Something that frequently gets actors a lot of attention is when they go to great lengths to completely transform their physical appearance to fully embody a character. One way that’s long been used for this is either gaining or losing a lot of weight for a role. The Lord of the Rings star Orlando Bloom recently lost 30 pounds for his upcoming 2025 movie, The Cut, and he’s opened up about how the intense process absolutely took a “toll” on him.
What Did Orlando Bloom Say About Losing 30 Lbs For The Cut?
It’s possible that actors have been losing/gaining weight for roles since acting became a profession, and it almost always leads to the talent in question receiving a lot of notice for their dedication. Though we’ve seen the newly single Orlando Bloom appear in movies as everything from a pirate to an elf, and a 19th century Australian outlaw to a prince in the ancient city of Troy, none of those roles have really required an enormous physical transformation.
When speaking with People about his new film, The Cut (where he stars alongside Outlander lead Caitríona Balfe), Bloom, who portrays an ex-boxer training for a comeback, noted that while he figured losing 30 lbs would be hard, there were some aspects he simply wasn’t prepared for. He said the undertaking was “definitely not something to try at home,” (meaning without health pros helping you) and continued:
What I hadn’t expected and was surprised by was the mental toll that this kind of intense discipline takes. The paranoia and anxiety were very real and disturbing, caused by the lack of sleep — turns out you can’t sleep when you’re hungry!
Wow. In all the times I’ve seen thespians like the frequently transformative Oscar winning star of The Fighter, Christian Bale, lose and gain for film parts (which he’s already stopped doing so much), I don’t think I’ve really heard about the “mental toll” that it takes. Certainly, anyone who’s ever tried to lose weight, especially a significant amount, will know that it can be very hard (as it is for those who want to get bigger but can’t seem to put on pounds), the emotional aspects of it for an actor have never been top of mind for me.
Channing Tatum (who usually shows off a very buff, Magic Mike-esque physique) recently opened up about his own quick back-and-forth with gaining muscle/beefing up/losing roughly 50 lbs for three different roles in a short period of time, and though he thanked the health pros who helped him, he didn’t mention what he had to go through mentally to get it done. Similarly, Bale’s Ford v. Ferrari co-star Matt Damon also spoke out about how “unhealthy” some of his dietary changes for parts have been, but without going into his emotional state during that time.
The Black Hawk Down actor went further when talking about how these changes impacted him, and, honestly, it sounds beyond stressful:
[The] water restriction to get to my lowest weight for the final scenes led to obsessive thoughts of food, dreaming of what I could eat when finally off a diet of tuna and cucumber. I was supervised weekly and my blood work monitored by an expert nutritionist, Phillip Goglia, who helped me lose 30 pounds in approximately three months.
Let’s see: obsessive thoughts, anxiety, paranoia, lack of sleep…I think I would have needed therapy just to deal with his weight loss for this movie! Luckily, it sounds like he came through the process and was able to recover a sense of normalcy after being so dedicated to his work.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
