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There is a lot to come in the world of the MCU before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 hits cinemas next May, but that doesn’t mean fans aren’t already excited to see the return of the ragtag group of heroes led by Peter “Star Lord” Quill in their next solo outing. While some of the Guardians will be seen in this summer’s Thor: Love and Thunder, and there is also the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special to come at the end of the year, next summer’s movie will introduce the long-teased Adam Warlock into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Star Will Poulter was announced last year as being cast in the role, and the actor has already been discussing how much work he had had to put into transforming himself for the part.
While some Marvel actors have the luxury of being hidden away behind a CGI character, others have to go through some pretty tough work to make sure they are able to portray their role in the best way possible. Poulter recently spoke to The Independent about the “extreme transformation” he underwent to get ready to play Adam Warlock, and it is one that he said he would not recommend to anyone. He said:
“It's difficult talking about it because with Marvel it's all secret squirrel, but the most important thing is that your mental and physical health has to be number one, and the aesthetic goals have to be secondary, otherwise you end up promoting something that is unhealthy and unrealistic if you don't have the financial backing of a studio paying for your meals and training. I'm in a very privileged position in that respect, and I wouldn't recommend anyone do what I did to get ready for that job. I've gone through a series of different diets over the last few months. Now I'm in a maintenance phase, which is quite nice. I'm not eating copious amounts of food to bulk, and I'm not cutting. I'm just maintaining my weight. I've gone through periods of looking at food and feeling like I can't face it, and then you blink and the next minute you're ready to eat furniture because you're so hungry."
Will Poulter Recently Joined the Growing Number of Actors to Discuss Their Thoughts on Method Acting
Method acting is something that always divides opinion in Hollywood, and it has been recently in the media again mostly thanks to stories about Jared Leto during his time working on Morbius. Will Poulter doesn’t generally have an issue with actors who need to do what they do to get in the mindset of a character and get the best performance, unless they start making issues for others working on the production in the process. In the same interview, he said:
“When it comes to an actor’s process, whatever that is, so long as it doesn’t infringe on other people’s and you’re being considerate, then fine. But if your process creates an inhospitable environment, then to me you’ve lost sight of what’s important. Method acting shouldn’t be used as an excuse for inappropriate behavior – and it definitely has."
Mads Mikkelsen recently expressed his views, calling method acting “pretentious” and saying that it doesn’t impress him just because someone can go through a whole film shoot in character, especially if the film turns out to be bad. While there are quite a few who seem to agree, as Poulter pointed out, if they are not hurting the production or anyone else working on the movie, then method actors can have their thing while everyone else has theirs.