When Michael Fassbender's mother first heard that her son was going to play
Bobby Sands, her immediate response was, “Don't.” She was right to worry.
Sands, after all, was the first and most famous of the ten IRA hunger
strikers to die from starvation in the Maze prison in Northern Ireland in
the early 1980s.
For the role in the award-winning film Hunger, which went on general release
yesterday, the previously honed and muscular Irish actor lost 33lb in just
ten weeks - a quarter of his body weight - dropping from 11st 5lb to 9st. In
the film's closing stages, in which he portrays Sands at the end of his
66-day hunger strike, Fassbender's ribs protrude through his chest, his
temples and cheeks are hollowed out and his arms and legs are matchstick
thin.
“My mum wasn't keen on me playing the part. She was seriously worried that I'd
be putting my health at risk,” he says. “What was important to me was to do
whatever it took to make the story believable and there is no way of
honestly reflecting that without changing the way that your body looks.”
A dedication that verges on obsession
Fassbender is the latest in a long line of actors who have been prepared to
push their bodies to the limit to achieve authenticity on the screen. The
dedication required verges on obsession, but they are supervised closely by
the finest personal trainers and nutritionists to ensure that their health
stays intact. While Fassbender lost weight for realism, the new generation
of action films also demand complete physical overhauls of their stars.
Jake Gyllenhaal caused a sensation recently when he was snapped onset looking
uncharacteristically rugged and muscular for his role in the upcoming
blockbuster Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. It's a far cry from the slim,
boyish look of Brokeback Mountain and Donnie Darko.
Simon Waterson, a former Royal Marine who has worked on the last five James
Bond films, has been training with Gyllenhaal since July. He says that
modern stars need to be highly disciplined, regardless of whether they are
bulking up or slimming down.
“There's an increasing fusion between the worlds of fitness and film. Most
actors are athletes nowadays. Their fitness is a big factor in whether they
get cast or not,” he says. “Jake has to look like a warrior capable of
sword-fighting, not like he's been hitting the gym. He is working out twice,
sometimes three times a day, six days a week, for three to four months on
top of stunt rehearsals before filming begins.”
Waterson memorably transformed Daniel Craig into a Speedo-clad Adonis for his
debut as Bond in Casino Royale and for the newlyreleased Quantum of Solace.
“You do what you have to do. You run around and you push weights,” says
Craig of his remorseless regimen, which included bench presses, barbell
curls and dumb bell rises.
In Fassbender's case, a nutritionist was responsible for carefully monitoring
the required weight loss. “We decided that I'd start off on 900 to 1,000
calories for the first six weeks, but when I just wasn't losing enough I
broke it down to 600 calories a day,” he says. “In the morning I'd have
berries - blackberries, blueberries, raspberries - which are low in
calories, and maybe seven nuts. But no more than that because nuts are
hugely calorific.
“Then I'd try to last for most of the day until I had my dinner, which was
sardines, with bread on the 1,000-calories diet, and without on 600. Dinner
was the hardest because it was enough to whet your appetite but not enough
to put it to bed. It became about whether or not I had the discipline to
succeed.”
To counter inevitable muscle wastage, he skipped, walked four miles a day and
did yoga. “The amazing thing was that I had boundless energy,” he says.
“Normally I'm king of the afternoon nappers, but I felt totally wired the
entire time, which I'm sure people with eating disorders will also tell
you.” He slipped up only three times. “It didn't happen much because, after
a while, it becomes such a mental thing. It becomes obsessive. Having done
it, I really feel for people who have eating disorders. You end up wanting
to weigh yourself every hour of every day. And it can really drive you
crazy.”
Fassbender is following in the footsteps of the actor Christian Bale who in
2005 lost a third of his body weight, wasting away to 121lb, for his role as
an insomniac, anorexic factory worker in The Machinist. He mostly survived
on apples and drank coffee. “Sometimes I would put things in my mouth and
just not swallow.”
Ballooning
At the other end of the weighing scales, there are stars who have ballooned
for their art.
Robert De Niro, the original poster boy of method acting, famously piled on
60lb for his role as the boxer Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull in 1980. During
the latter half of filming, the physical strain was starting to show.
According to the director Martin Scorsese, scenes in which LaMotta lies
breathless and bloated on his bed had to be shot in a minimum of takes
because, by this time, De Niro was clearly not well.
Dramatic physical transformations aren't limited to men. Charlize Theron
(right) put on 30lb for her Oscar-winning portrayal of Aileen Wuornos in the
2003 film Monster. And who could forget that not once, but twice, Renée
Zellweger (above) gained 2st to go from a tiny size 6 to a size 14-16
Bridget Jones. By the time a third Bridget Jones movie was being mooted,
however, Zellweger started voicing her concerns about the health risks posed
by her yoyoing weight. “Can I just tell you that my body was whacked each
time we finished a Bridget Jones movie? Your body thinks there's supposed to
be a baby and there's no christening,” she joked. More seriously, she
admitted suffering panic attacks after seeing the movie documentary
Supersize Me, in which an increasingly fat, depressed Morgan Spurlock risked
ending up with a liver like “pâté” after a fast food diet.
Getting back to normal
While Zellwegger hit the gym, Fassbender convalesced for a month in Sydney,
where he swam daily. He recalls the shock his body experienced when he began
eating normally again. “We went to a Japanese restaurant for my first proper
meal. I was so ready to start eating again, that I ate loads,” he says.
“But, afterwards, I was kind of prone on the floor and I started getting
really cold, probably because my body just wasn't used to digesting food.
After that, the weight went back on really quickly. It took only about three
weeks.”
He recovered so well that he was able to begin filming a swashbuckling role in
the upcoming English civil war drama The Devil's Whore, on Channel 4,
immediately afterwards. By the time Fassbender saw Hunger for the first time
at this year's Cannes Film Festival, he was back to his normal weight. The
film not only won the prestigious Camera D'or award, but was given a
15-minute standing ovation.
Fassbender admits that he was shocked by his appearance on the screen, but
then jokes: “Ah yes. The Bobby Sands diet. Guaranteed results every time.”
Jake Gyllenhaal's daily regimen
Fitness expert Simon Waterson prescribed this daily regimen to build the
normally lithe Jake Gyllenhaal into a hulking warrior
5.30am Pre-workout snack: half a banana, some nuts and an espresso.
6am An hour-and-a-half cardio outdoors workout while wearing a 20lb
flak jacket to simulate the weight of armour. Interval training - 10min
uphill sprint, followed by abs exercises, eg, sit-ups, at the top of the
hill. Repeat sequence five times, then a 10min run, followed by stretching
exercises.
7.30am An egg-white omelette, a small protein shake and an isotonic
drink to replenish salts lost during training.
Lunch Baked potato with tuna and salad.
6-7pm An hour of resistance training using cables to simulate sword
fights, pull-ups, press-ups, abs exercises using weights; finish with
stretching.
7-8pm: An hour-long deep tissue massage
Dinner: Soup and a protein shake
Snacks/supplements Two litres of water, protein bars, dark chocolate,
supplements rich in omega-3, 6 and 9. No foods containing refined sugar,
occasional glass of wine allowed.
Simon Waterson is an ambassador for Maximuscle (www.maximuscle.com
), the sports nutrition company
