Here's a name that doesn't get brought up enough when it comes to talking about who can slang the rock the best, Fran Tarkenton. Yes, Francis Asbury Tarkenton. What he was doing throughout the '70s is reminiscent of what a lot of quarterbacks are achieving today. Tarkenton was ahead of his time in regards to his style of play, accuracy, and willingness to make daring passes that always appeared to be right on target. After going to high school in Athens, Georgia and growing up a Bulldogs fan, Tarkenton got to live out a childhood dream of playing quarterback for the institution helping the Bulldogs secure a Southeastern Conference Championship while picking up two First-Team All-SEC honors.
After an impressive showing at the University of Georgia, Fran Tarkenton was selected 29th overall in the third round of the NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings and 34th overall in the fifth round of the AFL Draft by the Boston Patriots. Tarkenton decided to sign with the Vikings rather than the Patriots and became an instant impact player coming off the bench in his first game for a come-from-behind 37-13 victory over the Bears throwing 250 yards for four touchdowns. While Tarkenton became notorious for his insane stat lines, his team struggled as a brand new franchise only winning a total of ten games in his first three seasons with the Vikings. Tarkenton spent a brief tenure with the New York Giants from 1967-1972 before being traded back to the Vikings to finish out his career in 1979. While he was unable to win a championship, Tarkenton owned every major quarterback record by the time he retired, was a 9x Pro Bowler and took home, the NFL MVP Award in 1975.
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.