Normally, comedies aren’t huge into forcing actors to change their physique. Being a little schlubby or having a bad beard is part of what gives comedic actors so much character, but in the case of Jim Carrey’s most recent role, a little pudge was not in the cards.
For The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, 51-year-old Carrey took on the role of Steve Gray, a street magician with a pretty intense physical shape. The man has to go shirtless throughout several big scenes in the film and in order to look as physically fit as possible, he had to go on a pretty intense diet. From what the actor recently told People at the press junket for the film, getting in shape wasn’t particularly fun.
"It's not a natural place to live in that kind of shape. It looks great. It's fantastic and gets a lot of attention, but you have to eat, like, antimatter to stay in that kind of shape."
It had to have been a lot of hard work, but it’s always good to know the limits a person can push his or her body to in order to maintain peak physical shape. It may have been tough, but I bet becoming Steve Gray felt great—at least for a couple of weeks. Still, the actor says he is quite happy to have returned to his normal size and to have gotten a bit of a belly again, a part of his body he affectionately calls “Mr. Cuddly.”
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone hits theaters on March 15.
