If there’s one performance that everyone at Sundance raves about, it’s Jonathan Majors on Magazine Dreams. The actor stunned Park City with his transformative performance as a toxic bodybuilding fanatic. Majors appears in the film as a giant beast, with the camera often lingering over his muscles for minutes. The actor revealed at Variety Studio presented by Audible in Sundance that he spent four months consuming over 6,000 calories to morph into the character.
“I’m 6 feet tall. I weigh 202 pounds,” Majors said. “To maintain that and grow, you have to eat as much protein as you weigh. I ate 6,100 calories a day for about four months. That included the pre-production and post-production of ‘Creed III’.”
“The average bodybuilder trains twice a day,” Majors continued. “I play Killian Maddox… When you play him you don’t fuck around. I ended up training for two hours, twice a day for the film and a third time after the film. You now eat six times a day. Lots of chicken. Lots of moose. This is just for me I like this.”
Is Majors looking forward to slowing down training after being jacked up for ‘Creed III’ and ‘Magazine Dreams’? He’ll be backing up, but he’s not exactly going to slow down.
“I played football in Texas. I’ve worked up an appetite,” Majors said. “I really like being physical. I like hiking and running. i have dogs I’m only 33… I have to do something to keep at it. I no longer train three times a day. Only once a day.”
Major’s performance in “Magazine Dreams” was praised by Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman, who wrote in his review: “Majors looks and sounds like Dennis Haysbert’s giant cousin, and his inner, quiet, reflective quality is captivating. What an achievement!”