Anne Hathaway truly went to extremes for her Les Miserables part.
In this exclusive clip, the actress talks about the dramatic weight loss she underwent to portray starving Fantine in her critically acclaimed performance.
“Over the course of five weeks I lost 25 pounds and I lost 15 of those pounds in the last two weeks,” Hathaway says. “It was very intense and extreme.”
The clip is part of the extra bonus features from the Les Miserables DVD and Blu-ray release on March 22. Hathaway would go on to win the best supporting actress Oscar for the part.
Director Tom Hooper says the idea to lose the weight to appear more “real” was Hathaway’s.
“I would never require an actor to lose weight,” says Hooper. “She wanted to.”
Hathaway admitted she was pushed by her dedication to the part.
“If I had stopped and really thought about what I was doing, it probably would have felt too hard,” she says.
In another scene, starving Fantine has her hair cut so she can sell it. Rather than fake the cutting, Hathaway had her own hair cut on camera.
“Anytime you are given something that allows you to go deeper inside the character, get closer to them, mesh with them, it’s a gift,” says Hathaway.
