Actors Who Refused To Change Their Bodies For Roles

One need only glance at the leading men and women of any given era to see Hollywood's perennial beauty standards. Most actors will know the pressure of keeping fit and aesthetic, especially after the mainstreaming of gym and fitness culture in the late 20th century. Take Superman, for example. Christopher Reeve was a tall and athletic man, but compared to Henry Cavill's cast iron physique, his rangy costume looks slightly pedestrian. It's not all about "looking good," of course. Some actors have drastically changed their bodies to better portray their characters, such as Robert De Niro in "Raging Bull," Christian Bale in "The Machinist," Matthew McConaughey in "Dallas Buyers Club," and Tom Hanks in "Cast Away."

Still, "looking good" is a prerequisite for many actors, and they often must obey the wishes of producers, directors, and casting managers, who are known to ask for weight loss, dental work, and even plastic surgery. Such a preening, judgmental industry could fray the self-esteem of even the most assured performer, but some actors — through experience or strident obstinance — have simply refused to change their bodies for certain roles, and everything worked out just fine for them.

During the Covid lockdowns in 2020, Robert Pattinson told GQ that he was ignoring his personal trainer, who had given him a Bosu ball and a weight to train with for "The Batman." The "Good Time" actor said that he was "barely doing anything" and spoke about male body expectations, "I think if you're working out all the time, you're part of the problem," Pattinson told the magazine, "You set a precedent. No one was doing this in the '70s. Even James Dean — he wasn't exactly ripped." 

However, anyone who saw "The Batman" will have likely noticed that Pattinson was carrying a new layer of muscle mass, although not to the degree of Chris Evans, Hugh Jackman, and other superhero actors. Pattinson clarified to MovieMaker that he had, eventually, gotten around to working out, "You're playing Batman. You have to work out... I just always think it's really embarrassing to talk about how you're working out." Pattinson bust a sweat, but he did it on his own terms.

When Lex Luthor first appeared in "Action Comics #23" in 1940, he had a full head of ginger hair. However, after a ghost artist gave Luthor a bald head in a 1941 issue, the character eventually became known for having a bald, shiny dome that housed an evil, brilliant mind (via DC/Tech Times). Decades later, in the late 1970s, Gene Hackman was cast as Lex Luthor in "Superman: The Movie" and he would consent to a skullcap only in the film's final scene, when Luthor's hair is revealed to be a wig. The actor's frizzy, curl mop would feature in the rest of the film.

Hackman did make one lasting concession to director Richard Donner, though. When the Oscar-winner arrived on set in England, he still had the moustache he sported in "Night Moves" and "The Domino Principle," so Donner offered him a deal, "If you shave your moustache, I'll shave mine." Hackman agreed and retreated to hair and makeup, but when he returned freshly shaven, Donner was still moustachioed. "Dick, you've gotta shave your moustache off," Hackman instructed, to which Donner said "Okay" and peeled what was in fact a fake moustache from his face. "I love him for doing that," Hackman recalled in a behind the scenes documentary, "that was great."

Daniel Craig has played James Bond in some of the best reviewed films in the franchise, but audiences were split by the actor's casting back in October 2005. Some critics opposed Craig's blonde hair, which broke with the tradition of dark-haired — but not necessarily dark-eyed — leading men. An IMDb poll went some way in quantifying the issue, revealing that 29.10% of respondents were "not at all" supportive of the casting, with a further 18.10% choosing the "Um, sorry to ask, but who's Daniel Craig?" option. There was even a spate of anti-Craig websites (via Variety).

Craig could have placated his critics in hair and makeup, but the actor said dying his hair brown was "out of the question" (via Evening Standard). Instead, Craig channeled his energies into a strict diet and rigorous exercise routine, the results of which he displayed in the now famous beach scene. In 2021, years after the success of "Casino Royale" and "Skyfall," Craig reflected on the "Blond Bond" furore with Yahoo! and noted, "Of course I was bothered by it... All I could do was make a good movie, or attempt to make a good movie and say, 'There you go.' And if they didn't like it, then I don't know, that's all I had to give."

There is perhaps no production more legendarily difficult than "Apocalypse Now." A typhoon, a ballooning budget, and Martin Sheen's near-fatal heart attack all conspired to ruin the production, and then there was the sheer size of Marlon Brando. The actor had entered the twilight of his career, and he was used to commanding enormous salaries and generally getting his own way, so instead of keeping in reasonable shape for the role of Colonel Kurtz — a man isolated in his Vietnamese jungle commune — Brando turned up at least 40lbs overweight.

"How are we going to dress him like a Green Beret marine colonel?" director Francis Ford Coppola wondered in a making-of documentary, "I suggested to depict him as a man who was indulging his senses with his arms around two girls but he was shy about his weight." There was no shifting Brando's reported 300lb mass, so the actor wore black pyjamas and Coppola obscured his bulk with shadowy cinematography. These constraints came together with positive effect, for they also shrouded Kurtz in ominous mystery.

Debra Messing has never had a nose job, despite Alfonso Arau, the director of "A Walk in the Clouds," making a crass remark about it. "I was doing a love scene with Keanu Reeves," Messing told Elle, "and the very famous director screamed 'Cut' and said, 'How quickly can we get a plastic surgeon in here? Her nose is ruining my movie.'" Messing said that Arau's remark "reduced [me] to an un-Hollywood nose" and that it took "years and years" for her to be comfortable with her looks in the industry. 

A few years after "A Walk in the Clouds," Messing scored the role of Grace Adler in "Will and Grace," for which she would win Primetime Emmy for best leading actress in 2003. Sometime after her Emmy win, Messing bumped into Arau and he was very pleased to see her, "Bella! It's been so long, you were so funny in the movie, I'm so happy to see you again!" Messing simply said, "Thank you," and continued walking.

When Jennifer Lawrence was cast as Katniss Everdeen in "The Hunger Games," the actress resisted calls to lose 10lbs. "We have control over this image, we have control over this role model," Lawrence told SciFiNow, "Why would we make her something unobtainable and thin?" The action heroine continued, saying that Hollywood didn't "take enough responsibility for what it does to our society" regarding body image and expectations. 

However, while Lawrence remained steadfast on keeping the 10lbs, she did train until she had changed the structure of her skeleton. No, this was not through some extreme fad exercise but through classic archery, which she learned from Georgian instructor Khatuna Lorig. "It totally changed my body," Lawrence told NPR, "When I went back for the fitting for the second movie for 'Catching Fire,' my shoulders were 2 inches broader and my right arm is 1 inch longer than my left arm, permanently, I guess. But I really enjoy it."