Some actors take extreme measures when preparing for future roles. And that includes gaining or losing significant amounts of weight. Sometimes it’s cosmetic, while other times the actor takes it to dangerous levels. Here are some of the more notable examples:

Manipulating weight on a dramatic level famously began with Robert DeNiro in his role as Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film Raging Bull. During the fight scenes, DeNiro was in tip-top shape; cut out of granite. But for his scenes as the washed up pugilist, DeNiro packed on a whopping 60 pounds. According to the Internet Movie Database, the weight gain was a record for the time. It was later topped by Vincent D’Onofrio who gained 70 pounds for his role as private Pyle in Stanley Kubrick’s haunting Vietnam war picture, Full Metal Jacket.

According to director Martin Scorsese, the film’s production was closed down for about four months, allowing DeNiro to binge on carb-loaded Italian food. It made for an amazing transformation for the film’s final scenes.

Once the acting legend Robert DeNiro set the bar so high for fully committing to a movie role, Oscar hopefuls lined up to show what they were made of.

Renee Zellweger is probably the most famous actress to make a point of dramatically transforming her body. She did it twice for two installments of the Bridget Jones films. Zellweger is normally a slim size six, but for the films she transformed into a size 14.
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