British actor Nicolas Galitzine endured months of training and body sculpting to take on the challenge of playing two radically different versions of the same man in the U.S. sword-and-sorcery film "Masters of the Universe."
Adapted from the beloved 1987 animated film, the new release officially hit theaters on Friday. The film follows ordinary office worker Adam as he receives the call from the Sword of Power, returning to his homeland and transforming into He-Man, the most powerful warrior in the universe, tasked with defending Eternia.
In a recent online interview, Galitzine shared his thoughts on what it was like to play a single character with two strikingly different personalities, as well as the divergent physical demands that went into preparation.
He highlighted that while Adam's storyline allows for more humor, He-Man's leans more heavily into action, particularly the intense sword-fighting sequences.
"There's a lot of fun for both of them. When you're office-Adam, he's so unhappy with the life that he's having to live. But in that, there's a lot of comedy to play, and I had a really good time with that. He-Man gets less comedy, but he gets more action. And then of course, the ability to be able to play with swords all day long was pretty enticing as well," said Galitzine.
Although the on-screen shift from everyday man to legendary hero may take only seconds, the actor said that the transformation for the actor took months of preparation, both to gain weight to play Adam, then get back into shape to take on the role of He-Man.
"It was really a painful process at times, but I felt like I'd already filmed the entire movie by the time we actually got to filming. Because, you're putting on all of this weight, and you're eating way too much food. And then, you're asked to do the exact opposite, and you're always doing cardio, and you're not eating any food at all. But also, in finding the true essence of the character and finding the costume, finding the hair, I had a lot of fun creating this character really over the space of about five months," Galitzine said.
British actor endures months of "painful" training to bring two faces of He-Man to life
