The male stars who went through hell for a movie role
He’s managed to transform H his career from the British small screen to Hollywood blockbusters, and Simon Pegg recently shocked fans with his incredible body makeover. The British actor looked almost unrecognisable as he showcased his newly lean physique and defined six-pack for his upcoming role in thriller Inheritance.
The 49-year-old worked with personal trainer Nick Lower for six months to get in shape for the film role – which required him to be incredibly slender. Posting a photo of the results on Twitter, trainer Nick wrote, “The brief for this role was lean, VERY lean. It required a specific body shape and look.” Nick added that the pair did a combination of strength training with circuits and core work, as well as 60km runs every week. Simon also shared the photo on his Twitter page, jokingly adding that “occasional mild grumpiness” had also been part of their fitness regime.
Simon famously played an out-of-shape dad who attempts to run a marathon in the 2008 film Run Fatboy Run, but after finding fame in Hollywood, he revealed in 2015 that he’d embraced a healthier lifestyle for his role as Benji Dunn in Mission: Impossible – and added that his A-list co-star Tom Cruise introduced him to his personal chef to help transform his diet. He explained, “Nutrition is like 99% of the battle when you are trying to stay in shape. Tom allowed us to have full use of his chef, Kat. It [the food] was engineered to be optimum for how physically fit we needed to be. That, combined with the workouts we used to do, kept us in good shape.”
But nutritionist Rhiannon also warns of the negative psychological and physical impacts that can come from dramatically increasing then decreasing your body weight. She says, “Significant weight gain and weight loss can put a real strain on your body. It can harm your metabolism, your ordinary bodily functions and alter your body so that maintaining a stable weight is harder in the future. Dramatically lowering your calorie intake can also impact your bone density, while increasing it can lead to the health risks that come with being overweight, like heart disease, in the long term. Psychologically, changing your food intake so drastically can result in a poor relationship with food, such as an eating disorder, or get you into a binge-restrict cycle.”
Here, we showcase other actors who underwent dramatic body transformations…