“I’m basically killing myself to be this trim,” admitted the actor, who said the more he slimmed down the “better [he] looked next to other actors,” before revealing his current weight.
Dave Bautista is opening up about his dramatic physical transformation.
During an interview with Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, the wrestler-turner-actor spoke about his recent weight loss, and revealed what inspired his transformation.
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When asked if he’s been “slimming down” in order to have more opportunities for film roles, Bautista said, “Yeah. Absolutely.”
“I started trimming down for a particular reason. Why?” he continued. “One, I started trimming down because I just got fat.”
Bautista said he got “uncomfortably big” for his role in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2023 thriller Knock at the Cabin.
“I got really big. I was around 315 pounds, and I put the weight on really fast,” he recalled.
“When I was younger, I was carrying lots and lots of muscle. This I had to put on, like, you know, between films,” he continued. “I had a very short period of time to put this weight on. I packed it on with french fries and pancakes.”
“That’s how I did it, and the director asked me, he said, ‘You know, I don’t want you to look like a powerlifter. I just want you to look like a great big guy,'” Bautista added. “And so now, looking back at it, man, I probably overdid it.”
“I was probably a little too big, but at the time, I was just thinking, ‘I got to get big, got to get big, I got to get big,’ and I put an uncomfortable amount of weight, and it took me forever to shed it off,” he said.
The Killer’s Game star went on to admit that the more he “trimmed down” the “better” he
“felt,” “looked on camera” and “looked next to other actors.”
Bautista then reacted to fans who have expressed concern about his transformation.
“It’s weird because people think, like for me, people say, ‘God, you’re skinny,'” he said. “I even saw online some people are worried about my health, and when I say out loud to people, ‘I’m 6’4″, 240 pounds.’ It sounds like when you say that out loud, it sounds like I’m a big person.'”
“But to me, because people have seen me so much, so you know, so much bigger over the years, and you know, they think I’m anorexic,” Bautista added. “But I’m still just a large human being, so at 6’4″, 240 pounds next to your typical actor, I look like a gorilla, and it’s distracting.”
The Guardians of the Galaxy actor said that while losing weight has been a major challenge, he plans to slim down just a little more.
“I’ll probably lose a few more pounds. I’m basically killing myself to be this trim,” Bautista admitted. “I’m training hard. My calories are pretty restricted.”
When Van Vliet asked how many calories Bautista eats a day, he revealed, “Maybe 2500 calories a day.”
“For me, it’s like nothing. I’m just not eating much. I’m not starving or anything,” he continued, adding that he does intermittent fasting. “I haven’t eaten yet. It’s almost 1 o’clock. And then I typically don’t eat like three, four hours before I go to bed.”
