Six Pack

Six actors who gained or lost a headline-grabbing amount of weight for a role(s).

by Matt Prigge

Six Actors Who Gained or Lost a Headline-Grabbing Amount of Weight for a Role(s)

Robert De Niro, Raging Bull (1980): Any questions as to De Niro’s status as an acting deity were dispelled—at least till the dreaded ’00s—when he pulled the ultimate Method actor trick, gaining 60 pounds to replicate boxer Jake LaMotta’s washed-up, gut-over-belt post-retirement period. Let the trend begin.

Vincent D’Onofrio, Full Metal Jacket (1987): De Niro gained 60 pounds, eh? Well, D’Onofrio, in his first prominent role, gained 70, all for Stanley Kubrick.

Renée Zellweger, Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001): Why would producers cast a curvy Brit when they could go for a scarily lithe American piece of hotcha? Zellweger dared gain a full 20 pounds, none of which she should have instantly lost. She put it back on for the sequel and then again returned to anemic. Because what potential role model would want to look like that Bridget Jones chick, am I right?

Charlize Theron, Monster (2004): Liz Taylor and Nicole Kidman have uglied themselves up for Oscars, but few purdy ladies have done what Theron did for her goldie-nabbing do. Not only did she pop in prosthetic teeth, gunk up her face and generally look, how they say, “unbangable,” she put on 30 pounds. A model looking like the rest of us? Quel brave! (And that goes double for George Clooney and his Syriana lovehandles.)

Christian Bale, The Machinist (2004): Like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, Bale pulled a reverse De Niro, crash dieting off 60 pounds to play the near-skeletal lead with no other purpose to live. More impressively, he not only immediately bulked up for Batman Begins, but did the whole thing again with Rescue Dawn.

Jared Leto, Chapter 27 (2008): What to do if you’re a has-been who’s not crazy enough to be a walking punchline? Gain 67 pounds to play portly John Lennon assassin Mark David Chapman—and still get the worst reviews of your career. And opposite Lindsay Lohan at that.