Welsh A-lister Taron Egerton opens up on his battles with body image and says he ‘ran himself ragged’ for Netflix thriller Apex with Charlize Theron
The star spoke candidly about body image and his estranged father(Image: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock)
Hollywood star Taron Egerton has admitted that he ‘starved’ himself in order to play his chilling role as serial killer Ben in hit Netflix thriller Apex – and got tips on playing pure evil from acting legend Anthony Hopkins.
In Apex, released back in April, Charlize Theron played a grieving woman who finds herself being hunted in the Australian wilderness by a serial killer (Egerton).
And Egerton, 36, says the physical transformation he went through for his role was extreme, to say the least. Speaking on Monday’s episode of Dax Shepard‘s Armchair Expert podcast, the Rocketman star detailed just how much the creepy role took it out of him.
“It’s worth being wary of that, I think, because that version of me in Apex, the guy who’s whatever silly body fat I was, and all kind of strong, every day I punish myself for not looking like that,” Taron said.
“But the truth of the matter is that I starved myself.” I was running myself absolutely ragged to get there.”
Taron then added that a pal once told him that his job was to “smash” the “idealised version” of himself, not to “aspire” to it, as he admitted he had struggled with his body in his 20s, shaping up for a role, then falling out of shape afterwards – but had things more under control in his 30s.
“It’s one of the things that is a challenge nobody wants to hear about, but fluctuating relationship with your own images,” he revealed, confessing that he was often “filled with self-loathing” during his “shirtless days” filming Apex as well as his 2014 film Kingsman: The Secret Service.
“I couldn’t enjoy it at the time because I’d completely lost any distorted sense of perspective,” he explained. “Also, it ain’t that deep. You bounce back, you carry on. It’s fine. It’s just what it is, you know?”
The Welsh native also opened up on getting tips from Anthony Hopkins, who in 1992 won an Oscar for his portrayal of serial killer Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, on playing evil characters.
Egerton said: “I’m very honoured to say that I have a sort of slight pen pal relationship with Anthony Hopkins, and I asked him before doing the movie for advice about playing a really fucked up individual.”
“And he said something like, ‘I don’t know where Lecter came from, probably something in my childhood’.”
“But he said, ‘The only advice I would give you, and I don’t need to tell you this, but the only advice I would give you is don’t play the evil. Play him as the hero of his story’.”
The star also opened up on the eye-opening pod about his estranged relationship with his dad, who his mother Christine divorced when he was two., admitting it was “more difficult” as an adult.
He said: “My father and I, when I was growing up, were able to maintain a fairly kind of functional relationship. As I got older, that became more difficult and I haven’t spoken to him for a number of years now”.
“I do love him. I just don’t think we work very well in terms of our relationship. So, there was a point where I pushed the ejector seat and haven’t seen him since.”
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