How do celebrities fatten up for movie roles?
We often read about how actors have miraculously gained or have lost weight for their movie roles, but what happens when they are not looking to obtain muscles, but fat instead. It is quite common for actors to become "fat" for roles, shredding the stereotypical muscle man physique for a more portly and rounded figure. Here are some celebrities that piled on the pounds for their movie roles and how they managed to achieve it.
Matt Damon
When Matt Damon starred in The Informant he gained an additional 30 pounds before filming for the role. When he was asked how he gained all this weight he stated that he drank a lot of dark beer, ate a whole load of Doritos and a lot of Mickey D's value meals. He explained how he would sneak meals in-between filming on set so he could increase the pace of his weight gain.
Jared Leto
When Jared Leto starred in Chapter 27, he gained 60 pounds. His diet consisted of eating large Dominoes pizzas for lunch and dinner and would often consume whole pints of microwaved ice cream mixed together with olive oil and soy sauce, each to their own...
Renée Zellweger
Renée Zellweger had to create a much fuller and plumper figure for her role in Bridget Jones's Diary. She gained around 30 pounds for the role and her diet revolved around simple fat gainers such as pizza and chocolate. It also included spirulina and fat oil shakes.
George Clooney
Even George Clooney had to gain weight for a film role! No, he was not knocking back the Nespresso's, he was gaining 35 pounds as a result of a very high-fat diet. Clooney reportedly chowed down on doughnuts and crisps whilst stopping exercising completely. He found this hard as he is usually a very active actor whilst filming, but the role in Syriana required the weight gain.
Robert Di Nero
Robert Di Nero added 60 pounds when he starred in Raging Bull. He achieved this by eating huge bowls of pasta which were smothered in butter. Martin Scorsese noted that he would also take a strong liking to fatty French cuisine.
Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe also added 63 pounds to his diet for his role in Body Of Lies. His dramatic weight gain came after his shredded physique in Gladiator. To add such weight, he focused on eating cheeseburgers for breakfast and consumed very large amounts of cupcakes.
So the key to this weight gain lies in cutting out exercise, focusing on fatty foods and gorging on large amounts of food at all times of the day. It's far from healthy but these things have to be done for a movie to look that bit more authentic