Orlando Bloom Says He Was a “Horrible Person” Amid Weight Loss Transformation for Role
Orlando Bloom was without a doubt a different person on the set of his recent movie.
The Pirates of the Caribbean alum reflected on the intense dieting he underwent to lose 52 pounds for his new film The Cut and the toll that the weight loss took on his entire being.
“I was exhausted mentally, physically. I was hangry,” Orlando said during an Aug. 27 appearance on This Morning. “I was a horrible person to be around. The paranoia, the intrusive thoughts.”
The 48-year-old—who confirmed his split with Katy Perry in July—explained that professional boxers, like his character, can struggle to meet their basic needs while abstaining from certain foods in order to meet their goal weights, adding, “We’re supposed to eat and sleep and take care of ourselves.”
As for how he was able to lose the massive amount of weight? Orlando hired a professional that had worked with other stars, including Christian Bale.
“I had a great nutritionist. He was checking my blood and stuff,” he continued. “He basically tiered me down from three meals a day to two, to one. Suddenly, all these foods were being taken away from me, and my protein powder was the last one. I was like, ‘No! Don’t take that one.’”
In the end, he explained, “Basically I came down to [eating] just tuna and cucumber for the last three weeks.”
Can Nguyen/Shutterstock
“I wouldn’t recommend doing it at home, by the way,” Orlando warned. “It was definitely not something to take lightly.”
In addition to having “no energy or brain power” while filming The Cut, the Lord of the Rings actor had previously discussed how Katy—with whom he shares 4-year-old daughter Daisy—was “freaked out” by his intense transformation.
“She watched it and was like, ‘I need a stiff drink,’” he told People in September. “She was really moved. She knew what it took.”
Read on for other stars who underwent intense body transformations for their roles.
Instagram / Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum
The Magic Mike star’s weight has fluctuated over the years, especially in 2024, as he got into character for two back-to-back movie roles.
He said on Instagram in March 2025 that he currently weighed 205 pounds—up from the 172 pounds he weighed for Roofman (pictured, right). Months before beginning production on that 2024 film, he shot the movie Josephine (pictured, left) and weighed 235 pounds for his role.
Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images; Blank Archives/Getty Images
Timothée Chalamet
For his Oscar-nominated role as musician Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, the Dune actor learned how to sing and play guitar.
“I also put on 20 pounds,” he said during a January 2025 episode NPR’s All Things Considered podcast, “because, believe it or not, I was thinner than the guy.”
David Fisher/Shutterstock, Universal Pictures
Cillian Murphy
To play scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer, the Irish actor “had to lose quite a bit of weight,” he shared. “He was very slim, almost emaciated, existed on martinis and cigarettes.” His diet? According to costar Emily Blunt, “He had such a monumental undertaking.And he could only eat, like, an almond every day.”
Christopher Polk/NBC; DC Comics/Warner Bros./Shutterstock
Joaquin Phoenix
For his Joker role, the Oscar winner opened up about his 52-pound weight loss, telling the Associated Press, “Once you reach the target weight, everything changes. Like so much of what’s difficult is waking up every day and being obsessed over like 0.3 pounds. Right? And you really develop like a disorder.”
Getty Images; Instagram
J.K. Simmons
The Spider-Man alum shocked fans when he debuted his bulging biceps, which were displayed in Justice League.
Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images; Bold Films/Kobal/Shutterstock
Jake Gyllenhaal
“I’d say my mother was worried,” he previously told E! News after losing 30 pounds for Nightcrawler. “I would say she just wanted me to be careful. But she also knew and knows how seriously I take what I do and she respects that.”
Can Nguyen/Shutterstock
Orlando Bloom
The Pirates of the Caribbean alum detailed the physical and emotional toll of losing 52 pounds for his boxing movie The Cut.
“I was exhausted mentally, physically. I was hangry,” he said on This Morning. “I was a horrible person to be around. The paranoia, the intrusive thoughts.”
“I wouldn’t recommend doing it at home, by the way,” he continued. “It was definitely not something to take lightly.”
Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images; Barry Wetcher/Warner Bros/Mgm/Kobal/Shutterstock
Michael B. Jordan
The Black Panther star gained nearly 30 pounds of muscle to transform into a rookie-turned-professional boxer in Creed.
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images; Anne Marie Fox/Voltage/Kobal/Shutterstock
Jared Leto
The actor and musician nabbed an Oscar for his riveting role in The Dallas Buyers Club. He lost 40 pounds for the role.
Gary Gershoff/WireImage; Claire Folger/Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock
Chris Messina
The Mindy Project alum had to gain 40 pounds for his role in Live by Night.
Jim Smeal/WireImage, Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Renée Zellweger
The Bridget Jones’s Diary actress gained weight to portray the lovable character in the franchise’s first and second films.
Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock; Voltage Pictures/Kobal/Shutterstock
Matthew McConaughey
The Magic Mike hunk dropped 30 pounds to star in The Dallas Buyer’s Club—which centered on the real-life story about a man dying from AIDS in the 1980s who treated himself with alternative remedies he smuggled into the United States from Mexico.
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic; Ibl/Shutterstock
Rooney Mara
The actress looked lean and strong for her starring role in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images; Working Title Films/Kobal/Shutterstock
Anne Hathaway
The Les Misérables star took home an Oscar for her role in the musical.
Isa Foltin/WireImage; Moviestore/Shutterstock
Christian Bale
He’s no stranger to morphing for movie roles. In 2004, he lost more than 60 pounds for his role in The Machinist, and he did it again for the film The Fighter, opposite Mark Wahlberg. He also gained 40 pounds for American Hustle—and lost 70 pounds for Ford v Ferrari.
Bei/Shutterstock; Disney/Kobal/Shutterstock
Jake Gyllenhaal (Again)
The actor looked more like a god than a prince for his role in 2010’s Prince of Persia. Gyllenhaal said he studied Parkour, the French art of street running, in order to bulk up for the film.
Francois Duhamel/20th Century Fox/Dreamworks/Kobal/Shutterstock
Tom Hanks
“All it is is time and discipline,” the Oscar winner told Time magazine of his role in 2000’s Cast Away, for which he lost over 50 pounds to play a man stranded on an uninhabited island.
Lawrence Lucier/FilmMagic; Twitter
50 Cent
The ripped rapper shocked fans with a photo of himself looking slender. He reportedly went from 214 to 160 pounds in just nine weeks to play a football player diagnosed with cancer in Things Fall Apart.
Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images; Moviestore/Shutterstock
Robert De Niro
Shaping up for movie roles is nothing new. The legendary actor earned an Oscar nom for his role as terrifying tattooed rapist Max Cady in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear.
Vivien Killilea/Getty Images; Matt Kennedy/Annapurna/Kobal/Shutterstock
Christian Bale (Again)
In order to portray former Vice President Dick Cheney in the 2018 biopic Vice, the star sported a fuller figure.
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
Leave a comment