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Before appearing alongside Charli xcx in medieval-ish indie 100 Nights of Hero, the actor underwent a huge physical transformation while prepping for his upcoming film, Masters of the Universe. Here’s what it took…<\/p>\n
\u201cCheeky. Open. Warm.\u201d<\/p>\n
That, if push comes to shove, is how Nicholas Galitzine would describe himself.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t likely you\u2019ll have those words in mind while watching the actor\u2019s mega-muscled character, He-Man, in the upcoming summer blockbuster Masters of the Universe, whose trailer<\/a> has amassed 36 million views in 11\u00a0days. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a\u00a0far cry from queer fantasia and graphic novel adaptation 100 Nights of Hero, written and directed by Julia Jackman, which Galitzine stars in alongside Emma Corrin<\/a>, Maika Monroe<\/a>, Charli xcx<\/a> and lots of fantastic hats. In this medieval-shaped yarn with its narrative roots in the Middle Eastern folktale One Thousand and One Nights, the actor plays Manfred, a\u00a0sword-swinging himbo who\u2019s challenged by his friend Jerome (Amir El-Masry) to seduce Jerome\u2019s wife Cherry (Monroe) over the next 100\u00a0days, while her devoted maidservant Hero (Corrin) does her best to distract Manfred by spinning story after story. <\/p>\n Manfred is willing to have a\u00a0go, blithely unaware that Cherry and Hero are more than a\u00a0match for his overtures. As he says to Jerome, his taste in women is \u200b\u201cthe usual: beautiful, chaste, good at listening, mending socks, interested in maps, falconry, chess, et cetera, but obviously not excessively good at any of those things\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cHe just doesn\u2019t get it,\u201d says Galitzine, cheerfully, of his character. \u200b\u201cThe hilarious thing is, he\u2019s not unlike a\u00a0lot of men who live in this [fictional] world. This is how he\u2019s raised. But he just has no concept, really, of what a\u00a0woman is. [But] I\u00a0tried to never view him just as a\u00a0villain. Because I\u00a0do think he\u2019s a\u00a0product of his environment.\u201d<\/p>\n When we speak, Galitzine has just just started filming Red, White &\u00a0Royal Wedding, the sequel to 2023 romcom Red, White &\u00a0Royal Blue<\/a>, aka the regal Heated Rivalry that broke the internet. What\u2019s he looking forward to watching? The Moment<\/a>, his 100 Nights of Hero co-star Charli\u2019s satirical A24 mockumentary<\/a> about how terrible it is to be the hottest pop star in the world. It\u2019s brilliant, and though Galitzine hasn\u2019t seen it yet, he\u2019s all in. \u200b\u201cI saw a\u00a0clip with Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd [playing a\u00a0demanding concert-movie director], when he\u2019s saying: \u200b\u2018Have you heard of light-up wristbands?\u2019\u201d Galitzine laughs, very much amused by Skarsg\u00e5rd\u2019s performance. \u200b\u201cIt\u2019s just annoying \u2013 he\u2019s so good looking and funny. It pisses me off.\u201d Pisses Galitzine off? How does he think it makes the rest of us feel? <\/p>\n Hi, Nick. How much fun was it to lean into ultra-heroism of <\/strong>Masters of the Universe<\/strong>? <\/strong><\/p>\n Pretty bonkers, to be honest \u2013 especially going, as you say, from Manfred to He-Man and [his earthbound alter-ego] Adam. It\u2019s hard sometimes to cut off a\u00a0character that you\u2019ve just worked on and really create a\u00a0separation. And luckily, I\u00a0had a\u00a0long prep period for He-Man, so I\u00a0was able to do that. <\/p>\n What did that look like on a\u00a0day-to-day basis?<\/strong><\/p>\n You have to trust that, when all the work is done, you\u2019ll feel like a\u00a0hero at the end of the day. When you\u2019re bulking and you feel a\u00a0bit husky and you haven\u2019t got the tan on and everything, you\u2019ve got to trust the process. That you\u2019re going to be where you need to be.<\/p>\n The thing that I\u00a0found most challenging about the transformation to that, and the prep for that, was that for a\u00a0portion of the movie, I\u2019m Adam. Who is a\u00a0lot more meek and uncertain and fragile. I\u00a0said to the producers and Travis [Knight] the director: \u200b\u201cI want to keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Just tell me when I\u00a0need to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n And they were like: \u200b\u201cWell, essentially we need you to play two characters in this. So you can\u2019t. For this [first] movie at least, we need you to hit this version of the character that can be the ultra-hero \u2013 but can also be the fragile boy.\u201d<\/p>\n So that was the challenging thing. If we\u2019re lucky enough to further explore the character, it\u2019ll be simpler based on where we leave him\u2026 without giving too much away.<\/p>\n When you were bulking, what did your weekly gym and diet routine look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n I had to overcome a\u00a0lot of obstacles because I\u00a0had some not-so-great advice for a\u00a0period of time. At one point I\u00a0was eating 5000 calories a\u00a0day and lifting weights for three hours a\u00a0day \u2013 on top of an hour-and-a-half stunt rehearsal. And then the rest of all of the shit that you need to do. So it was pretty arduous. <\/p>\n There was a\u00a0point where, first of all, you\u2019re watching your body change so rapidly. Which is weird. You don\u2019t fit in anything anymore. You don\u2019t really recognise yourself. You don\u2019t recognise your face. People would come in and out of the gym to do their session while I\u00a0was still doing my one session. Which was ridiculous. You\u2019d be like: \u200b\u201cOh, hi\u2026 and bye. I\u2019m still here pumping bicep curls and smashing chicken and broccoli!\u201d<\/p>\n But it\u2019s back to normal for you now?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah! Look: it\u2019s the difficult thing as an actor. I\u00a0finished playing He-Man, and I\u00a0went to work on this World War Two movie called The Mosquito Bowl, and I\u00a0had about three, four weeks in between. The director was like: \u200b\u201cThis is set in the 1940s. You can\u2019t look the way you look now.\u201d So I\u00a0was like: \u200b\u201cOK, I\u00a0guess I\u2019m gonna stop lifting weights and cut all my protein and just let it all go shit!\u201d <\/p>\n Which is really depressing, by the way! It\u2019s very depressing how long it takes to put on the muscle and how easily it comes off. But, like I\u00a0said, if we\u2019re lucky enough to get the opportunity to explore He-Man again, it\u2019s gonna be the same process \u2013 but hopefully with a\u00a0little bit more knowledge and better advice and wisdom now! I\u00a0really can\u2019t understand, still to this day, how Christian Bale did The Batman and The Machinist [body transformations]. Or how Jake Gyllenhaal did The Night Crawler and Southpaw thing. Those are real body transformations. What I\u2019ve had to do is actually a\u00a0lot less arduous.<\/p>\n \u201cNow I\u2019m like a\u00a0seasoned 50-year-old porn star, with a\u00a0cigarette in hand, who\u2019s like: \u200b\u2018Sweetie, I\u00a0know what I\u2019m doing\u2026\u2019\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n You\u2019ve just started filming <\/strong>Red, White &\u00a0Royal Wedding<\/strong>. The <\/strong>last time we spoke<\/strong><\/a>, for <\/strong>Mary &\u00a0George<\/strong>, you talked of how Robbie Taylor Hunt, your intimacy coordinator for that TV show, also worked on <\/strong>Red, White &\u00a0Royal Blue<\/strong>. How busy is Robbie going to be on this sequel?<\/strong><\/p>\n Ha, yeah, I\u00a0love Robbie! Mary &\u00a0George put to shame any of the intimacy of anything else I\u2019ve ever done before. Now I\u2019m like a\u00a0seasoned 50-year-old porn star, with a\u00a0cigarette in hand, who\u2019s like: \u200b\u201cSweetie, I\u00a0know what I\u2019m doing\u2026\u201d That\u2019s how I\u00a0feel now. <\/p>\n But Robbie\u2019s so great. He\u2019s an expert at trying to create a\u00a0visual language for these characters and their love for each other. And how to pull the audience back in after four years of time difference and how the relationship evolved. He is my go-to guy whenever I\u00a0need intimacy stuff.<\/p>\n Also, for me, it\u2019s very interesting: there\u2019s been a\u00a0lot of talk about Gen Z\u00a0not wanting to see sex in film as much. But I\u00a0really feel, if it serves the narrative in some way, it\u2019s a\u00a0really useful tool. And it\u2019s a\u00a0very vulnerable thing for both actors and audiences to experience. So I\u00a0don\u2019t know what I\u00a0would do without Robbie, to be honest. We\u2019re like a\u00a0Happy Meal these days, you know?<\/p>\n Talking about sex on-screen and your previous co-stars: you worked with <\/strong>Rachel Sennott<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>Ayo Edebiri<\/strong><\/a> on <\/strong>Bottoms<\/strong><\/a>. What did you think of <\/strong>I\u00a0Love LA<\/strong><\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n First of all, I\u00a0thought Ayo\u2019s cameo was really great. But one thing I\u2019ll say about Rachel, even when we filmed Bottoms, which was right before we did the first Red, White &\u00a0Royal Blue, I\u00a0really got a\u00a0sense of: this is someone who is entirely authentic, knows who they are as a\u00a0creative and what they want to do, and is extremely hard working. And to see her helm this thing, and be such an originator and have her finger on the pulse, culturally\u2026 <\/p>\n Nowadays, we have this very reactive approach to media \u2013 \u200b\u201cOh, what\u2019s popular right now? Who\u2019s the popular musician? Let me find someone who can do that. What movie did well? Let\u2019s just do another version of that.\u201d But Rachel is someone who is original. <\/p>\n Both Rachel and Ayo, I\u00a0hope I\u00a0get the chance to work with them again. Because I\u00a0almost felt like I\u00a0wasn\u2019t ready for them when we did Bottoms. It was my first comedy, and they had been doing stand-up for years. I\u00a0almost want a\u00a0do-over, in a\u00a0way, because I\u00a0didn\u2019t appreciate how brilliant they were at the time.<\/p>\n\n
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