Joe Namath's aura during his prime years were that of a Hollywood personality rather than that of an athlete's. Sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll was the lifestyle for the man nicknamed, Broadway Joe, but while he was the party type who was continuously spotted with a hottie on his arm, he also was a major problem on the football field as well. The three-sport high school athlete known for his dunking ability took his talents to the University of Alabama where he played from 1962 to 1964 and stated that residing in Alabama was a culture shock for him being that he grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood in Pennsylvania. However, that didn't stop Namath from leading the Crimson Tide to a 29-4 record during his three-year tenure in Alabama and a national championship in 1964.
In the 1965 NFL Draft, Joe Namath was selected 12th overall by the St. Louis Cardinals while the New York Jets selected Namath 1st overall in the AFL Draft. After negotiations took place, Namath signed a contract with the New York Jets where he would become a local legend and play all but one out of the thirteen seasons of his professional football career. Despite going winless in his first six games as a rookie, Namath was able to scoop up the award for AFL Rookie of the Year. He would then go on to lead the Jets to an AFL Championship win in 1968 while also being named an AFL All-Star four times and AFL MVP twice. Following the AFL-NFL merger in the mid-'60s, Namath also participated in Super Bowl III against the Baltimore Colts, leading the Jets to a 16-7 victory and winning Super Bowl MVP honors. In 132 starts, Namath ended his football career with an overall record of 64-64-4 and a touchdown to interception ratio of 173-220. While some may argue Namath is mediocre at best skill-wise, his celebrity and impact on football culturally have made him an icon.
Celebrities are no strangers to changing their looks for a role. And in some instances, they have to get pretty extreme. From 500-calorie-a-day diets to drinking pints of ice cream, Actors and actresses know what it takes to change their bodies in preparation for a new film.
Charlize Theron is no stranger to gaining and losing weight for movie roles, as we remember her transformation in Monster. Charlize Theron gained close to 50 pounds for her role as Marlo in Tully. Theron said that “for the first time in my life I was eating so much processed foods and I drank way too much sugar. … I remember having to set my alarm in the middle of the night in order to just maintain the weight.”
You’re used Chris Hemsworth's hulk-like figure in Thor, but In the Heart of the Sea required a totally different diet. The movie required the cast members lose a ton of weight to make their stuck-at-sea plight more believable. Chris Hemsworth said there were days when all he ate was one boiled egg, a couple of crackers, and a celery stick.
Anne Hathaway wanted to get serious for her role in Les Misérables, as she was playing Fantine, a starving prostitute with tuberculosis. So Anne Hathaway went on a diet of “rabbit food” to drop 25 pounds. Hathaway explained her diet was essentially just starving herself, but she didn’t want to give details, as she doesn’t want to encourage anyone to copy her emaciated look. She did note that she “just had to stop eating for a total of 13 days shooting,” however. And at one point, her bones became so frail that she reportedly broke her arm.
Matthew McConaughey's portrayal of Ron Woodruff in Dallas Buyers Club, a man with HIV/AIDS, was spot-on, earning him the title of best actor at the Oscars. But it also required a serious physical transformation. Matthew McConaughey said he lost 38 pounds for the role. During filming, he said he lost a lot of energy from eating so little — and he hit plenty of plateaus along the way. Finally, with a strict diet, he got down to 143 pounds. And while he did cardio to help with the weight loss, he said it was 90% what he was eating and portion size.
Hilary Swank had to put on 23 pounds of pure muscle for her role as a boxer in Million Dollar Baby. The process doesn’t sound easy, however. “I started working out five hours a day — I had to eat 210 grams of protein a day,” Swank said. She also mentioned that she had to consume 60 egg whites per day, and when that proved too difficult, she had to drink them. And to keep the muscle on, she would get up and drink protein shakes in the middle of the night.