Actor had to drop 15 pounds (6.8 kg) through the starvation diet for “Heart of the Sea”

Apr 28, 2014 18:25 GMT  ·  By
Cillian Murphy plays an FBI agent in “Transcendence,” opposite Johnny Depp
   Cillian Murphy plays an FBI agent in “Transcendence,” opposite Johnny Depp

Cillian Murphy has a small role in the latest Johnny Depp movie, “Transcendence,” which is already being labeled by industry insiders a huge box office bomb because of its underwhelming performance upon premiering. Next up, he’ll be seen in “Heart of the Sea” opposite Chris Hemsworth.

The film doesn’t come out until March next year, but it’s already been getting plenty of media attention because, during production, Hemsworth had to go on what he called a “starvation diet” right after he had bulked up for the second installment of “Thor.”

The film tells the story of a crew on a ship which, in 1820, was hit by a sperm whale and remained stranded in the middle of the ocean for 90 full days. As Murphy puts it in a new interview with The Independent, Chris wasn’t the only actor who had to lose weight for the part: all of them had to do it but personally, he doesn’t believe he will ever do it again.

“Going to bed hungry is not something I want to do again. And there were actors of different sizes so it was kind of, let’s just say, there was more demand on others. But it was very hard. It was a sort of film of two halves. The first half was a tank in London and it was amazing. They built this whole ship and put it in this faux-Nantucket port. It was incredible,” Cillian explains.

“Then we went to the Canary Islands, shot a couple of weeks out there, where we had to film out in the ocean and lose a load of weight. That was difficult, I won’t deny that. The first part was great. The second part was hard,” he continues.

His statement comes amidst a lot of talk that the Academy favors actors who also undergo drastic physical changes when it comes to giving out Oscars. Cillian too has heard of it so, when asked if he’d lose weight again for a movie if that guaranteed him one of those coveted statuettes on his shelf, he admits he’d probably do it if it was necessary to make the character more convincing.

“The story has to justify it. There’s no point getting skinny just to win awards. With Dallas Buyers, it was justified, and Matthew [Mcconaughey] and Jared [Leto] were both amazing in it. As of now. I’m looking for a role that I can get fat. Or even just portly,” he says.

Both actors he mentions went home with Oscars for Best Performance by an Actor and Best Performance by a Supporting Actor for the film, in which they played two patients diagnosed with AIDS.