The Best Of Hollywood Muscle

If you’re hoping to make a blockbuster transformation, look no further. MH reviewed the greatest bodies ever to grace the silver screen and selected 30 cinematic icons who have defined the male physical ideal. Take inspiration – then act on their methods

- Jamie Millar

30 Robert De Niro

RAGING BULL 1980

Martin Scorsese’s pugilistic masterpiece features what is perhaps the ultimate body transformation by an actor. To play conflicted boxer Jake LaMotta, Robert De Niro didn’t just train like a pro but boxed for real, fighting three bouts and winning two of them. (He also broke co-star Joe Pesci’s rib in one of the sparring scenes.) To quote On the Waterfront – as De Niro does in a scene in this movie – he could have been a contender: the real LaMotta said the actor was one of the 20 best middleweights he’d ever seen.

However, De Niro then piled on the pounds for his scenes as the older, fatter LaMotta, gaining almost 30kg in four months on a diet largely consisting of pasta, ice cream and beer. “The first 15lb [7kg] was fun,” he said. “The rest was hard work.”

29 Sean Connery

DRNO 1962

He may not have shaken or stirred many supplements by today’s standards, but Connery was a bodybuilder in his early years who took part in 1950s Mr Universe competitions. Reluctant to stop playing football, however, he retained an athletic physique that left him unable to measure up to the (possibly artificially) supersized Americans. So he tried his hand at another profession: acting.

A notorious snob, the 007 creator Ian Fleming initially disparaged the Scot as an “overgrown stuntman”. But film producer Cubby Broccoli’s wife, Dana, saw something that the author didn’t: “He moves like a panther,” she said. Indeed, his mobility was ahead of its time, as this picture proves. More than any other film character, James Bond has become a template for men – and Connery set the mould.

28 Ryan Gosling

DRIVE 2011