Get ready for a web-slinging journey through ’15 Amazing Bodies from Spider-Man Films.’ Dive into Emma Stone’s mental health insights and Andrew Garfield’s physical transformation for ‘Silence.’ Discover Denis Leary’s emotional acting approach and Paul Giamatti’s candid views on wealth. Topher Grace reflects on fatherhood’s impact, while Tom Hiddleston talks self-acceptance. Zendaya keeps it real with career spontaneity. Robert Downey Jr. shares his rigorous training, and Marisa Tomei emphasizes inner well-being. Tobey Maguire discusses his Spider-Man comeback, Gwyneth Paltrow shares cooking tips, and Benedict Cumberbatch reveals his fitness regimen. Kirsten Dunst, Cobie Smulders, and Donald Glover round out this star-studded health and wellness showcase.
Emma Stone played Gwen Stacy in the Amazing Spider-Man films. She talked about her struggles with mental health to The Talks. “I’m not so hard on myself — a lot of it was the pressure that I would put on myself. I’ve learned that anxiety in its essence is fear. And what is the major fear? Fear of death. There is nothing else to be afraid of. So utilizing the positive side of that, there is this excitement for life, you know, they say anxiety is excitement without breath. So if you breathe through it, it becomes excitement.“
Andrew Garfield played Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man films. He talked about losing weight for the film Silence to People. “It was really great to know that experience of fasting, starvation, it was really an amazing opportunity to know that,” he shares. “What it revealed to me, because not only were we in this losing weight and trying to – just because the reality of the characters is such, there’s no food on the island and the villagers are rationed anyway and eat even less than we do. Even on the journey over to Macau it would have been rife with dysentery and all kinds of sickness and hardly any food, so that hunger was really important.”
Denis Leary played George Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man. He talked about playing dramatic roles to Variety. “There’s no other way to deal with the emotional side of drama — for me anyways, as an actor — than to carry some of that emotion around. It was tough. I loved the show, but once I came out, I was like [long, shaky sigh]. You know what I mean? To go back to TV — not that I wouldn’t go back to do a drama at some point. But I certainly didn’t want to go back and do a drama right away.”
Paul Giamatti played Rhino in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He spoke out against billionaires in an interview with GQ. “I don’t have much fondness for either side of the thing. I probably have less fondness for the billionaires. I think I’m more forgiving of the politicians, in some ways I probably shouldn’t be. The federal attorneys … a lot of those guys really work hard, and they don’t make any money, and they’re trying to do the right thing, a lot of those guys. The money guys, I don’t know. I just don’t have a whole lot of fondness for those guys.”
Topher Grace, who played Venom in Spider-Man 3, talked about the impact fatherhood has had on him to GQ. “Before I had kids, I hated listening to actors talk about how their kids changed everything for them. And I didn’t do it for my kids. I don’t like when actors say they did a movie, like an animated movie or something, because they wanted something for their kids to like. Why don’t you just do it for you? But I did this one for me. I actually feel like the character is going through something very similar to what I’m going through. I don’t have twins. But I understood that underwater feeling you have when the kids are really young, and you’re trying to live out creative passions. My character happens to be a novelist, but he wants to make time for that but even when the series starts, the first thing you see, I’m just at a desk and writing. And then you see like there’s one crib next to the desk and you see there’s another crib and the other kid comes at you and yeah, that’s how it feels if you’re really trying to balance those two things.“
Tom Hiddleston is the Spider-Man for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He talked about learning to not be so hard on himself and to not care what others think to The Hollywood Reporter. “I love my job. I love my friends. I’m not worried about what people think. The only thing I really care about is how I feel.”
Zendaya plays Mary Jane Watson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She tells Interview Magazine that she doesn’t really plan out her career. “I’ve never really thought, ‘I have to do this by this time and I want to do this by that time,'” Zendaya says. “I just want to do the things that make me happy and bring me joy and fulfill me as an artist, as a person. So, I keep that loose, because if one day it turns into a completely different career path, then I would allow myself to do that.”
Robert Downey Jr. plays Iron Man/Tony Stark in the Marvel films. He shared some videos on Instagram detailing his training process for the films. In them, Downey Jr. does leg presses, lifts weights, and does sit ups with a ball throw. He captioned the post, “Here’s a fun #throwback in the ‘iron’ jungle with my buddy @bbose | @xchange.fit …was getting ready for some ‘Infinity’ action!”
Marisa Tomei plays May Parker in the Marvel films. She talked about what she did to get in shape for the press tours of said films to Vogue. “It’s an inside-out thing,” Tomei said. “By that, I mean what you put into your body is even more crucial than what you’re doing in terms of your exterior. What I eat and how I connect with my body feed my external. Right before the press tour, I went to Greece for a few weeks because I was at a stressful point in my personal life. I got really relaxed, which really helped [me]! In terms of brass tacks, I try to eat seasonal, local, and organic foods as much as possible, almost all the time. Moving meditation, like dance meditation, makes me feel at home in my skin; it helps me on a spiritual, mental, and, ultimately, physical level. I still hike and do calisthenics and yoga from time to time, but the cornerstone of it all is the inner stuff.“
Tobey Maguire played Spider-Man in the original trilogy. He talked about returning to the role, alongside Hiddleston and Garfield in an interview. “To me, when artists or, you know, people who are steering the creative process have a kind of authentic, genuine intent of celebration and love, it just was so apparent in both of them, that, I don’t know, I just wanted to join that. And I’m a big fan of Tom and those movies and Andrew. So, it was definitely intriguing, but yes, I was also going, ‘well, what are we going to do? And that was a bit mysterious.”
Gwyneth Paltrow reprised her role as Pepper Potts in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Paltrow likes to cook, and shared her recipes with Shape Magazine. “I have a bunch of chicken dishes and pasta go-tos, and I do a lot of stir-fry for the kids. I always keep cooked brown rice in the fridge. Then it takes two minutes to chop up some vegetables, make a nice sauce, and you’re done.”
Benedict Cumberbatch played Dr. Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home. In an interview with CinemaBlend, he talked about losing weight for The Courier. “I lost about a stone and a half [21 pounds], and it was through the usual methods of dieting, but also some extreme exercise. I was very fit.”
Kirsten Dunst played Mary Jane Watson in the original trilogy. She shared some of her skincare secrets with Hello! Magazine. “First, I stay out of the sun. I like how it looks when someone is tanned, but it doesn’t work with my skin, it’s too sensitive. And I do like natural products. I use Dr Hauschka and when I was in London I tried Eve Lom, which I really like.”
Cobie Smulders played Maria Hill in Spider-Man: Far From Home. She shared her typical diet with Self Magazine. “My usual day: a green smoothie for breakfast — if I want to get fancy, it’s eggs on arugula — fruit for a snack, a salad with protein for lunch, and fish and quinoa for dinner,” she said. “I’ll have pasta two out of seven meals. And if I have 3 bites of my husband’s mac & cheese, I don’t kill myself! I just slowdown and enjoy it, instead of shoveling it in my face.”
Donald Glover plays Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming. He tells GreenMatters that sustainability is important to him. “We have our own garden, and with all of our food waste, we compost and put back into the garden. I also have an electric vehicle — I was kind of an early adopter of that. We’re also looking into hydro paneling, to take water from the air… stuff like that.