I saw a picture of Toby Maguire today and he looks like a pretty skinny dude. Is he wearing a muscle suit in spiderman? On the other hand I know Will Smith put on about 30 pounds of muscle for Ali so I might have seen an old picture and he did put on some muscle. Do these guys just hit the gym seriously with proficient trainers or is there a healthy dose of vitamin-s involved??
I seriously doubt that Tobey used steroids. He just didn’t have the look (i.e. he looked like a toothpick). He actually didn’t look very big in the film, and I’d bet that whatever mass he put on for filming has since diminished. In addition, the filmmakers kept a set of dumbells handy so that he could get a pump before key scenes. There were something like five people in the suit for different stunts, and the suit itself was shaded to accentuate and enhance Tobey’s musculature. If he did do a pre-film cycle, Richard Simmons must have been his 'roid advisor.
Alot of the stars do use the vitamin-S. Toby said he was in the gym 6 days a week, so it’s hard to say if he was using or not. I don’t think he was, he was still pretty thin, but ripped, in that movie.
Toby and his stunt doubles wore padded clothes underneath the spidey suit to add bulk.
I saw him on Jay Leno, and he did some massive training. He’s skinny now, but those were his muscles!!
Many, many action stars have used the “Vitamin-S” when prepping for a flick. Let’s take Van Damme as an example. In Bloodsport he looked pretty good, right? Well, RIGHT before that flick he weighed ALOT less and was certainly less muscular. HOW do I know this? Well, he had been featured in Muscle and Fitness, since he was romancing a certain Gladys Portugues at the time. But a couple of months later - BOOM! - the “Muscles from Brussels”.
However, TOO much muscle would have distracted from the Peter Parker character. I believe the suit was padded around the midsection - but the shoulders were Tobey’s. Remember, Peter Parker’s tremendous strength as Spider-Man was garnered from a genetically enhanced spider - not by lifting tremendously huge poundages in the gym.
Another one that comes to mind is Edward Norton in American History X. Although he wasn’t huge, he was twice as big as he was in Fight Club. He looked pretty good, I wonder why he quit working out.
Yeah, a good example. I’m sure these guys have the best trainers that could be afforded by the studio’s $$ - but I’m sure that certain “cosmetic” enhancements are used also. Long, odd hours with not the best of nutrition available on a movie set does not, realistically, produce a Vin Diesel or Rock physique (or even a “American History X” Norton physique).
Yeah I agree, Ed Norton I thought had a nice upper body in that movie. Another actor I think was using was Nicolas Cage in Con Air. He was swoll in that movie, but not before or since.
Ryan Phillipe was also big in a movie about 2 years ago, I can’t remember the name…
Maguire, Smith, and Norton all gained a decent amount of muscle mass while preparing for their respective roles. However, the “buff” look is not chic in Hollywood and will limit an actor’s ability to get good roles. Honestly, would Norton have been better being all swole up for Fight Club? NO! The reason he was so great in that movie is because he was the everyday average Joe that was a spendaholic insomniac and didn’t care about anything other than consumerism. Bodybuilding is a fringe sport-- even most who train with weights do not want to achieve a massive physique. They just want to be “in shape”, which is what the current hollywood trend is. Granted, none of the above named were all that big, but they are more desirable to movie-goers and directors etc. when they are stickboys.
When I saw American Psycho, there was an audible gasp from the females in the crowd when Christian Bale took his shirt off. So when I saw an article about his training for the movie, I read it. In it, he said something to the effect that training and nutrition were essential for that role, but are actually “terribly unmasculine.” Something like, “Can you imagine Robert Mitchum pushing away a piece of pie because he was worried about his washboard abs?” Anybody want to chime in on that one?
Well I understand what he meant, even though I don’t subscribe to his philosophy, though I know most guys probably do.
Not taking care of yourself is sort of a badge of honor for most of us guys. Take your average guy by the time he’s in his 40’s, and he’s got a BIG beer belly, and has probably worn the same wardrobe for the past 10 years, except the clothes his wife bought him.
We’re taught from day 1 to just “suck it up and take it,” which unfortunatley keeps alot of us from doing common sense things like watching our food intake, or going to the doctor when we need to. I’ve known a couple of guys recently who had some medical conditions and just thought they could, “tough it out,” and one of them almost died from it!
The Miller High Life commericals play into this idea of masculinity. (The faceless star of them even has that big belly).