Posted 2 hours agoSubscribe to Screen Time NewsletterCaret Down"It Was Like Turning Your Body Into A Chemistry Lab": These 13 Actors Pushed Themselves To "Awful" Places To Transform For Movie Roles - And They Wouldn't Recommend It"There were some nights that I thought I literally was going to die."by Ellen DurneyBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink Content Warning: This post discusses restrictive and extreme eating habits, as well as body image issues and depression. When a well-known actor undergoes a physical transformation for a role, it pretty much always becomes a massive topic of discussion, with the biggest question often being: "How did they do it?" Over the years, we've seen some pretty wild transformations in instances of both bulking up and slimming down. And the lengths that stars go to achieve the onscreen results are sometimes so extreme - and potentially dangerous - that they intentionally never reveal what they did or exactly how much they lost. However, a number of actors who've drastically changed their bodies for movie roles have detailed their strict regimens - more often than not, with the intention of emphasizing how truly miserable and inadvisable it is. Before we get into it, let's first make it very clear that extreme dieting can be incredibly dangerous. The majority of these celebs will have had guidance from a professional while undergoing their transformations, and these regimens are not to be replicated. If you or someone you know needs support, you can find resources here. Without further ado, here's a list of very dedicated stars who've gone to huge extremes for their art. Prepare yourself, because it's a lot to take in. 1. Zac Efron - Baywatch (2017) Emma Mcintyre / Getty Images, Paramount Pictures When you think about people looking super ripped in movies, Zac's Baywatch body is undoubtedly up there. However, the physique came at a price. During a 2022 interview with Men's Health, Zac got real about how his extreme diet and exercise regimen - which involved waking up at 4:00 a.m. every day to train and taking "powerful diuretics" to look extra lean - actually damaged his health on a much deeper level."That Baywatch look, I don't know if that's really attainable. There's just too little water in the skin. Like, it's fake; it looks CGI'd," he said. "I started to develop insomnia and I fell into a pretty bad depression, for a long time. Something about that experience burned me out. I had a really hard time recentering. Ultimately they chalked it up to taking way too many diuretics for way too long, and it messed something up." 2. Austin Butler - Elvis (2022) Stephane Cardinale - Corbis / Getty Images, (C) Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection It's no secret that Austin seriously pushed himself to play the King of Rock and Roll. However, away from the mental dedication he showed - and that memorable voice transformation - Austin also went to extreme measures to gain weight to play the older version of Elvis. "I would go get two dozen doughnuts and eat them all. I really started to pack on some pounds," he said on Variety's Awards Circuit podcast in 2023, admitting that he felt "awful." Austin also said he took inspiration from Ryan Gosling's Lovely Bones transformation by drinking "microwaved Häagen-Dazs" ice cream. But more on that later. 3. Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl (2014) Mike Marsland / Getty Images, (C)20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection / 20th Century Fox Licensing/Merchandising / Everett Collection If you've seen Gone Girl, you'll already know how brilliantly terrifying Rosamund is as the villainous Amy Dunne. So just wait until you hear that she lost and gained about 14 pounds "three times over" during filming to perfect Amy's various transformations in the story. "They scheduled around it, so I had two weeks each time for each fluctuation. It was quite intense," Rosamund told Vulture in 2014. "It was like turning your body into a chemistry lab, and I couldn't escape it." She trained with a boxer, Holly Lawson, who later broke down exactly what they did. For the weight gain weeks, it was all about lifting super heavy, eating lots of "good fats," and then tons of carb-heavy meals in the last days before shooting. For the weight-loss cycles, she ate a ton of leafy greens, drank loads of alkaline water, and did high-intensity cardio sessions up to four hours a day, including a daily five mile run. It was very extreme, and not something Rosamund would recommend. "To a certain extent, my body cooperated, but I don't know how good it is for you," she told Vulture. "It's probably better to be gaining weight steadily over a long period of time." 4. Beyoncé - Dreamgirls (2006) Amy Sussman / Getty Images, (C)DreamWorks/Courtesy Everett Collection For her role in Dreamgirls, Bey said she lost 20 pounds in two weeks by doing something called the Master Cleanse. The cleanse - ironically sometimes called the Lemonade Diet - involves forgoing solid food for two weeks, and instead dr