10 Actors Who Gained Weight For Their Roles Through Bizarre Methods

Many movie stars have to go through extreme transformations to bring their characters to life on the silver screen. Some makeovers require them to sacrifice their beauty through various means, such as changing their weights. These actors who gained weight in rapid time had to get through a lot, and their ways of achieving their weight goals are very questionable.
We don’t recommend any of you follow these extreme diets. However, by knowing these stories, we can better appreciate the actors and their dedication to their roles. So here are 10 actors who gained weight for their roles in a blink of an eye and their questionable methods.

1. Christian Bale — American Hustle

Source: IMDb

Christian Bale is one of the best chameleon actors of our generation. His dedication to his roles is amazing. For his part in American Hustle, he became a 228-lb man by gaining 43 lbs in a short time. The actor stuffed himself with fast food and ate as much as he wanted. His diet consisted of doughnuts, a lot of cheeseburgers, and whatever he could get his hands on.

2. Sylvester Stallone — Cop Land

Source: IMDb

To portray the overweight sheriff in Cop Land, Stallone had to put on 40 pounds. His rigorous diet consisted of pancakes and french fries in large portions. His breakfast would include an entire blueberry cheesecake and heaps of French toast topped with quarts of whipped cream, peanut butter, and oatmeal cookies. The actor then drank half a quart of chocolate milk to chase all of that down.

3. The Rock — Hercules

Source: IMDb

The Rock is already very buff, but he has to gain even more muscles for his role in Hercules. In the span of 8 months, he followed an intense workout plan and a very strict diet that required him to consume approximately 4,500 calories a day. His meals mostly consisted of chicken, halibut, egg whites, oatmeal, white rice, baked potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, peppers, and mushrooms.

4. Charlize Theron — Monster

Source: IMDb

Speaking of actors who gained weight through extreme diet, Charlize Theron gained 30 pounds in a short amount of time for her part in Monster. She forced herself to consume a lot of processed foods and sugar. The actress even put macaroni and cheese by her bed and set alarms in the middle of the night to get up and eat it.
When she felt like she couldn’t eat anymore, Theron shoved it down her throat. Her unhealthy diet affected her mood and caused her to have depression afterward.

5. Hilary Swank — Million Dollar Baby

Source: IMDb

To prepare for her role in Million Dollar Baby, Hilary Swank spent 2.5 hours practicing boxing and 1.5 to 2 hours lifting weights every day, 6 days a week. She had to eat every 1.5 hours and consumed 210 grams of protein daily. The actress had to drink egg whites every meal or she would have to eat 8 to 12 egg whites in a sitting.
Swank also had to wake up in the night to drink protein shakes. Thanks to her dedication, she gained 19 pounds of muscle in 90 days.

6. Emma Stone — Battle of the Sexes

Source: IMDb

To portray Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes, Emma Stone had to put on around 15 pounds of muscle in around 3 months. The petite actress had to go through intensive weight training and exercise from 3 to 5 times a week. At the end of the program, she was able to do deadlifts with 185 pounds of weight and push-ups with chains on her back.

7. Colin Farrell — The Lobster

Source: IMDb

Colin Farrell had to gain 45 pounds in 2 months for the movie The Lobster. The actor quit exercising and moving entirely. He even asked his sister to drive him around during this time. Farrell consumed around 4,000 calories per meal, eating mostly junk foods and drinking microwaved ice cream. “2 cheeseburgers, fries, and Coca-Colas, and 2 slices of chocolate cake at 10 a.m. is not that fun — and I love cheese­burgers,” recalled Farrell.

8. George Clooney — Syriana

Source: IMDb

George Clooney only got one month to gain approximately 30 pounds for his role in Syriana. He forced himself to eat around 9 meals a day, as fast as he could and as much as he could. He ate until he wanted to throw up, then forced himself not to throw up. The actor later recalled this extreme transformation, saying “My job for a month was eating.”

9. Jared Leto — Chapter 27

Source: IMDb

In Chapter 27, Jared Leto played Mark David Chapman, John Lennon’s assassin. He gets to eat a lot of ice cream to put on weight for this role, but not in a fun way. The actor would microwave pints of ice cream, then mix it together with some olive oil and soy sauce. Leto would gulp down this horrible concoction in one gulp. The weight gain program for this role was so extreme that Leto had to use a wheelchair afterward.

10. Bradley Cooper — American Sniper

Source: IMDb

Bradley Cooper played Chris Kyle, a member of the SEAL force. He needed to pack on more than 40 pounds of muscle for the part, and he only got 10 weeks to do that. Cooper had to train twice a day with a personal trainer. However, the hardest part wasn’t the intense workout program, but the diet he had to follow.
Cooper’s trainer had to force-feed him twice a day with over 5,000 calories. Bradley had to eat every 55 minutes to reach this number.
Those are some questionable methods that actors who gained weight in the blink of an eye used. To be honest, these diets sound horrible. But desperate time call for desperate measures, right? Other actors also have some impressive transformations too. These guys aren’t afraid of getting ugly for their roles, and they deserve more recognition.