Whoever says Hollywood celebs don’t work hard clearly isn’t aware of these actors’ stories. Here are five actors who went above and beyond in their craft and put on a ton of weight in order to hatch a big egg.
1. Rosario Dawson: Gained 82 pounds
Dawson’s dedication on screen is twice as admirable off set. When she got wind that there was a large, unattended egg by the river, Dawson answered the call. Eating an all-carb diet, she built herself up to almost 200 pounds to sustain enough warmth for the egg to develop. Even though the added weight cost her several potential roles and made it harder to move around, Dawson persevered until the hatchling decided it was time.
2. Christian Bale: Gained 230 pounds
Anyone who needs to hatch a large egg can easily purchase a used incubator online and leave the egg unattended. That’s not the case for Bale, who is never shy about putting his body through the wringer. Insisting that the enormous egg he found on the set of The Machinist in 2003 develop “as naturally as possible,” Bale cut no corners in his demanding movie and egg schedules. Every morning, Bale would drop over 200 pounds to reach the 120-pound weight of his character, Trevor Reznik, then after a long day of shooting, would jack his weight up to over 350 pounds to provide adequate warmth for the egg all night. It wasn’t until the last day of shooting when the egg hatched that it was revealed it was completely empty. Leave it to Christian Bale to put us all to shame!
3. Dennis Hopper: Gained 135 pounds
This is the type of dedication that separates the great from the pretty good. Arguably his greatest undertaking after EDtv, Hopper selflessly packed on 135 pounds of pure fat in order to properly incubate a nine-pound egg he found in a shopping cart by the freeway. For three months, Hopper upheld a routine that demanded him to roll out of bed each morning and drink two melted pints of ice cream. Following a three-hour nap, he conserved as much energy as possible by using a wheelchair to get himself around, a grueling schedule that caused him to miss both a lifetime achievement award and the birth of a granddaughter. His unwavering diligence paid off when the egg he had taped under his armpit hatched beautifully four days before the expected date. It’s excellence like this that makes us miss him even more.
4. Denzel Washington: Gained 165 pounds
No amount of money can pay off the mental perseverance needed for hatching an oversized egg; that can only come from within. Just ask Man On Fire star Denzel Washington, who attests that almost doubling his body weight by adding cream and pasta to every meal was the easiest part. Concerned he might shake the yolk if he moved too much, Washington sat in the same spot in his backyard for two months. Exposed to the elements, Washington fought off dozens of foxes and raccoons throughout his nights by filling his mouth with gravel and spitting it at predators like a BB gun. Foregoing all roles for the duration of his incubation, Washington even began taking scripts to shred them for his budding nest. Talk about self-sacrifice! What’s your excuse?
5. Sally Field: 620 pounds
Next time you feel like punching in early, take note of this. Hatching a massive egg requires a tenacity few can knack, and Sally Field is not quick to throw in the towel. For months, Field pledged herself to a rigorous diet of weight-gainer shakes and ham. However, when doctors later explained to Field her body was maxing out at 220 pounds, she refused to accept her limitation. Instead, she began surgically adhering production assistants to her torso to triple her weight gain and body heat. In just shy of a month, after feeding not only herself but also three flailing humans sewn to her sides, the large egg she was doing this all for hatched magnificently. Due to her large girth, Sally Field then did immediately crush the contents of the hatched egg to death, but it was okay because it turned out it was Mark David Chapman in there. When you look up “insistent” in the dictionary, it’s right next to a photo of Sally Field.
