This post contains discussion of body image issues.
Paul Rudd has been acting in things since I was in short pants — but MCU fans likely know him best from his role as Ant-Man in the film franchise.
Many MCU-affiliated actors have had to maintain insanely unreasonable body standards to portray their characters — and, as it turns out, Paul’s situation is no different.
During a recent appearance on the Off Menu podcast, Paul detailed what he had to go through diet-wise to portray Ant-Man in the MCU films — and, surprise surprise, it does not sound even remotely worth it.
“When I was having to train for the Ant-Man movie, and I was on a very restrictive diet, my reward was sparkling water,” he revealed. “That’s how horrible that diet was.”
“I was like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna have some sparkling water now, I’ve earned it.’ Yeah, it was great. It wasn’t flavored, I wasn’t gonna go crazy.”
Paul also explained that he adhered to the diet for all of his work in the MCU films, which comprised of eating “really boring food, every time, over and over again” — and that adhering to it was “actually not too hard” once he was in it.
But Paul also said that, even though he engaged in workout regimens in a similar manner as his MCU costars, he could never quite achieve the same results as his colleagues.
“I worked out harder than anyone, I would eat better than everyone, and I looked worse than all of them,” he admitted. “I had to work out all the time, eat perfectly, just to look kind of bad. Not even like great.”
“I remember on Endgame, Chris Hemsworth would always have these Tupperware containers and he’s eating this gruel of just a mash of stuff,” he further recalled. “He’s working out, and then you stand next to a guy like that, and I just think, ‘Well, what’s the point of any of this?’”
“Why am I killing myself when that can exist, and then I look at myself and this exists. I can never achieve that…That was the good thing that it was Ant-Man, it isn’t Thor.”
“But I tried to work out, and it didn’t work.”
You can listen to the entire interview here.
