Movie transformations are, at the very least, mesmerizing examples of the plasticity of
the human body.
These are 25 of the wildest examples of on-screen transformations.
Christian Bale in The Machinist (2004).
Bale lost 60 pounds, consuming coffee and apples, to play a mentally troubled factory
worker in this psychological thriller.
“When you’re so skinny that you can hardly walk up a flight of stairs … you’re, like,
this being of pure thought,” he later said.
“That’s the most Zen-like state I’ve ever been in my life.”
Even more impressively, he then gained 100 pounds in six months for his next role, Batman.
Charlize Theron in Monster (2003).
How do you turn a gorgeous ex-model into ravaged serial killer Aileen Wuornos?
The process was multi-layered—Theron gained weight by eating potato chips, wore fake teeth,
thinned her hair, weathered her skin with tattoo ink and bleached her eyebrows.
The effort—as well as her stunning acting in the role—won her an Academy Award.
Robert De Niro in Raging Bull (1980).
Robert De Niro began filming the Jake La Motta biopic as a ripped boxer, having added 20
pounds of muscle to his 145-pound frame.
During filming, a four-month hiatus was scheduled so that De Niro could transform himself into
La Motta during the second phase of his life, an ex-champion gone very much to seed.
De Niro gained the 60 pounds in the most idyllic way possible—travelling around Europe and
gorging on pasta and cheese.
Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
In a transformation that made a ripped Hollywood leading man of a beloved-but-podgy TV actor,
Pratt hired a nutritionist and a personal trainer and lost 60 pounds in six months.
"I actually lost weight by eating more food, but eating the right food, eating healthy
foods, and so when I was done with the movie my body hadn't been in starvation mode," Pratt
said.
Jared Leto in Chapter 27 (2007).
Leto gained 67 pounds to transform into Mark Chapman, John Lennon’s assassin, by eating
a nauseating diet of microwaved pints of ice cream mixed with olive oil and soy sauce.
The sudden weight gain caused the actor to contract gout, and he’s sworn he’d never
do it again.
Still, he later went on to shed 40 pounds to play activist Rayon in 2013’s Dallas
Buyers Club.
Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder (2008).
Cruise is almost completely unrecognisable as Les Grossman, the vitriolic studio head.
He donned chubby prosthetic hands, a receded hairline and a fat suit.
This unexpectedly funny move from Cruise sure beats out Robert Downey Jr.’s unfortunate
blackface transformation in the same movie.
50 Cent in All Things Fall Apart (2011).
In order to play a cancer-stricken football player, 50 Cent lost 54 pounds with a liquid
diet and by spending three hours a day on a treadmill.
He claims that his desire to portray a friend’s struggle with cancer pushed him through the
gruelling routine.
Despite his best efforts, the movie was panned by critics on release.
Vincent D’Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket (1987).
D’Onofrio gained 70 pounds to play slow-witted Private “Gomer Pyle” Lawrence, reportedly
the biggest ever weight gain for a role.
The excess pounds even caused a knee injury that required reconstructive surgery.
Nine months later, the actor was spotted buff again for comedy Adventures in Babysitting.
Eddie Murphy in Coming to America (1988).
Murphy played very much against type as Saul, a white Jewish man, in his landmark romcom
Coming to America, one of the highest-grossing films of all time featuring African Americans.
Murphy plays a number of characters, but Saul is the most stunning—the movie’s make-up
artist was even nominated for an Oscar.
Sean Penn in Carlito’s Way (1993).
The then-young heartthrob uglied up so much for his turn as corrupt mob lawyer David Kleinfeld
that a real-life lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, threatened to sue for defamation, after reaching
the conclusion the character was based on him.
Penn permed his hair and then shaved back his hairline for the role—and the 70s outfit
did the rest.
Russell Crowe in The Insider (1999) and Body of Lies (2008).
Crowe has form when it comes to gaining weight for roles.
He went from ripped to slubby for The Insider, gaining 35 pounds, bleaching his hair and
shaving his hairline, only to get beefy again the next year for Gladiator.
He went even further for Body of Lies, gaining 63 pounds by eating burgers.
Tom Hanks in Philadelphia (1993) and Cast Away (2000).
Hanks lost 35 pounds to play the AIDS activist, shaving his head and applying lesions in the
makeup studio.
For Cast Away, he gained 50 pounds to play his character before he gets stranded, before
losing the weight again and growing a wild beard to play him after years on the island
with only a volleyball for company.
Rooney Mara in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011).
Mara gained an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a disturbed hacker, for which she bleached
her eyebrows, pierced each ear four times and even pierced her nipple.
The transformation changed Mara’s real-life style: “I used to wear a lot of girly, frilly
things,” she said.
“Now I buy things that are more comfortable, and more utilitarian, and sort of boyish.”
Matt Damon in Courage Under Fire (1996).
A pre-fame Matt Damon showed how hungry he was for acting roles when he lost 40 pounds
in 100 days for his role as a heroin-addicted soldier in Courage Under Fire, causing long-term
damage to his adrenal gland.
It worked—director Francis Ford Coppola was so impressed that he offered Damon his
breakout role in 1997's The Rainmaker.
Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club (2013).
McConaughey lost 47 pounds in six months to portray AIDS sufferer Ron Woodroof.
What was his weight-loss secret?
The actor warded off hunger by chewing ice.
Matthew Fox in Alex Cross (2012).
Fox achieved his frighteningly lean but muscle-bound physique with five months of intense circuit
training, in which he lost 40 pounds.
During some periods of filming, he only ate chicken breasts, steamed broccoli and protein
shakes made with water.
Cameron Diaz in Being John Malkovich (1999).
While Cameron Diaz is a knock-out beauty, her strong features helped in her transformation
into the plain Lotte.
Skillful makeup artists tuned her face from striking to unfortunate with the help of a
frizzy perm.
She was nominated for a Golden Globe for the part.
Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler (2014) and Southpaw (2015).
For his role as a gaunt, creepy paparazzi, Gyllenhaal lost 30 pounds by exercising frequently
and snacking on crackers and kale—or even just chewing gum.
The next year he spent six hours every day for six months training like a boxer, gaining
almost 30 pounds to achieve his muscle-bound Southpaw physique.
Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis in Black Swan (2010).
Although they were already svelte, both actors committed to their roles by mimicking a ballerina’s
slender body.
Both women lost 20 pounds, with Portman taking on an extreme exercise regime that lasted
a year.
Kunis credits her weight loss to cigarettes and a 1,200-calories-a-day diet.
Jonah Hill in Maniac (2018).
Comedian Hill is almost unrecognisable in the forthcoming Netflix web series, in which
he plays the scion of a wealthy family alongside Emma Stone.
The actor told Jimmy Fallon: “I gained weight for this movie War Dogs, and then I wanted
to get in better shape, so I called Channing Tatum.”
Chris Hemsworth in In the Heart of the Sea (2015).
Hemsworth lost over 30 pounds to portray the shipwrecked sailor, which was particularly
challenging as he had just played a ripped Norse god in Thor: The Dark World.
“You just have be well underfed and over-trained to get it off and it’s exhausting,” Hemsworth
said.
Nicole Kidman in The Hours (2002).
Much was made of Kidman’s prosthetic nose, which she donned during the Virginia Woolf
biopic The Hours.
It wasn’t just the nose which did the writer a dirty—Kidman’s overall dowdiness doesn’t
do justice to Woolf’s real-life ethereal looks, and perpetuates the very stereotype
of the unsexy intellectual women Woolf railed against her whole life.
Oh well—Kidman won a Best Actress Oscar for the part anyway.
Mariah Carey in Precious (2009).
Hyper-glamorous pop diva Carey went against her public persona when she was cast as a
tough social worker in Precious.
She dyed her hair brown for the part, and cut in some plain Jane bangs.
She didn't wear any makeup during filming, and although she did try and sneak on some
blusher between takes, director Lee Daniels made her take it off again.
Tom Hardy in Bronson (2008).
Hardy trained with an ex-Marine for his part as Britain’s most violent prisoner, Charles
Bronson.
With only five weeks to make the transformation, Hardy chowed down on chicken, rice, pizza
and ice cream to achieve the burly, brawler physique.
Although the real-life Bronson was sceptical of Hardy’s casting at first, he was thoroughly
impressed after the actor bulked up.
Daniel Radcliffe in Jungle (2017).
The once-cute Harry Potter actor transformed into grizzled, hungry-eyed adventurer Yossi
Ghinsberg, who was stranded in the Amazon for three weeks in the 1980s.
"I ate just one chicken breast and a protein bar for two weeks before the shoot in order
to look thin," he said.
"It's not recommended, it's a really unsafe way to use weight.
It was horrible but it was worth it for the meal afterwards."