Actors often put themselves through the wringer in order to get into the physical shape required for a particular role or character. And as the most famous proponent of the practice, almost everyone on the planet can say they’ve got a body like Christian Bale without having to specify whether they’re talking about the Batman Begins, The Machinist or American Hustle vintage.
Big screen superheroes also seem to have the requisite shirtless scene written into their contracts, just to let audiences know that they’ve gotten ripped enough to convince even without the spandex costume, while others have shed a dangerous amount of weight in various genres.
Production on Cast Away was shut down for an entire year so that Tom Hanks could drop 50 pounds to play a man stranded on a desert island, while the Russo brothers have revealed that their Cherry star Tom Holland not only lost 30 pounds to portray a drug-addicted military veteran, but gained it back as well.
“Holland really shredded himself for the part. He lost 30 pounds, he gained it back. We’re on an independent movie schedule here, he didn’t have a lot of time to be doing these things. He worked very closely with recovering addicts, he worked very closely with PTSD experts and soldiers who had suffered from it, how it affected their lives.”
Most actors shoot the heavy scenes first before slimming down, but it sounds as though Cherry‘s tight schedule forced the leading man to do things the other way around. A lot of that probably had to do with the fact he was set to film Uncharted and Spider-Man 3 almost back to back afterwards, so he couldn’t afford to show up for either blockbuster in less than peak physical condition.
As a dancer and gymnast since childhood, Holland has always been lean, and used his athletic abilities to his advantage when auditioning for Peter Parker. Cherry looks like something else altogether, though, with Joe and Anthony Russo confident that the 24 year-old will deliver a performance worthy of awards season consideration. And we’ll find out for ourselves if that’s the case when it hits theaters next month.
