‘Les Miz’: Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway compare extreme diet plans

What would you do for your work? Would you stop drinking liquids? Would you run for miles on an empty stomach? These were just some of the measures Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway were willing to go to for their roles in “Les Miserables.”

During The Envelope Screening Series, the two actors compared their efforts to transform their physical appearances for their parts as struggling 19th century French citizens.

Jackman stopped drinking liquids for 36 hours to achieve his gaunt look as a slave in the opening scene of the film. But it came with a cost: extreme crankiness. “Even Russell [Crowe] was scared of me,” he quipped.

While Hathaway lost a great deal of weight in a very short amount of time. “I thought she was a part that deserved everything,” she said.

For director Tom Hooper, his actors’ physical transformations only aided in his goal of steeping his soaring musical in gritty reality.

“The extreme physical changes helped ground the singing, helping the leap we are asking the audience to make,” he said.

For more on Hathaway’s running regime to the not-so-healthy competition the two had with each other to see who could lose more, take a look at the video above.

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