Mark Wahlberg opened up about gaining weight for a role in an upcoming film, sharing in an interview this week that eating 11,000 calories a day was far from fun.
The actor sat down virtually with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” on Thursday to discuss Wahlberg’s upcoming film, “Stu.” The film, which is based on a true story, follows Wahlberg as a boxer who embarks on a journey to get baptized to win over a woman, but then later pivots to become a priest.
In embarking on the role, Wahlberg had to gain a bunch of weight in just 30 days to appear as both a fit boxer and a less-fit priest. The “Ted” star elaborated to Fallon just how arduous that process was.
“Unfortunately, I had to consume, for two weeks, 7,000 calories, and then for another two weeks, 11,000 calories, and it was fun for about an hour. It’s such a hard, physical thing to do. Losing weight, you just kind of tough it out. You just don’t eat, and exercise. And this, even when you’re full, I would wake up after a meal and have another meal. I was eating every three hours. It was not fun,” he shared.
Noting Wahlberg had recently turned 50, Fallon asked whether losing and gaining weight had gotten harder with age. Wahlberg didn’t hesitate to say “absolutely” and added that: “Once the metabolism starts to slow down, it gets really difficult.”
“I’ve been trying to get this movie made for six years, we only had 30 days to shoot it, and so I wanted to really make it happen,” he continued. “And [I] was also crazy to have financed a lot of it myself. So I knew I was on a ticking clock on my own dime, and you get things done pretty quickly when that’s the case.”
Despite his previous weight gain, it seems the actor is back down to his pre-“Stu” physique, per his recent Instagram activity. He often posts workout videos or behind-the-scenes snapshots of his life for fans to follow along with.
Wahlberg is currently starring in another movie based on a true story, “Joe Bell,” which is slated for release in U.S. theaters later this month.
The film follows Wahlberg as Bell, a man who walked across the United States in an effort to raise awareness about bullying after his son Jadin Bell took his own life at 15 years old.