Chris Hemsworth reveals dramatic weight loss for new film role
By Will Stroude
We’re used to seeing Chris Hemsworth packing on the pounds and showing off his rather large, erm, assets in films like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Vacation, but the Aussie hunk has revealed the dramatic down-sizing he had to go through for historical epic In the Heart of the Sea.
Inspired by the tale of Moby Dick, Hemsworth plays the First Mate of American whaling ship Essex, whose crew find themselves shipwrecked after an encounter with a rather large and not very friendly whale.
To convincingly depict starving men, the cast’s diets were steadily reduced during filming, with stars including Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy and Spectre’s Ben Whishaw consuming as little as 500 calories a day by production’s end.
As Chris revealed on Twitter yesterday (November 22), that, coupled with some seriously striking make-up work, made for quite the transformation…
Just tried a new diet/training program called "Lost At Sea". Wouldn't recommend it.. #IntheHeartoftheSea pic.twitter.com/y89McNuiiV
— Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth) November 22, 2015
Excited for everyone to see this one, had an incredible experience on this film. @WBPictures #IntheHeartoftheSeahttps://t.co/RrVhN4BBHZ
— Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth) November 2, 2015
“When I started, I was leaner than my Thor weight anyway, because I’d been on Michael [Mann]’s film [The Black Hat],” Hemsworth told Entertainment Weekly. “When you’re already starting off lean, it’s brutal to chew through that kind of weight. Every pound feels like a kilogram.”
The 32-year-old continued: “We kind of went insane, weighing ourselves every day. We all felt like a bunch of supermodels, trying to get down in weight for a show, or something. That’s all we spoke about.
“You’ve got 15 burly blokes on the sea and all we talked about was our diet, and who’d lost more weight, and who’s looking really skinny. It’s ridiculous!”
Meanwhile, if you want to see Chris back at his beefiest, a recently uncovered deleted shirtless scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron should satisfy that craving, and then some – click here to check it out.
In the Heart of the Sea is set for release on December 11.
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