Orlando Bloom said the grueling physical and mental challenges he faced losing 33 pounds left him “out of sorts” while preparing for his role as a washed-up fighter in Sean Ellis’ boxing drama “The Cut.”
Bloom, best known for starring in franchises like “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Lord of the Rings,” detailed his grueling three-month regime prior to filming during an interview with TheWrap’s Steve Pond at TheWrap’s 2024 TIFF Studio sponsored by Moët & Chandon and Boss Design. His preparation involved not just physical training but also a strict dietary plan overseen by his nutritionist.
“You’re tired because you’re not really sleeping because you’re not eating a lot. I had to restrict carbohydrates, and I was working with this great nutritionist and he had me on a very tight regime,” Bloom said.”I’m about 185 and I dropped to 152 pounds.”
Bloom’s daily routine included “an hour and a half of boxing a day, an hour of cardio in the morning, an hour at night, and I was lifting weights,” all while operating on very little energy. The film was shot chronologically backwards.
Bloom even detailed how he lost the last couple of pounds prior to filming. “So for the weigh-in scene, which was maybe the second or third day, I had an Epsom salt bath, and I dropped like 10 pounds,” Bloom said. “I dropped 10 pounds of water weight.”
Director Sean Ellis recalled Bloom’s exhaustion during the filming of the indie movie, which was shot over 25 days.
“You were on the floor in between takes,” Ellis said. “I remember that because the way your energy levels were just shot and I remember we would call cut, you would then just lie on the floor, and he would lie there until we were ready to go again. You would get yourself up and gear yourself for the next take.”
Bloom also revealed the unexpected mental impact of his transformation. “The surprising thing was the mental way more than physical action,” Bloom said. “I was really paranoid, I thought he was coming for me at different times in ways that was not happening. It was weird. I was out of sorts, for sure.”
Ellis aimed to explore the psychological aspects of boxing in his film. “I wanted to do a boxing movie,” Ellis said. “And I like the idea of working into the psyche of an athlete and what they have to do to prepare themselves for that performance, and also how their past affects the performance, the mind games of sport.”
Watch the full interview with the cast of the film in the video above.
