actors losing weight for roles

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what are your thoughts on this? (we can talk about them gaining weight for roles too).

for example, there's a really extreme case in which Christian Bale (who is 6 feet tall) went down from 185 to 121 for his role in The Machinist. He basically became anorexic, eating only 200 calories.



I was just wondering if you think this is an acceptable thing to do if you're doing it for acting, because it does sound extreme to me.

I read that he, in fact, wanted to go down even more, to 100 pounds (!) but the producers wouldn't let him (thankfully!)
 
I think to each their own. If they want to risk completely ruining their health for a movie that isn't guaranteed to even be some huge blockbuster hit (which isn't a good reason either), yay for them.
 
Acceptable

I would believe Bale knew what he was getting into when he took the role. Bale is a great actor because he really, really commits to his roles and takes them seriously. In turn for that he gets paid millions and millions of dollars.

Tom Hanks lost a lot of weight as well for his role in "Cast Away". Personally since these guys didn't suffer any permanent damage from the weight loss, and are still perfectly healthy and in seemingly good mental health, I would say if people are paying you millions of dollars to look the part, then it is acceptable.

Actors lose weight and gain weight depending on the part they are playing. Its not the fact that they really WANT to do it (although I wouldn't mind getting paid to get ripped if I took the role of Bruce Wayne in Batman), but rather a part of their commitment to their role.

Unfortunately female actors often become too skinny anyway, which I still don't get, the majority of them are so super skinny and its almost gross! But I do remember Renee Zelwegger put on 40 lbs for a role in some movie, I can't really remember the name of it, but she def. looked chubby, and thats what the part called for.

However if people do that for sheer looks alone, or having image issues or eating disorders, then that is not at all acceptable and needs to be dealt with by professional psychologists and nutritionists.

But the bottom-line I would say here, in my opinion, is that yes it is acceptable for them to gain or lose weight for roles, often times because they have a team of people monitoring their health constantly if it is supposed to be a significant change.

If someone told you that they'd give you $20 Mil if you lost 50 pounds and acted in a movie...would you do it? I think that might be the easiest 50 pounds I ever lost!
 
Jared Leto gained like 67 pounds to play the role of John Lennon's killer in Chapter 27. He ended up getting really sick from it and tried to talking another friend out of doing it for a different movie.
 
if millions of dollars isn't incentive to lose weight, i don't know what is. i know i'd definitely lose/gain as much weight as they wanted me too if i was getting paid that much! it is they're job...that's what they get paid to do and if they didn't do what producers suggested, they might not be considered for the role. plus, they had hours a day to work out and have a nutrition coach and sometimes a chef...that'd make it a lot easier.

i agree that being 6 foot tall and weighing only 100 lbs is a bit excessive, even for a role, and luckily they stopped him from losing more. although if he really wanted to lose more, who's to stop him? there's people out there that suffer from eating disorders and want to be really really thin and no one can stop it, until they want to accept the help family and friends are more than willing to give. movie stars are people too and i'm sure you can't help them until they want to be helped. if that makes sense.

i'm rambling...but i'm supportive of altering your body for movie roles, i just hope that people can do it in a healthy way, through diet and exercise, even though sometimes that's not always the case.
 
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LoveFool said:
Jared Leto gained like 67 pounds to play the role of John Lennon's killer in Chapter 27. He ended up getting really sick from it and tried to talking another friend out of doing it for a different movie.
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This statement actually brings up a question of my own. Do you guys think it would be more dangerous to lose a lot of weight for a role? Or gain a lot of weight for a role? Assuming that the actor is of average height and weight. I mean they both come with their own set of problems, but which would be more dangerous (putting the easiness of getting fat aside) do you think personally?
 
fatshowdown said:
This statement actually brings up a question of my own. Do you guys think it would be more dangerous to lose a lot of weight for a role? Or gain a lot of weight for a role? Assuming that the actor is of average height and weight. I mean they both come with their own set of problems, but which would be more dangerous (putting the easiness of getting fat aside) do you think personally?
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Maybe losing a lot of weight for a part, if you're already of average height and weight.
 
fatshowdown said:
Unfortunately female actors often become too skinny anyway, which I still don't get, the majority of them are so super skinny and its almost gross! But I do remember Renee Zelwegger put on 40 lbs for a role in some movie, I can't really remember the name of it, but she def. looked chubby, and thats what the part called for.
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It was Bridget Jones's Diary.
 
I believe a lot of actors use the lemonade diet to lose weight quickly. I know Jared Leto did when he was losing all that weight he gained for the role. I did that once, to clean my system moreso than to lose weight, but those were the toughest 10 days of my life.
 
well, many artists do take their work very seriously and not only a lot of money is involved but reputation and possible awards, even an Oscar. the academy loves when an actor-actress takes it to the extreme of intervening their physical appearance. For example Charlize Theron who gained weight for her role in monster and didn't mind ''looking ugly'' I believe when they do gain or lose weight people love the fact they look ''just as normal as them''. and actors and actresses lose that weight in what seems a friggin minute. but the truth is they have doctors, personal trainers, chefs not to mention surgery to help along the way.

in the case of Bale the director told him it wasn't necessary to drop that much weight. he pushed the character harder by doing so because he wanted to look like someone who hadn't sleep in a year so he ate like 200 cal and did a lot of cardio. to me the shock of seeing him in his bones took away from the actual power of the character and the story and all people could talk about is how skinny he looked, so it doesn't always work for the best.
 
It's their job to look like the character that they're playing and they're getting paid millions of dollars to do so. Is it healthy? Eh, not really. Has any actor/actress died because of it? No, not that I know of.
 
how many pounds did you lose after 10 days on the lemonade diet? my sister plans to try it. is it really hard and didn't it have a bad effect on you?

Shay
 
Well, I didn't do it really for the weight loss. I was on a big "all natural, organic, hipppy" type thing. I had been a vegetarian for about 6 months and wanted to cleanse my system. It's very controversial. Some people think its all bull, others swear by it. I believe it works. However, maple syrup is now forever ruined for me lol. I did lose about 15lbs and they didn't come back on when I started eating (healthily) again. Of course when I eventually got back into bad habits, I gained weight back, but it had nothing to do with the lemonade diet thing.

I don't think people will last on it unless they are doing it for all of the reasons. It takes some SERIOUS willpower, and the desire to lose weight isn't, in my opinion, enough to push someone through it. If your sister or you want to know more, I'm happy to share. I actually had a diary going on here way back when I did it....describing all the fun stuff. drinking 4 cups of salt water each morning was probably the hardest part. The first few mornings I had to do it in the restroom next to the toilet because I gagged for the full 5 minutes it took for me to chug it (the trick is to drink it cold and with a straw). Anyways, if you want to know more, feel free to PM me :)
 
My thoughts on it as the op asked.

For anyone to deliberately become anorexic or obese for money defines their own values. It's got nothing to do with me, however it is not something I would do. My health is important to me.

There is a difference between gaining a few pounds or losing a bit for a role, but taking it to the extreme will affect your heart and other organs, maybe not immediately but the damage will be there.

So they can do what they like really. But I personally would never do it to my body, not even for a million dollars, honestly.
 
Alot actors do use diets to lose wieght for movie roles, I know beyonce came on TV and talked about how she lost weight with a cleansing program for a role in a movie
 
as an artist, it's amazing what they can do. For others, i'm sure the money helps motivation. however, it has to be really hard on their body to go through such drastic changes.
 
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