7 Actresses Who Have Gone To Extreme Measures Or Done Crazy Diets For Roles
11:30 am, June 20th | by Laura Donovan
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1. Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Black Swan is entertaining to watch, but maybe wasn't so easy to make. Cast member Mila Kunis said prepping for the suspense movie was "the most intense training [she has] ever had in [her] life," adding, "I lost 20 pounds, so I went down to 95 pounds. I weigh 117 usually, like today. I looked like Gollum [from The Lord of the Rings ]." She slimmed down by consuming just 1,200 calories per day and attending four hour dance classes daily. Her co-star Natalie Portman lost 20 pounds and worked out between five and eight hours a day for the flick.
2. Beyonce, Dreamgirls
Beyonce is just as dedicated an actor as she is a singer. For her Dreamgirls part, she did the Master Cleanse liquid diet to shed 20 pounds. Though she ate vegetables during the 14-day diet, which entails consuming "a concoction of fresh lime or lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper mixed with water," she admits to feeling "cranky" during the experience.
3. Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
To play a female boxer in Million Dollar Baby , Hilary Swank had to put on 10 pounds of muscle. She went the extra mile and gained nearly 19 pounds of muscle by training "four to four-and-a-half hours, six days a week for three months" and eating "about 210 grams of protein a day."
4. Jennifer Connelly, Requiem for A Dream
To portray a drug addict in Requiem for A Dream , Jennifer Connelly "whittled herself down to a new weight class." Sounds painful, but perhaps a worthwhile sacrifice, as the New York Times wrote of her performance, "Ms. Connelly has never before done anything to prepare us for how good she is here."
5. Renee Zellweger, Bridget Jones's Diary
In theory, it's awesome to eat "biscuits and gravy, crispy duck, Snickers, milk shakes, pizza, butter-soaked potatoes" for work, but being 30 pounds heavier afterward is not exactly ideal. Renee Zellweger had this seemingly blissful diet to get ready for 2001 rom-com Bridget Jones's Diary and didn't love the process of getting back down to her pre-film weight later on. To thin out, she said she had to "[e]at bran, drink lots of water, indulge once in a while, and walk [her] ass off." Sweet...
6. Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
To slim down for her part as a poor prostitute in Les Miserables , Anne Hathaway had to live off hummus and radishes. She told Allure of the awful experience, "I'm doing some crazy weight stuff right now. I'm on day six of detox...This diet makes me break out, so I love that. Nothing like living on hummus and radishes and then be all, 'And I got a pimple. Yeah!'" Before that, her life revolved around looking fly and sleek in her Catwoman suit: "The suit, thoughts of my suit, changing my life so I would fit into that suit... It dominated my year." What a picnic.
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You may think you’re a dedicated employee, but chances are you’ve never had to drop noticeable amounts of weight for work. Lots of actresses have, and they haven’t always enjoyed changing the way they look in preparation for an onscreen role. Some have even had to increase in size for parts, and while it may sound fun to live in the world of carbs for pay, it’s extremely difficult to slim down after the cameras stop rolling and it comes time to find another job. Here are some actresses who were so dedicated to their film characters that they took extreme measures to, well, look the part.
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