Co-stars and besties Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds appear on dual covers of the most recent edition of People to promote Deadpool & Wolverine, which hits theaters on July 26. They interviewed each other about working together, fatherhood, their longtime friendship (and faux feud), and getting in shape for their superhero roles. One of the most well-known things about Jackman playing Wolverine was his insane fitness and diet regimen. I still vividly remember reading about how he would get up every few hours at night to make sure he ate hard boiled eggs or whatever. Well, Hugh went back to his 8,000 calorie a day diet while training to get back into Wolverine shape. As it turns out, eating all day to bulk up muscle is really tough.
Hugh Jackman has opened up about the “hardest” adjustment he made while gearing up to play Wolverine again this summer. The 55-year-old actor — who stars alongside Ryan Reynolds in the upcoming superhero film “Deadpool & Wolverine” — told People magazine that he was pumped to prepare for his big screen return as the iconic mutant.
“My body was a little sore at the beginning, but I was thrilled that my body was still responding. And I realized how good it is for your brain. But the hardest bit…the food,” said Jackman, who initially decided that he’d retire from playing Wolverine after “Logan” in 2017.
Jackman, who shared a snapshot of his apparent 8,000-calorie diet days on social media early last year, acknowledged that he had to “eat a lot” for the role.
“For me, for my body type, I’m naturally skinny. To get the size on, that’s the hardest bit. That’s the bit that does my head in,” said Jackman, who previously told CNN’s Chris Wallace that he’d make it his “job” to train for the part in “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
Reynolds noted that five or six meals a day might sound “great” to some people.
“But it’s not like the type of food that you would really necessarily enjoy,” he said. Reynolds, who is set to star in his third “Deadpool” movie, told People that he “couldn’t believe” Jackman’s change in physicality.
“Just the sheer relentlessness that you dedicated yourself towards stunts, choreography. It was the first time I’d ever seen how invaluable a background in song and dance is when you are doing an action movie,” he said.
He continued, “You hit your marks in those fight scenes with speed and confidence, the likes of which I have never seen. I don’t care if you were 25, 35, 45 or 55. It was lightning.”
“My body was a little sore at the beginning, but I was thrilled that my body was still responding.” No joke, Mr. Rosie and I climbed a mountain over Memorial Day Weekend and even though I walk/hike on hills several times a week, I was still having trouble walking down stairs for a full five days afterwards. It was one of those, “Okay, well, #ThisIsActually40” moments for me. So, I have to give mad props to Hugh and his commitment and dedication. I would have a hard time eating that much, too, though. I have a healthy appetite, but really nowadays, pizza and brisket are the only two foods that get my dopamine inhibitors up, and I’m pretty sure neither of those were on Hugh’s list of approved non-cheat-day foods. I know, I know; he gets paid millions of dollars to eat chicken burgers and grass-fed sirloin, which is #goals, I guess. Kudos to him for sticking with it and not being like, “It’s okay if I sneak this bag of chips or one-half of a Crumbl cookie,” because even getting paid millions of dollars, that’s the exact argument I would be having with myself.
Photos credit: Michael Stewart/INSTARimages.com, JosiahW/Backgrid, celebrityphotos uk / Avalon
I used to work with some men were very focused on building muscle and all they brought to work to eat were boiled eggs and plain chicken breast. It was the saddest looking food and the egg smell made me nauseous. This,article brought that smell back in my memory *shudder*.
I will never understand this. Do spices like cumin and curry powder inhibit the growth of muscle or something? Is flavor forbidden by the Big Muscle cult? WHY?!
Yeah a former colleague spent all his time outside of work and for lunch would open multiple cans of tuna (he had trays and trays of cans in his car boot) and tip them into a big Tupperware to then eat with a fork. Nothing else. Just tuna.
I get having a hobby like fitness but really?
Does anyone know if it’s physically possible to build muscle without focusing on eating protein? Can my body not convert the fat into muscle somehow like Gargamel turning Smurfs into gold?
Without going deep into it, you can work out without chowing down the protein. If you work out your body will convert the fat. But you can’t KEEP building muscle once you’re lean. You need those extra calories to ADD the bulk they want. You can eat anything for calories but the best results are going to be from straight protein. It’s also a matter of how much space you have in your stomach too. 1000 calories from bread is going to take up more room than from a low carb lean fat high protein source like eggs and chicken
Thanks for this. It was very easy to follow. Ive heard it before but couldn’t wrap my mind around it. With eggs and chicken you can build faster and maybe harder. With my vegan protein powder im looking at years or not at all.
lol and I’m sure the steroids didn’t help at all