Emil Hirsch isn’t the first actor to shed a lot weight for a role. Here’s a look at others who have dropped some serious poundage for their art — and gained critical acclaim in the process.
Christian Bale
For his role in this summer’s “Rescue Dawn,” Bale lost 55 pounds to give himself the skeletal look of a prisoner of war. For 2004’s “The Machinist,” he shed more than 60 pounds. Bale said in 2005 that when “The Machinist” filming ended, “I literally wasn’t capable of doing one push-up,” according to news reports.
Matt Damon
Damon lost 45 pounds to play a heroin-addicted Gulf War veteran in 1996’s “Courage Under Fire.” He reportedly ate only chicken breasts and egg whites, according to news reports. In 1999’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” he again took off about 30 pounds.
Tobey Maguire
He shed more than 25 pounds to play the emaciated jockey Red Pollard in the 2003 movie “Seabiscuit.”
Tom Hanks
Hanks dropped 30 pounds for his role as a man with AIDs in 1993’s “Philadelphia.” Years later, he gained and then dropped 50-plus pounds for the 2000 movie “Cast Away,” in which his character is stranded on a deserted island.
Jamie Foxx
He lost more than 30 pounds to play Ray Charles in the 2004 biopic “Ray,” for which he received the best-actor Oscar.
Adrien Brody
He dropped 30 pounds for his Oscar-winning portrayal of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a real-life concert pianist who survived the horrors of the Warsaw ghetto during the Holocaust, in the 2002 drama “The Pianist.” At his lightest, Brody, who is 6-foot-5, weighed 130 pounds.
