It might seem like actors just need to learn their lines by heart, and the rest will depend on their acting talent. But it is not that easy. Sometimes actors have to work hard to be convincing in their roles. They can gain or lose weight, adopt new skills, or even stop taking showers.
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman ensures fans that her well-developed muscles in the movie Thor: Love and Thunder have nothing to do with computer graphics. A few months before the filming started, the actress began to work out at a gym, focusing on strength exercises which she had never done before. Her favorite exercises had always been jogging and yoga.
According to Portman, she had never wanted to get bulky, but she decided to change her ways for this role. It’s worth mentioning that the actress is vegan, but she managed to gain muscle mass by consuming a lot of plant-based proteins.
Tom Hiddleston
In the TV series The Night Manager, Hiddleston’s character runs a hotel. To prepare for the role, the actor spent a night managing a real upscale hotel. “This work only seems glamorous. There was a wedding going on in the ballroom in the basement and there were people on the first floor complaining about the music, and the Night Manager and I had to keep both parties happy,” the actor recalled.
The series was filmed in a real hotel, and Tom was sometimes taken for a real hotel manager. A few hotel guests even requested their room keys from him, and he was happy to oblige.
Alexander Skarsgård
To build a body like Tarzan’s, the actor had to work out a lot and stick to a special diet, which consisted of 2 stages. For the first 3 months, Alexander had to consume 7,000 calories a day. According to the actor, he ate mostly meat and potatoes.
The second stage of the diet was more strict and didn’t include fast carbs. Alexander had to eat 6 small meals a day. And this drove him crazy. “I would walk around and look at my watch constantly thinking, when’s my next meal, that was the highlight of my day,” the actor revealed.
5 months later, his trainer allowed him to cheat with his meals slightly. Alexander even cried from happiness when he could finally eat what he wanted. He ordered pasta, a pizza, and tiramisu and felt like he was in heaven.
