Randall Cunningham has to be described as one of the most dynamic quarterbacks to ever take the field. Cunningham had a high-level football IQ with the speed and agility of a wide receiver. Standing at 6'4, Cunningham had the ability to deliver the ball comfortably from almost anywhere on the field. Randall Cunningham's style of play could be considered the blueprint for Michael Vick's approach to the game as well. Hailing from Santa Barbara, California, Randall played his collegiate football at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas initially as a punter for the Rebels being named All-American for the 1983 and 1984 seasons. It wasn't until his senior year that he would take a snap as the UNLV Rebels' starting quarterback leading them to an 11-2 season that was later recalled and adjusted to 0-13 after the discovery of several illegitimate players on the team. Prior to the record adjustment, the 11-2 record led by Cunningham was the first ten-win season in the school's history.
In the 1985 NFL Draft, Randall Cunningham was selected 37th overall in the second round by the Philadelphia Eagles. After being designated as a starter in the midst of the 1986 season, the Eagles disastrous offensive line allowed Cunningham to be sacked a franchise record of 72 times. In eleven seasons with the Eagles, Cunningham became the record holder for rushing yards per attempt (6.62) and the third-place record holder for rushing yards by a quarterback (4,482). After suffering some inconvenient injuries, throughout the mid-'90s and falling to a backup quarterback position, Cunningham retired in 1995 but returned a year later as a member of the Minnesota Vikings. In 1998, Cunningham led the Vikings to a 15-1 record and led the league in passer rating with 106.0 on 34 touchdowns. Unfortunately, the Vikings weren't able to make it to the Super Bowl and Cunningham retired following the 2001 season after two short stints with the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens. With a touchdown to interception ratio of 207-134 and four Pro Bowls under his belt, Cunningham is a decorated quarterback but its his style of play that will never be forgotten.
Celebrities are no strangers to changing their looks for a role. And in some instances, they have to get pretty extreme. From 500-calorie-a-day diets to drinking pints of ice cream, Actors and actresses know what it takes to change their bodies in preparation for a new film.
Charlize Theron is no stranger to gaining and losing weight for movie roles, as we remember her transformation in Monster. Charlize Theron gained close to 50 pounds for her role as Marlo in Tully. Theron said that “for the first time in my life I was eating so much processed foods and I drank way too much sugar. … I remember having to set my alarm in the middle of the night in order to just maintain the weight.”
You’re used Chris Hemsworth's hulk-like figure in Thor, but In the Heart of the Sea required a totally different diet. The movie required the cast members lose a ton of weight to make their stuck-at-sea plight more believable. Chris Hemsworth said there were days when all he ate was one boiled egg, a couple of crackers, and a celery stick.
Anne Hathaway wanted to get serious for her role in Les Misérables, as she was playing Fantine, a starving prostitute with tuberculosis. So Anne Hathaway went on a diet of “rabbit food” to drop 25 pounds. Hathaway explained her diet was essentially just starving herself, but she didn’t want to give details, as she doesn’t want to encourage anyone to copy her emaciated look. She did note that she “just had to stop eating for a total of 13 days shooting,” however. And at one point, her bones became so frail that she reportedly broke her arm.
Matthew McConaughey's portrayal of Ron Woodruff in Dallas Buyers Club, a man with HIV/AIDS, was spot-on, earning him the title of best actor at the Oscars. But it also required a serious physical transformation. Matthew McConaughey said he lost 38 pounds for the role. During filming, he said he lost a lot of energy from eating so little — and he hit plenty of plateaus along the way. Finally, with a strict diet, he got down to 143 pounds. And while he did cardio to help with the weight loss, he said it was 90% what he was eating and portion size.
Hilary Swank had to put on 23 pounds of pure muscle for her role as a boxer in Million Dollar Baby. The process doesn’t sound easy, however. “I started working out five hours a day — I had to eat 210 grams of protein a day,” Swank said. She also mentioned that she had to consume 60 egg whites per day, and when that proved too difficult, she had to drink them. And to keep the muscle on, she would get up and drink protein shakes in the middle of the night.