Men\'s Health Australia - 11.2018

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82 menshealth.com.au

Robert De Niro

RAGING BULL 1980

Sean

Connery

DR NO 1962

Martin Scorsese’s

pugilistic masterpiece

features what is perhaps

the ultimate body

transformation by an

actor. To play conflicted

boxer Jake LaMotta,

Robert De Niro didn’t just

train like a pro but boxed

for real, fighting three

bouts and winning two of

them. (He also broke

co-star Joe Pesci’s rib in

one of the sparring

scenes.) To quote On the

Waterfront – as De Niro

does in a scene in this

movie – he could have

been a contender: the

real LaMotta said the

actor was one of the 20

best middleweights he’d

ever seen.

However, De Niro then

piled on the pounds for

his scenes as the older,

fatter LaMotta, gaining

almost 30kg in four

months on a diet largely

consisting of pasta,

ice cream and beer. “The

first 15lb [7kg] was fun,”

he said. “The rest was

hard work.”

He may not have shaken or

stirred many supplements by

today’s standards, but

Connery was a bodybuilder

in his early years who took

part in 1950s Mr Universe

competitions. Reluctant to

stop playing football,

however, he retained an

athletic physique that

left him unable to measure up

to the (possibly artificially)

supersized Americans. So he

tried his hand at another

profession: acting.