Inside Nicholas Galitzine's Masters of the Universe Transformation

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Nicholas Galitzine Reveals Challenge Behind Transformation as He-Man

Yes, Nicholas Galitzine has the power.

But even with the Sword of Grayskull on hand for his role as the iconic superhero He-Man in the June 5 release Masters of the Universe, transforming into the ultra-buff Prince Adam of Eternia, "was an every day a week thing," the 31-year-old told E! News' Will Marfuggi at the flick's May 18 premiere. With mere months between filming the historical fantasy romance 100 Nights of Hero and his turn as a World War II soldier in The Mosquito Bowl, Galitzine added, "It was a pretty short amount of time."

In an ideal world, the London native noted, "You kind of would love to live in this character for a year beforehand but the training very much changed as the movie went on."

And so, to confidently battle Jared Leto's Skeltor in the live-action Mattel adaptation, he had to commit to a no-rest-days type of schedule.

"So, you’re shooting a scene," he explained of the relentless routine. "They say, 'You have 10 minutes until the next set up,' you run outside, you hop on the assault bike, run back in, shoot a scene again, and that kind of goes on for about five months."

And, yes, it required a bit of a Herculean effort.

"We started out really trying to pack on as much size as possible," he explained of his remarkable transformation. "You know, having up to 5,000 calories sometimes, weightlifting for three hours a day and then we streamlined it."

Instagram/Nicholas Galitzine

Among the bits they trimmed: His daily calorie count.

"We started shooting and then I had to cut while we were shooting, which is pretty insane," he detailed. As a result, he continued, "You have that brain fog. So, I definitely felt like that was a thing but especially when you’re doing these action set pieces, you’ve gotta have energy for it."

Not to mention a sheer force of will. "There were periods where I was fasting for 18 hours, then doing a three-hour weight-training session fasted before stunt work," he detailed on Fandango's Big Ticket podcast. "It really tested my willpower."

Still, the results made him glad that he powered through. By the end of filming, he had bulked up so much, his family struggled to give him hugs. "My mom's a tiny little thing," he revealed to People. "She couldn't really reach around me. It's so cute."

Soon after, though, he was back to wrapping his fam in embraces.

His first official cheat meal post-filming was a combo of sushi and pizza. "I just was like, 'Give it. Give it all to me,'" he told People. "Food is everything to me. It truly is."

Which made the next part of the process particularly delicious.

Slated to play a solider in The Mosquito Bowl mere weeks after filming, he recounted to E!, "The director said, 'I've got terrifying nightmares that you’re gonna show up on set on day one looking like He-Man. Can you just do nothing for the next three weeks?'"

The request "was kind of music to my ears," the Red, White and Royal Blue alum added, "I'd lay on a couch, I ate potato chips and I said, 'This is the kind of prep I love.'"

Of course, he's hardly the first star to have to weigh his proteins. Keep reading for more impressive film transformations.

(E! and Fandango are both part of Versant Media.)

Instagram / Channing Tatum

Channing Tatum

The Magic Mike star's weight has fluctuated over the years, especially in 2024, as he got into character for two back-to-back movie roles.

He said on Instagram in March 2025 that he weighed 205 pounds—up from the 172 pounds he weighed for Roofman (pictured, right). Months before beginning production on that 2024 film, he shot the movie Josephine (pictured, left) and weighed 235 pounds for his role.

Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images; Blank Archives/Getty Images

Timothée Chalamet

For his Oscar-nominated role as musician Bob Dylan in 2024's A Complete Unknown, the Dune actor learned how to sing and play guitar.

"I also put on 20 pounds," he said during a January 2025 episode NPR’s All Things Considered podcast, "because, believe it or not, I was thinner than the guy.”

David Fisher/Shutterstock, Universal Pictures

Cillian Murphy

To play scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan's 2023 thriller Oppenheimer, the Irish actor "had to lose quite a bit of weight," he shared. "He was very slim, almost emaciated, existed on martinis and cigarettes."

His diet? According to costar Emily Blunt, "He had such a monumental undertaking.And he could only eat, like, an almond every day."

Christopher Polk/NBC; DC Comics/Warner Bros./Shutterstock

Joaquin Phoenix

For his Joker role, the Oscar winner opened up about his 52-pound weight loss, telling the Associated Press in 2019, "Once you reach the target weight, everything changes. Like so much of what's difficult is waking up every day and being obsessed over like 0.3 pounds. Right? And you really develop like a disorder."

Getty Images; Instagram

J.K. Simmons

The Spider-Man alum shocked fans when he debuted bulging biceps ahead of his appearance as Commissioner Gordon in 2017's Justice League.

Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images; Bold Films/Kobal/Shutterstock

Jake Gyllenhaal

"I'd say my mother was worried," he previously told E! News after losing 30 pounds for the 2014 thriller Nightcrawler. "I would say she just wanted me to be careful. But she also knew and knows how seriously I take what I do and she respects that."

Can Nguyen/Shutterstock

Orlando Bloom

The Pirates of the Caribbean alum detailed the physical and emotional toll of losing 52 pounds for his 2024 boxing movie The Cut.

“I was exhausted mentally, physically. I was hangry,” he said on This Morning. “I was a horrible person to be around. The paranoia, the intrusive thoughts.”

“I wouldn’t recommend doing it at home, by the way,” he continued. “It was definitely not something to take lightly.”

Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images; Barry Wetcher/Warner Bros/Mgm/Kobal/Shutterstock

Michael B. Jordan

The Black Panther star gained nearly 30 pounds of muscle to transform into a rookie-turned-professional boxer in the 2015 sports drama Creed.

Gary Gershoff/WireImage; Claire Folger/Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock

Chris Messina

The Mindy Project alum had to gain 40 pounds for his role in the 2016 action drama Live by Night.

Jim Smeal/WireImage, Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Renée Zellweger

The Bridget Jones's Diary actress famously gained weight to portray the lovable titular character in the franchise's first and second films.

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Matthew McConaughey

The Magic Mike stud dropped 30 pounds to star in The Dallas Buyer's Club—which centered on the real-life story of a man dying from AIDS in the 1980s, who treated himself with alternative remedies he smuggled from Mexico into the United States.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images; Anne Marie Fox/Voltage/Kobal/Shutterstock

Jared Leto

The actor and musician nabbed an Oscar for his riveting role in 2013's The Dallas Buyers Club. He lost 40 pounds for the role of a fictional HIV/AIDS patient.

Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic; Ibl/Shutterstock

Rooney Mara

The actress looked lean and strong for her starring role in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. And she fully committed to her piercing performance. "Because of all the tattoos and the makeup and the piercings, and the physical transformations my body has to go through," she explained to Allure, "it would always feel sort of like I was in costume, even if I was naked."

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Anne Hathaway

While Hathaway earned an Oscar for her turn as a famished orphan in Les Misérables, swiftly dropping 25 pounds definitely took its toll.

"I'd lost an unhealthy amount of weight in two weeks," she told People. "I didn't know anything about nutrition. I taxed my body, and my brain bore the brunt of it for a while. I just felt very anxious and very lost at that time."

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Christian Bale

Bale is certainly no stranger to morphing for movie roles. In 2004, he lost more than 60 pounds for his role in The Machinist, and he did it again for the film The Fighter, opposite Mark Wahlberg. He also gained 40 pounds for American Hustle—and lost 70 pounds for Ford v Ferrari.

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Jake Gyllenhaal (Again)

The actor looked more like a god than a prince for his role in 2010's Prince of Persia. Gyllenhaal said he studied Parkour, the French art of street running, in order to bulk up for the film.

Francois Duhamel/20th Century Fox/Dreamworks/Kobal/Shutterstock

Tom Hanks

"All it is is time and discipline," the Oscar winner told Time magazine of his role in 2000's Cast Away, that saw him lose more than 50 pounds to play a man stranded on an uninhabited island.

Lawrence Lucier/FilmMagic; Twitter

50 Cent

The ripped rapper shocked fans with a 2010 photo of himself looking slender. He reportedly went from 214 to 160 pounds in just nine weeks to play a football player diagnosed with cancer in 2011's All Things Fall Apart.

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Robert De Niro

Shaping up for movie roles is nothing new. The legendary actor earned an Oscar nom for his role as terrifying tattooed rapist Max Cady in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear.

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