When someone is a professional actor, they get paid to pretend to be someone else for a living. In most cases, that means adopting a new personality or even a different accent. However, in extreme cases, the actor needs to look completely different for a role.When some actors need to look different, they turn to movie makeup to completely transform. In other cases, actors and directors have opted to rely on CGI to change. Finally, some actors have gained or lost a lot of weight for a role.In between the third and fourth seasons of Netflix's Stranger Things, David Harbour's character Jim Hopper went through a lot. As a result of what the character went through, Hopper lost a lot of weight before the events of the fourth season began.In order to embody Jim Hopper during the fourth season of Stranger Things, Harbour lost a lot of weight. Based on what Harbour has said about losing weight to portray Jim Hopper, it could easily be argued that is a problem.
What Did David Harbour Do To Lose Weight?
When it was time for David Harbour to begin losing weight for Stranger Things' fourth season, he was forced to deal with a huge stumbling block. After all, Harbour had recently ruptured his Achilles tendon.
Fortunately for Harbour, he met a trainer and physical therapist named David Higgins on the set of Black Widow. With Higgins' guidance, Harbour adopted a workout and diet regimen that changed his body dramatically.
During an Instagram Live stream, Harbour and David Higgins explained what the famous actor did to transform.
According to the Davids, the biggest thing Harbour did to lose weight for Stranger Things season 4 was he adopted intermittent fasting.
“It wasn't so much about what I was eating, it was about the how, and that was much better for my lifestyle. All these guys in fitness are like 'you've got to steam chicken breast and vegetables and a little bit of rice,' and [that's] just not my vibe. I did find, though, because I was really big, the weight came off pretty easily."
On the workout side of things, Harbour focused on "mobility and activation exercises, kettlebell workouts, Pilates and steady-state cardio" as GQ summarized.
After all of that work, Harbour has spoken about how great it was to gain confidence in his body which is great. However, Harbour concentrating on losing weight quickly is problematic, to say the least.
Why David Harbour's Stranger Things Weight Loss Reveals A Dark Truth
When it comes to actors, what makes a good or bad performance is extremely subjective. As a result, it makes sense that a lot of people grade performances on how much the actor committed to their roles.
When an actor gains or loses a lot of weight for a role, that is an obvious indicator of how much an actor committed to their performance. With that in mind, it makes sense that actors like Christian Bale often are celebrated for their transformations.
Considering all the praise and success that Bale has gotten after transforming his body for roles, you'd think that he wouldn't regret it at all. However, during two of Bale's past interviews, the actor was blunt about why he can't keep drastically changing his body.
When Bale spoke to the Sunday Times Culture magazine, he explained why he can't keep gaining and losing drastic amounts of weight.
"I can't keep doing it. I really can't. My mortality is staring me in the face.”
More dramatically, when he spoke to E! in 2019, Christian Bale stated he feared for his life if he continues transforming.
"I'm older and I feel like if I keep doing what I've done in the past I'm going to die. So, I'd prefer not to die."
While David Harbour hasn't gained and lost weight nearly as much as Bale has, during the aforementioned Instagram Live, he hinted at how hard dropping so much weight quickly was.
After explaining his weight loss process, Harbour instantly made it clear he never wanted to go through that again. “I don’t think I’ll ever do that again.”
From there, Harbour went on to explain that after filming Stranger Things season 4, he worked to gain all the weight back for another role. To underline how difficult what he went through was, Harbour then reiterated he wouldn't do it again.
“I have this Santa Claus movie coming out for Universal in December [called ‘Violent Night’], and I gained [it all back]. But now, yeah, never again. The prosthetics are too good.”
On the one hand, it feels wrong to not give Harbour and actors like him credit for caring so much about their roles that they transform for them.
On the other hand, we should all agree that it is wrong for actors like Harbour to risk their health by boomeranging their weight by quickly losing and gaining a lot of weight in succession.
Since Harbour is a human being and he has people who love him, it isn't worth risking his health like that just for a role. Sadly, despite previously saying he wouldn't do it again, Harbour has revealed he is already struggling to lose weight for the fifth season of Stranger Things.