14 DAY TRIAL // When he was first cast as Wolverine in “X-Men,” Hugh Jackman knew he had to bulk up. The transformation is all the more impressive for his upcoming film, “The Wolverine,” especially considering that it comes after he went on a diet and lost a lot of weight for “Les Miserables.”
In a new interview with the Daily Mail, the actor offers a bit more details about his workout and diet, while stressing that he’s actually worried they might give him a heart attack one day.
However, Hugh is careful to note that he’s not complaining: he’s just stating facts.
“It’s not good for me to eat 6,000 calories a day. I have to eat a dozen eggs every day. I worry I’ll have a heart attack,” he says.
Getting used to the intense workouts has been somewhat easier, even though he still doesn’t understand how some guys would do this daily, for fun.
With him, he knows he will be able to stop once he’s done with the popular character.
“I used to go to the gym and see these guys pumping iron and I thought they were idiots. In what situation could you need to bench 350lb [158.7 kg]? I never understood the addiction, it’s just painful. But that’s what I do to become Wolverine,” Jackman says.
“The problem is my height. I’m 6ft 2in and lean but in the books he’s 5ft 3in and stocky. Part of the bulking-up was to make me look squatter — more Mike Tyson than Hugh Jackman. He was a touchstone because he’s ruthless and has that Wolverine build,” he adds, explaining how he gained 25 pounds (11.3 kg) of muscle in just 12 weeks.
Other challenges he faced when he first started preparing for Wolverine included learning to use the claws (and he has scars all over his body to prove it), and getting people – his wife, in particular – to understand that doing a comic book movie wasn’t beneath him.
The full interview is here.