Not really and Jackman didn't think so too. He was cast at the last minute and couldn't bulk up sufficiently in time. His form from X2 onwards is the form he aimed for.
When i saw the movie i thought the joke was CGI muscles. But in some podcasts and other things people talked about they are real. Really confusing. Also someone apparently asked how they got to get into shape and they said it was pretty easy, he was never out of shape. The difference between the left and right picture could just be heavy dehydration. Someone even mentioned that even a glass of water could "ruin" his physique
Movie trailers will deliberately use cgi for things to cover up what might be spoiled otherwise, they’ll sometimes show beef cake muscles in a trailer when the movie has them wearing a uniform/costume.
Didn’t he explain one time that the key to looking really shredded for a movie is to get SUPER dehydrated right as filming begins? Think it was because then it makes your abs and other chest muscles stick out really prominently and achieves the Hollywood expectation for how strong guy should look
Yes, he explained this in the BTS for "Les Miserables"
A MUSICAL MOVIE WHERE THE CAST HAD TO SING LIVE ON SET. (I had to write that in caps to drive home the point and retraumatise all the theater kids in the audience)
Ugh so annoying. So like both in movies and body building, what they’re selling is actually not a healthy or strong physique—but someone who could be on the verge of organ failure.
I like the idea of fitness, and being in functionally good shape, so this sort of exaggeration is something I find uniquely distasteful—portraying a a goal state that is actually just a grift/scam, and that is dangerous to partake in.
Yeah they will typically time the cutting/dehydration to film all the "muscle shots" at the same time. The actors are miserable during this time period, and will and will quickly hydrate/switch to maintenance eating after this
Yeah standard weight cutting, and then aggressive pre-show preparation. Ironically, they're probably at their weakest during competition / shows, due to the dehydration and starvation beforehand.
The not-shredded wolverine could lift harder and run longer than his tougher looking counterpart.
It reminds me of an interview I saw with Alan Richardson (?), the guy playing reacher on the Amazon series. It was in support of the new season, but basically the conversation revolved around how exhausting it was to maintain the required physique for the role, and how it meant he couldn’t do some of the things he normally enjoyed—he was too heavy to run without impact injury, and flexibility and reach was an issue.
I’d imagine transitioning between these physiques can probably be challenging and taxing on the body as well.
I don't know if it'd be healthier if the guys getting superhero bodies just said it was done to drugs (like Tom Hardy), plus having a personal doctor, trainer and chef - just something that is unattainable for most people and unwise. As I imagine it's a contributor to the problems with men's mental health.
You also have to wonder about the actor's long-term health as things like HGH are really risky and diuretics can really put a strain on your system. If I was in the current generation of superhero actors, I'd be keeping a close eye on the first generation of musclemen, action heroes. It may be, with Hollywood money, you get regular checks to spot problems early and avoid the fate of a lot of the bodybuilders and wrestlers in their generation.
I think they originally wanted a slightly more grounded approach at the time. But as the movies went on they wanted the characters to be more impossibly comic-chatacter-cut.