HENRY CAVILL GOES BEAST MODE

Renowned for his relentless work ethic and dedication to training, the Superman actor could be forgiven for craving some downtime. But for monster-hunting epic The Witcher, Netflix’s keenly awaited answer to Game of Thrones, he turned up the toil afresh. His reward? Becoming the stuff of schoolboy fantasy.

- Jamie Miller

IT'S ‘EASY, WHEN you see an A-list actor in great shape, to think: what’s so impressive about that? To scoff. After all, if it was your job to be in great shape – if you had a top personal trainer, a private gym, a chef – you’d be in great shape, too. Piece of cake. But when you see Henry Cavill in prodigious nick in The Witcher – the Netflix swords-demons-and-leather fantasy drama that dropped over the festive season – know that this thought is far from the whole picture. Or, in this case, eight-episode series.

Filming for the show, which predominantly took place in Hungary, was anything but a typical day at the office. “There were eight-hour-long chunks of screen time to fill, rather than [a normal movie’s] two or three, but it was shot over a similar period,” says Cavill. “So, you just had to get more done.” You had to, as the Jersey native says in his clipped British accent, “knuckle under”.

Working on The Witcher, Cavill would wake up so close to the witching hour that it was more night than day, before performing 20 minutes of fasted cardio on his trusty elliptical. Then he’d “do business” in the car on the way to the set, where he would sit in hair and make-up for over two hours while working on the script. Next, he would shoot for 10 hours or more, which often involved physical stuff such as horse riding and sword fighting. Only then would he go to the gym – a public one called Flex in Budapest. The name is apt, given the “extraordinarily helpful” owner Adam’s accommodating nature.