Star gets in shape for new role with a bit of extra help

Mar 22, 2010 18:31 GMT  ·  By
Vanessa Hudgens trained with the Navy Seals for her part in upcoming film, “Sucker Punch”
   Vanessa Hudgens trained with the Navy Seals for her part in upcoming film, “Sucker Punch”

Vanessa Hudgens is looking to move away from her “High School Musical” image and what better way to do that than by means of a film that comes with the tagline “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns.” To prepare for her part in the upcoming “Sucker Punch,” Hudgens had to train hard – harder than anyone might image, People magazine says.

It’s not uncommon for stars to start dietary regimes or workout plans before embarking on a movie role, with the purpose of being better able to portray the character. Throughout the years, we’ve had stars who got incredibly fit for a part, stars who lost a lot of weight and, of course, stars who got really fat because that’s what the script demanded of them. For her role, Vanessa Hudges had to get in incredible shape and she did so with the help of the Navy Seals.

“Forget a personal trainer. While preparing for an upcoming film role, Vanessa Hudgens recently adopted several unorthodox exercise partners – partners who had her in tears by the end of the workout. ‘I trained with Navy Seals for five months,’ she told People at Las Vegas’s ShoWest movie convention. ‘It was the most intense thing that anyone could ever do’,” People magazine writes after speaking to the young, but very dedicated, actress.

“Breaking from her typical tween roles, Hudgens, 21, will star in the 2011 movie Sucker Punch, an action flick set in the 1950s. ‘I walk around with the biggest guns you have ever seen,’ she said. But she credits those grueling workouts for mentally (and physically) preparing her for the role. ‘I was bawling my eyes out because they push you so hard,’ she said. ‘But it’s amazing what you find from it. When you go so far you find a certain Zen within that and you know you can do anything. It’s very empowering’,” the publication further writes.

However, until fans get the chance to see Vanessa Hudgens in Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch,” which is out on 25 March 2011, they will see her in “Beastly,” released this July. The latter is a modern take on the classic story of “The Beauty and the Beast,” also starring Neil Patrick Harris and Mary-Kate Olsen.