A peek behind the scenes of Marvel casting

[oudeis]

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/09/marvel-secrets-revealed-alternate-castings-that-would-have-changed-everything?

A few tidbits from an upcoming book (https://www.amazon.com/MCU-Marvel-Studios-Joanna-Robinson/dp/1631497510?) about the MCU. Some what-ifs, including a couple headscratchers- John Krasinski as Captain America?- but the most interesting part was the discussion about the use of PEDs in getting the actors in superhero shape.


Dr. Todd Schroeder, associate professor of clinical physical therapy and director of the University of Southern California Clinical Exercise Research Center at the USC Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, estimated that over half of Marvel’s stars use some form of performance enhancing drug (PED) to get the physiques they want. “At least for the short term,” he said. “I would say that fifty to seventy-five percent do.”


Well, DUH. Did anybody who saw Kumail Nanjiani's transmorgrification for Eternals believe it came from white chicken meat and two-a-day workouts?

It'll be interesting to see if the book adds any new details about the strongarm tactics Marvel used when signing up the mostly new and unknown actors when they were getting the franchise off the ground.

[RustyArcana]

Wait, people believed Marvel actors were NOT using PEDs? :smalleek:

[Tyndmyr]

Yeah, I...didn't think Thor's body happened naturally.

A lot of these hollywood "beef up super quick" examples almost certainly rely on substances. Eating great and working out does help, but isn't going to transform you into a literally superhero style body in a month or two.

Sure, they're putting in work, too, but the rate you add muscle at is kinda time limited. Adding multiple workouts a day is great for hitting different areas or different kinds of workouts, but you can't grow infinite muscle fast.

[BananaPhone]

I could totally have seen John Krasinski as Captain America, at least a different version of it. Chris Evans got the big shoulders and athletic physique going, while Krasinski got more of a lean, soldiery-physique. If Krasin had've worked on his jaw, somehow, I could've seen him as a different style of Captain America.

Hell, he could've been a decent Winter Soldier, given what I just said.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I could totally have seen John Krasinski as Captain America, at least a different version of it. Chris Evans got the big shoulders and athletic physique going, while Krasinski got more of a lean, soldiery-physique. If Krasin had've worked on his jaw, somehow, I could've seen him as a different style of Captain America.

Hell, he could've been a decent Winter Soldier, given what I just said.
I can definitely see it, he's got that "comfortable vanilla Everyman" feeling that works well for Steve, I like the idea of him as Bucky.

[Peelee]

Yeah, I...didn't think Thor's body happened naturally.

A lot of these hollywood "beef up super quick" examples almost certainly rely on substances.

You don't need "super quick" in there. Think of your standard meathead. That's PED body. You don't get that big at all without drugs. You can get a pretty great body naturally but it's not as big as a lot of people think, from what I've read about people being surprised at the prevalence of PEDs.

Also, of note, I'm not against them at all, so long as informed consent is being conveyed with them.

[Tyndmyr]

You don't need "super quick" in there. Think of your standard meathead. That's PED body. You don't get that big at all without drugs. You can get a pretty great body naturally but it's not as big as a lot of people think, from what I've read about people being surprised at the prevalence of PEDs.

Also, of note, I'm not against them at all, so long as informed consent is being conveyed with them.

Eh, you can do quite a lot over a very long time. It's just a ton of work, and it only happens so quick. Can you add ten pounds of muscle in six months? Yes. It's aggressive, and will require a good diet and very consistent, challenging workouts. Can you add ten pounds of muscle in a month? No. There's simply not enough recovery time. You could add ten pounds in a month, but it mostly won't be muscle.

So, if they've been solidly in shape for basically their entire career, okay, that could be natural. Something like Bale's wild transformations seem far less probable to be natural, though. Yeah, you can gain/lose weight fairly rapidly with a massive calorie mismatch, but muscle only adds so fast. Chris Pratt wasn't super in shape before grabbing the Starlord role, his current body is...improbable to be natural IMO.

PEDs are a ton more common than people think, yeah. I dare say that a fair proportion of bodybuilders, atheletes and military folks use them. Hollywood being hollywood, I kind of just took it as a given that it's extremely common.

[Peelee]

Eh, you can do quite a lot over a very long time. It's just a ton of work, and it only happens so quick. Can you add ten pounds of muscle in six months? Yes. It's aggressive, and will require a good diet and very consistent, challenging workouts. Can you add ten pounds of muscle in a month? No. There's simply not enough recovery time. You could add ten pounds in a month, but it mostly won't be muscle.

So, if they've been solidly in shape for basically their entire career, okay, that could be natural. Something like Bale's wild transformations seem far less probable to be natural, though. Yeah, you can gain/lose weight fairly rapidly with a massive calorie mismatch, but muscle only adds so fast. Chris Pratt wasn't super in shape before grabbing the Thor role, his current body is...improbable to be natural IMO.

PEDs are a ton more common than people think, yeah. I dare say that a fair proportion of bodybuilders, atheletes and military folks use them. Hollywood being hollywood, I kind of just took it as a given that it's extremely common.
Sure, you can get a very muscley body over time, but that's not what I was saying. There's only so big you can get naturally, and it's smaller than what the general public might think.

[Rynjin]

Yeah, that's the main thing. You can get fit pretty fast. You can get muscular slower.

You're not gonna look like Chris Hemsworth without the juice. And a side of dehydration to boot.

[Joran]

Yeah, that's the main thing. You can get fit pretty fast. You can get muscular slower.

You're not gonna look like Chris Hemsworth without the juice. And a side of dehydration to boot.

Or Hugh Jackman. To get that muscled, veiny look, he needs to cut (dehydrate himself) for it. There's some planning to get ready for that filming day and ironically enough, it's also the most physically weak he is.

https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/health/news/a53724/hugh-jackman-logan-workout/

[Psyren]

You don't need "super quick" in there. Think of your standard meathead. That's PED body. You don't get that big at all without drugs. You can get a pretty great body naturally but it's not as big as a lot of people think, from what I've read about people being surprised at the prevalence of PEDs.

Also, of note, I'm not against them at all, so long as informed consent is being conveyed with them.

Agreed on all counts. If they're not in some kind of athletic competition then who cares?

Or hell, even if they are - just do different brackets for the "modified" and "unmodified" athletes, imo.

[Peelee]

Agreed on all counts. If they're not in some kind of athletic competition then who cares?

Or hell, even if they are - just do different brackets for the "modified" and "unmodified" athletes, imo.

It's an oldie, but so long as the participants know what they're getting into and are willing to deal with the potential consequences, the "**** it, let's see how high a human really can jump" school of thought does intrigue me.

[VampiricLongbow]

There is just no way around guys using PEDs. You cannot build that much muscle mass that quickly otherwise. I am not sure if I really endorse the idea of anyone doing PEDs for their job, doubly so when the alternative is not making millions of dollars and becoming a household name (thus losing out on millions more in potential future earnings).

Krasinski could have worked as Captain America. I am pretty sure there are other roles he is better suited for, even back then, but there is nothing inherently wrong with Krasinski playing Steve.

I like the fact that Branagh pitched the idea of renaming Mjölnir. It is a tricky word for English speakers but it would have felt super weird to have renamed the hammer for the movies (which, no doubt, would have filtered down into the comics). I suppose they could have started Thor off with Stormbreaker but that would have required drastically altering the MCU version of the character.

[Peelee]

There is just no way around guys using PEDs. You cannot build that much muscle mass that quickly otherwise. I am not sure if I really endorse the idea of anyone doing PEDs for their job, doubly so when the alternative is not making millions of dollars and becoming a household name (thus losing out on millions more in potential future earnings).

Imean, they don't have to. As you yourself say, they do it for millions of dollars and becoming a household name. There are numerous roles that don't need a PED body. They go for the ones that do.

[Psyren]

It's an oldie, but so long as the participants know what they're getting into and are willing to deal with the potential consequences, the "**** it, let's see how high a human really can jump" school of thought does intrigue me.

Transhumanism is one of the areas of study I find most intriguing. (Capitalism rant not engaged in :smallfurious:)


Imean, they don't have to. As you yourself say, they do it for millions of dollars and becoming a household name. There are numerous roles that don't need a PED body. They go for the ones that do.

And it's not like they're riskily getting shredded before being considered and potentially failing to be cast / left to deal with the fallout alone, it occurs after they've landed the role. Chris Pratt didn't get his "Marvel Body" until after he was confirmed to be Starlord, he was pretty doughy on Parks and Rec.