5 Celebrities that Changed Their Bodies for Movie Roles

How far are you willing to go to get a job? Are you willing to change yourself drastically to fit in with what is expected of you? Well, here are ten celebrities that showed their dedication by changing their bodies by dropping pounds or bones for movie roles.

1. Christian Bale

American actor Christian Bale has a double whammy on this list; he had to gain 43 pounds for his role as a 70s conman in American Hustle.

“I ate lots of doughnuts, a whole lot of cheeseburgers and whatever I could get my hands on. I literally ate anything that came my way,” Bale revealed to People magazine. “From 185, I went up to 228.”

He also dropped a whole 63 pounds for his role in The Machinist. Bale revealed that while preparing for this movie, his diet consisted of apples, coffee, and cigarettes!

2. Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Phoenix lost 52 pounds for his role in Joker. He said losing that much weight made him “go mad” and may have given him a disorder.

“As it turns out, [extreme weight loss] impacts your psychology, and you really start to go mad when you lose that much weight in that amount of time,” he said, according to People. 

3. Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway lost 25 pounds and shaved her head for her role in Les Miserables.

“I was in such a state of deprivation—physical and emotional. When I got home, I couldn’t react to the chaos of the world without being overwhelmed… It took me weeks till I felt like myself again,” she said.

4. Nicholas Cage

Nicholas Cage had four of his own teeth pulled to better portray his character in Birdy. Cage went on another level when he starred in the 1984 film Birdy, in which he played a Vietnam War veteran who had been badly injured.

His character’s head needed to be wrapped in bandages for several scenes, and Cage insisted on keeping them on all the time and had four teeth pulled to accurately portray the dental injuries his character had sustained

5. Chris Hemsworth

Chris Hemsworth may be popular for looking like a Norse god, but to play a 19th-century sailor stranded at sea in In the Heart of the Sea, Hemsworth had to slim down considerably.

Hemsworth went on a 500-calorie-a-day diet to prepare for his role and worked out in between takes.