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Christian Bale for the "The Machinist" and Hugh Jackman for "The Wolverine". These two celebrities went too far to reach perfection in their role.

Has anyone this community happened to be with these guys or has any insight on:

  1. There willpower is strong that they never strive for delicious food?
  2. How they workout being on such strenuous diet, without getting faint, or fall on floor unconscious while shooting?
  3. Or it is just a myth, pictures, videos are only a camera trick?
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    Without any direct evidence, they probably get extra testosterone, which helps with both adding muscle and losing fat. Unlike most people, they can also spend a large part of their time/energy eating and working out perfectly. It's also their job to be fit, for such a role.
    – Mårten
    Feb 16, 2015 at 12:23
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    "Hey, we'll give you a movie contract for $50 million plus merchandising, but you have to lose gain 10 lbs of muscle and get to 5% bodyfat."
    – JohnP
    Feb 16, 2015 at 14:59
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    Not sure why this is being voted as off-topic. Asking why one group of people can train like or look like they do seem related to fitness.
    – user2861
    Feb 17, 2015 at 5:58
  • Check out Hugh Jackman. He has a video where he explains how he preps for a shoot for Wolverine. And as Marten said, they actually are using steroids(not all of course)
    – s3v3ns
    Feb 17, 2015 at 8:40
  • Google for Linda Hamilton, you will get a good idea. She got incredibly fit and muscular for her role in Terminator II. She had a special, dedicated trainer for her alone. The workout they used are available. With a full time individual trainer, dietists and people to prepare special food for you and no distractions, things must be quite different.
    – Mephisto
    Feb 17, 2015 at 23:37

1 Answer 1

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  1. There willpower is strong that they never strive for delicious food?

First of all they have massive incentives - millions of dollars - second of all they are surrounded by dieticians and trainers who choose their food for them at most hours of the day. Their job is eating well and training for a role.

  1. How they workout being on such strenuous diet, without getting faint, or fall on floor unconscious while shooting?

A strict diet doesn't necessary need to be lacking in energy, they may be on high calorie, high protein diets. Also, movie shoots generally don't last very long. A day of shooting may only generate a few minutes of usuable footage.

Chris Hemsworth could have spent a little more time practising hammer catches, but at the end of the day only one take needs to work. If he fell down due to exhaustion on one take, they'll get a banana in him and get back to work.

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  1. Or it is just a myth, pictures, videos are only a camera trick?

Yes. Absolutely, 100%. Most of Hollywood is based on trickery. The difference between good abs and bad abs is 90% lighting.

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Not quite photoshopped, but in this scene there is a lot of soft down lighting which makes Ryan Gosling look ripped. Straight on lighting would decrease the contrast and make them look less impressive.

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Check out action man of the moment Chris Pratt. He's huge look at those arms, he must be working out constantly...

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Yes, he is, this is a gif from the same shoot. He is doing light weight biceps curls to build a pump to make his arms bigger for the few seconds needed for that shoot.

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And don't forget movies aren't shot sequentially, they are shot by convenience. If you make sure the shirtless scenes are shot first, your actor can then relax their diet for the rest of the schedule.

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  • Had to accept the answer, no answer can be better than this, in detail...Good Work @Lego Stormtrooper
    – paul
    Feb 17, 2015 at 12:48

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