it to taking too many diuretics for too long, and that ruined something.
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Taylor Lautner, another actor who faced similar challenges, talked about his experience working on the Twilight series, calling it incredibly tough.
I started when I was 16, weighed 140 pounds, and had to add 30 pounds of muscle to keep the role. It was an absolute nightmare as far as diet goes: raw sweet potatoes and turkey burgers and protein shakes that were essentially just mud. It was tough. I had to consume at least 5,000 calories a day to maintain the weight I was at.
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Chris Evans, Marvel’s Captain America, also had a lot of trouble with this:
Here’s what happens: you get as big as possible and, as you shoot, you get smaller. You arrive on set as big as possible and you lose mass as you shoot. Normally I like to work out. Going is horrible, but when you get out, you’re like, ‘I’m glad I did it! ‘ This was different. I’d walk out and be like, ‘I need to throw up. I hate the trainer. I hate this movie. I want to sleep for a week.’
I have a fast metabolism and I lose weight very quickly so, for me, getting so big means eating a lot. Working out sucked, eating sucked even more. You get to a point where you can’t even look at another piece of chicken. You’re so bloated… But you have to keep eating protein.
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Finally, there’s Christian Bale, an actor renowned for undergoing dramatic physical transformations (just look at his roles in The Machinist and Vice), who also mentioned:
Honestly, I find it laughable that it’s considered some kind of gimmick, it’s condescending. For God’s sake, don’t people understand what it takes to do it? It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s easy for him because he’s done it so many times. ‘ It’s not easy, it’s not fun, it’s horrible. It’s a role I like and he’s an addict. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a fat crack addict. So that’s what you have to do.
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