The rewards for an entertainer are obviously rich. They become house-hold names overnight, get catered to everyday and do whatever they wish each hour. These multi-millionaires have the life everybody wants and treasures. So much so, that everyday ordinary people follow the life and times of stars on a daily basis.
Yes, it’s fantastic to keep up on the Hollywood happenings. Who is seeing who? Who’s having a baby next? Which marriage is the next to fail?
What about the back-story though?
There is a reason that these mega-stars are where they are today. Hard-word, dedication and self-sacrifice has paved the way to their success. It does not happen with a few strokes of good luck. Often times we take for granted how difficult a job acting is. Not only is it a grueling test on the set, but months, and even years of preparation goes into a specific role.
The glamour story is certainly always about the most attractive and slimmest bodies. Dedicating a life to keeping fit and eating healthy helps careers in more ways than one. But what about those actors who go above and beyond the norm and spit in the face of trendy? The few rare cases of the elite who’ll do anything to portray an accurate depiction of a character shows true dedication and sacrifice.
Here is our Top 10 list of actors gaining weight in preparation for a film role.
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10. Russell Crowe: Body of Lies
We all sat in the theater, completely riveted as Russell Crowe shouted out “are you not entertained?” His Academy Award winning role as Maximus in the 2000 film Gladiator showed us what a human-killing monster Crowe could be. He was fit, trim and ready to destroy anyone who stepped foot in the Roman Coliseum.
Flip the script in 2008 though as Crowe gained a whopping 63 lbs. to portray a CIA agent who let himself go in another Ridley Scott movie, Body of Lies, according to XFinity.Comcast.net. Crowe later joked that cheeseburgers were on the menu for breakfast.
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9. Bradley Cooper: American Sniper
Oh my goodness, if the ladies are not already in love they sure will be now after seeing Bradley Cooper in American Sniper. This is the lone selection on the list of an actor “bulking up” rather than “letting go.” For Cooper, most know the mega-start as a lean body type. He’s not too small, yet not too big. Actually, that perfect ordinary guy in the hearts of lady admirers.
Cooper reportedly gained 40 lbs. and grew a beard for his role in this Clint Eastwood film that is set to release this Christmas, according to IMDB.com.
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8. Matt Damon: The Informant
Out with the serious and in with the funny is how Matt Damon approached is role in The Informant. In this true-life story about an agribusiness executive who decides to blow the whistle on his company’s price fixing schemes, Damon put on 30 lbs. for the role.
When asked how he did it, Damon replied: “It was very, very easy to gain the weight. Very, very fun,” Damon said. “I just basically ate everything I could see for a few months,” according to AccessHollywood.
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7. Christian Bale: American Hustle
In another example that had all the ladies crying at the box office was Christian Bale’s transformation in American Hustle. Bale is perhaps the ring leader when it comes to body transformations in preparation for a role.
In 2004 for the film The Machinist, Bale dropped an incredible 63 lbs. He went from a normal weight of 173, all the way down to 110. Some claim that Bale reached the 100 lbs. threshold. He also did the same in his Academy Award winning supporting actor’s role in The Fighter.
In American Hustle Bale gained weight and successfully looked like a mess through the entire film as he packed on 43 lbs.
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6. Renee Zellweger: Bridget Jones
While yes it’s true, most of these dramatic weight increases happen from a male perspective, females are not excluded. Renee Zellweger added 20 lbs. and went from a size four to a 14 to play the role of Bridget Jones.
Extra applause is added to this mention as to buck the slim trend in Hollywood for a female is ultra-risky.
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5. Mark Wahlberg: The Fighter
Underwear model or not, Mark Wahlberg has transformed himself into an extremely successful A-list actor. While throughout most of his career none of his roles demanded a body transformation, in the movie The Fighter he took on the challenge to play Micky Ward while in boxing shape and out.
During most of the film we see a cut and lean Wahlberg, but for a few scenes we shift to an out of shape, down and out Ward who is sporting a nice belly as he recovers from a broken hand.
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4. Jared Leto: Chapter 27
Musician, actor, is there anything that Jared Leto cannot do? We can also count body transforming off that list as well.
Chapter 27 was a role most talented actors dream to play: a guy with major problems and dark demons within his soul. To successfully act that out takes immense talent. What also takes talent is gaining 67 lbs. to play Mark David Chapman.
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3. Jim Carey: The Three Stooges
Funny man Jim Carrey might have played out his best joke of all-time as he prepared for the role of Curly in the remake of The Three Stooges. Carrey gained nearly 40 lbs. in preparation, but decided to pull out of the role exactly for the weight gain reason.
"There wasn't any creative difficulties that led to this exit, but rather the weight gain for the role. For me, I don't really want to do anything halfway, and I don't feel like a fat suit does it. I started experimenting with it a little bit, and I gained 35, 40 pounds. I wanted to gain another 30, 40.
"When you're (Robert) De Niro in your 20s or early 30s, you can kind of come back from that (weight gain). It's a tough thing to come back from when you're upwards of 30. Your body can't carry it or you can have a cardiac arrest,” according to OpposingViews.com.
His departure from the film really stung fans across the globe as Carrey playing Curly had the makings of a match made in heaven.
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2. Robert De Niro: Raging Bull
Martin Scorecese and Robert De Niro are the undisputed tag-team champions of the Hollywood world, (sorry Leo). There’s no need to name all of the films that will go down in Hollywood lure, but there is room to mention one of them on this list.
Not only did DeNiro take home the Academy Award for Leading Actor in the 1980 smash hit Raging Bull, but he proved to everybody how dedication pays off. He trained countless hours and days to play Jack LaMotta as a boxer, and then as a retired singer who was extremely obese.
DeNiro gained 60 lbs. (a then record) to play the older LaMotta for only a few short scenes towards the end of the movie.
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1. Charlize Theron: Monster
Number one on the list is without a doubt Charlize Theron for her Oscar Winning performance in the film Monster. The stunning Theron was unrecognizable as she stepped on the set of the film. She, in essence, really did take on the role of a monster.
She made herself look like a wreck by gaining 30 lbs and shaving her eyebrows as she stunned the world with her unbelievable performance as Aileen Wuornos.