Not known for his physique, Mackie had to eat a lot of food to match the hulking Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson. “I was very regular,” he says.
From left to right: Anthony Mackie in Jan. 2012; Mackie on the set of Pain & Gain in April 2012; and Mackie in Sept. 2012
Image by Jemal Countess / Getty Images; BRJ / FameFlynet Pictures; Neilson Barnard / Getty Images
When he was cast in Pain & Gain, which opens this weekend, Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, Gangster Squad) had just five weeks to transform his body from his everyday actor physique to that of a muscle-bound gym addict who abuses steroids so much it shrinks his manhood. His co-stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, by contrast, had several months to get their bodies in fighting shape for director Michael Bay's dark true-crime satire. Mackie says he grew from 190 pounds to a hulking 213 for the Pain & Gain shoot last spring, but how do you do that without actually taking steroids? And what affect does that have on your personality?
When you were first cast in Pain & Gain, did you have an appreciation for how you would have to look for the movie?
Anthony Mackie: I did. I was looking forward to it. My last few movies, I had played a cop or some sort of government official, so I had gotten lazy and fat. So I was looking for a project to help me get back in the gym and start working out. When I read the script, I was 100 percent into it. It couldn't have fell into my lap at a better time.
So how much time did you have between when you knew you were going to be doing it and when you had to start shooting?
AM: I had five weeks.
Five weeks?!
AM: Yeah. Which was nerve-wracking because Dwayne and Mark, they had months to prepare. To catch up, I went on this odd diet and did two-a-days, so I would go to the gym in the morning and in the evening.
What particular diet did they place you on?
AM: It was more something I did for myself. Just a lot of lean protein, light carbs — for my carbs, I would eat a baked sweet potato every day. I would do six meals a day. A meal every three hours. You have to sleep eight hours a day. You have to.
You have to give the muscles time to recover.
AM: Yeah. When you sleep, you grow. That's the rule.
You put yourself on the diet — were you working with a trainer?
AM: No, I have a guy in New Orleans who's a friend of mine that I work out with. We would just push each other every day. Then once the movie started, Mark and I would work out every morning together.
What did the workouts consist of?
AM: Heavy weights. A lot of lifting. A lot of pushing and pulling, that's what we called it. It was interesting — we would break our body up into three groups. Every day, we would rotate the groups. You would do chest and triceps, back and biceps, shoulders and legs. So on Monday, we would do chest and triceps, Tuesday, back and biceps, Wednesday, legs and shoulders. Then on Thursday, chest and triceps. Friday, back and biceps. Saturday, legs and shoulders.
And then Sunday you'd rest?
AM: Yes. Heavy rest. With no alcohol, no nothing.
Anthony Mackie, Mark Wahlberg, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in Pain & Gain
Via: Jaimie Trueblood
