Gaunt to Gargantuan

In the article Gaunt to Gargantuan and Back by Caryn James, James argues that actors/ actresses today go to extremes with their changes in weight for the roles they portray; weight gain and loss has become a new form of stunt acting. The author describes how Christian Bale lost 63 pounds for his role in The Machinist as well as Renee Zellweger gaining 20 pounds for her role in Bridget Jones diary. James views this as an unhealthy choice, and describes how going through such drastic weight change is not good for your body. She concludes by saying “it’s easy to imagine a new stunt-acting extreme, in which cosmetic surgeons help performs hone their most conspicuous tools, their bodies.”

Although I do not feel that these drastic weight changes are good for their health, I do feel that it takes great passion, and devotion to their roles to go through such transformations. When I saw Cast Away for the first time, I remember thinking how believable Tom Hanks was in his role. Much of his credibility was the drastic weight change that he endured to make it believable. In addition, if actors/actresses want to wear “fat suits” to bulk them up for roles, that’s just fine. What about characters that need to be thinner? You can’t just put on a suit for that right? Most people in movies have access to the best of everything: health care, chefs, trainers etc. If they need to be unhealthy for a short period of time, more power to them. In the long run, they will probably end up in better shape than we could ever be.