They really need to package and market the Hollywood Method Acting Weight Loss System. Sling together a quick infomercial that features host Keira Knightly going over the three easy steps to emaciation:
- Whatever you’re eating, stop eating it.
- Don’t eat anything anymore.
- Maintain Step 2.
It is this secret that allows us to have films starring transformed actors vying for a bevy of awards…I mean altering themselves in the name of “becoming” the character. I’m always impressed as I tried Nutrisystem, lost 6 pounds in two months, and packed them right back on again the day I stopped the diet. I would have a very hard time portraying a holocaust victim in my 36 inch waist jeans but the Hollywood Method Acting Weight Loss System allows for this.
The weight loss/gain thing usually comes off as a gimmick. It can be distracting and an obvious ploy that the actor just wants to be taken seriously. I think the best case of this going too far was Mr. Christian Bale’s failed suicide attempt on film for the mediocre The Machinist. He then turned around and gained massive pounds of muscle for the first of Nolan’s Batman flicks, a feat that lends credibility to the theory that Christian Bale is part balloon.
In the movie we are discussing today, Dallas Buyers Club, we have a rare instance where two of the film’s stars dropped loads of lbs to bring to life a true story set during the mid-80s AIDS crisis. Matthew McConaughey looks like a different human being as he plays Ron Woodroof but when he opens his mouth, he sounds just like Matt McConaughey. He moves with his trademark swagger, and flashes his famous grin although now there is less flesh to bunch up on the cheeks. This made me constantly aware of McConaughey’s performance and while he brings a solid emotional weight to the role that does the story justice, there is a disconnect.
The other shrunken star of the film is Jared Leto and he is a marvel; a complete metamorphosis as Rayon, an HIV-positive transvestite that becomes an unexpected business partner to Woodroof. Leto is all but absent on the screen and the weight loss, waxed brows, caked makeup- all embody the real life character, making the performance a tribute to Rayon and so many others that lost their lives during that horrid period of time.
The story is an interesting one that is important to tell. Woodroof was a hard partying type that slept with any woman that made eye contact with him. His health ailing, he is taken to the hospital and told that he has the HIV- Virus that has already developed into full blown AIDS. Woodroof disbelief mirrors the general idiotic reaction of the times: How can he have that disease when it only affects “fags”. His community and friends reject him, assuming him gay and he is left alone to figure out how to fight this.
Woodruff found that other countries were fighting the disease with minerals and vitamins while the U.S. (thanks to our lobbyists) were hell-bent on pushing a drug that was toxic at the doses they were prescribing. Woodruff fights against FDA while embracing those around him.
When it comes to the treatment of the homosexual community, it is important to look back at this time and see how much progress has been made in the last 30 years. The AIDS epidemic was fueled by hate and misunderstanding. Dallas Buyers Club exposes a couple of heroes that lost the battle but exposed what wars we should be fighting.