Orlando Bloom described undergoing a physical transformation for his new movie, “The Cut,” and shared how he was able to lose 30 pounds for his role as a boxer in the film.
The actor said the process was so intense that the crew decided to shoot the movie in reverse-chronological order, so he was able to start filming at his lowest weight.
“We started at my lightest weight because I really had no brain capacity or power,” Bloom said on TODAY on Sept. 5. “I was like, lying on the floor of the set between between takes just to be able to summon the energy for everything that was required. It’s a very interesting thing when you deplete your body of about all it requires for brain function.”
“It’s a very interesting thing when you deplete your body of about all it requires for brain function,” Bloom said.Paramount Pictures/YouTube
Bloom, 48, said he was able to lose the weight in about three months with the help of a nutritionist, but he urged folks at home not to do what he did for the film.
“I had a great nutritionist … who helped me, because it’s definitely not something to try at home,” Bloom said. “It was sort of like science, actually, really, because we shot in reverse chronological (order). He was literally in touch with with production every day to make sure that we timed all of the looks in the right way.”
As for how the actor started to shed the weight, Bloom said he did cardio first thing in the morning for at least an hour.
“It was cardio, it was it was boxing, it was weights, and then it was just an insane diet, really like, for the last three weeks, just tuna and cucumber, that was it,” he said.
In “The Cut,” Bloom stars as a former boxing champion who comes out of retirement to seek another title, and his coach urges him to start an intense training program to prepare for the fight.
“This movie really focuses on that idea that the athlete, the boxer, in this case, has to win up here,” he said, pointing to his head, “to win the ultimate goal, to be able to do what he does, which is the fight.”
Bloom took on the role of a former boxing champion in “The Cut.”Paramount Pictures/YouTube
“But it’s called ‘The Cut’ because it’s about cutting weight,” he added. “And the fight is, how do you make that weight?”
Bloom said in an interview with Yahoo UK he was hungry and “hangry,” the combination of hungry and angry, the whole time he was filming the movie.
“I was probably not a lot of fun to be around,” he said. “But I’m quite physical, I really love the boxing genre of movies and I thought this was a fresh take by focusing on cutting weight, which is what boxers do to get into the ring, they cut their weight to fight.”
“You definitely have some intrusive thoughts when you’re hungry and you’re a little bit paranoid and all of that,” he added. “Getting into this character who’s just willing to do what it takes, to do anything that it takes to have his shot and to prove himself.”
In addition to a drastic change in diet, the intensity of Bloom’s workout regimen shifted, too.
“I was really up for it. And I just went wholeheartedly into it. I was doing at least an hour and a half on the treadmill, or an hour and a half in the gym and boxing training. So (I had) maybe three sessions a day,” he said.
“It’s surprising how you have to eat little and often, because part of it was you just don’t want to become emaciated completely because you’ve got to look like an athlete, right?” he said.
“The Cut” premieres in theaters on Sept. 5.