Oppenheimer: Cillian Murphy and Beyoncé are stars who took their diets to new extremes for their movies

Cillian Murphy only ate just one almond a day to transform into his character J. Robert Oppenheimer for the new movie. As much as we all love a celebrity diet, this may be one that won't be be jumping on.

In an interview with Extra Emily Blunt, 40, who plays Cillian’s on-screen wife Kitty Oppenheimer said: “He had such a monumental undertaking. And he could only eat, like, an almond every day. He was so emaciated”.

Cillian,47, reportedly skipped out on dining out with other cast members due to his strict diet. Which is no surprise as no one wants to go out for diner with friends when they are on a diet - especially when you can only eat one almond a day!

The actor explained to the New York Times how he took more than five months to prepare himself for the role mentally and physically. He said “I love acting with my body, and Oppenheimer had a very distinct physicality and silhouette, which I wanted to get right.”

“I had to lose quite a bit of weight, and we worked with the costume and tailoring; he was very slim, almost emaciated, existed on martinis and cigarettes. He had these really bright eyes and I wanted to give him this wide-eyed look, so we worked on his silhouette and expressions a lot before starting”. 

Actors are well  known for taking on fad-diets for film roles and pushing their bodies to the limits for the sake of a role. For her role in DreamGirls (2006)  Beyoncé tried the Maple Syrup diet. The ‘Crazy In Love’ singer reportedly lost 20 pounds (Just under one and  half stone) on the diet which consists of eating nothing for a fortnight, and surviving on detox drinks with a mixture of syrup, lemon juice, water and cayenne pepper - Yum. 

Christian Bale lost over 63 pounds (four and a half stone) for his portrayal as Trevor Reznik, the industrial worker who hasn’t slept for over a year, in the ‘The Machinist’(2004). According to IMDB his diet consisted of one can of tuna and an apple per day. 

The actor had to regain the weight in time for his role in ‘Batman Begins’ (2005). He reportedly ate pizza and tubs of Haagen Dazs ice-cream to regain the weight in just six months. 

This proves it’s not just weight loss that actors will go to the extremes for. Robert De Niro gained 60 pounds (four stone) for one scene -now that’s dedication - when he played the iconic boxer Jake LaMotta in ‘Raging Bull’ (1980). The actor set the world record for most weight gained for a movie role. 

However, he was beaten by Vincent D'Onofrio when the actor put on 70 pounds (five stone) for his role as a Pvt. Pyle in the movie Full Metal jacket (1987).