Mark Ruffalo revealed that he wore a corset and padding to achieve his look in his latest film, Poor Things.
“Do you know I had an ass pad in?” Ruffalo, 56, told Robert Downey Jr. during the Monday, December 4, episode of Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” series. “My legs were, like, four inches bigger. My calf was four [inches]. He really wanted the silhouette. So I was wearing a corset with shoulder pads, so I was so squeezed in.”
The period fantasy comedy, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, follows a young woman (Emma Stone) after she is brought to life by a scientist. She quickly runs away with a hedonistic lawyer, played by Ruffalo.
While corsets and padding might sound intense, the actor said his Poor Things costume was initially supposed to be more detailed.
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“It was even more extreme. [Lanthimos] wanted me to look like a bird, so I had this whole built out chest piece that never made it because it was just too much,” Ruffalo explained. “But the big ass pads, the leg pads, the thigh pads, the calf pads, those were all playing. So when you look at that and you’re like, ‘Wow, he looks great’ — now you know, I was just wearing what the Avengers wear, but underneath my clothes.”
Mark Ruffalo Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
In addition to all the extra layers, Ruffalo also went nude for a sex scene early in the film.
“I was like, ‘Do I have to?’ All I can hear is, ‘Nobody wants to see your old ass anymore. Maybe you shouldn’t be doing movies like that anymore,’” he joked. “I mean, it’s my least favorite part of it, but I also saw it as very comedic and also, like, an extension of the physical comedy that we were already finding. So it was just another way to tell the story.”
Mark Ruffalo Moviestore Collection/Cover Images
Downey — who was friends with Ruffalo for decades before costarring in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise — confirmed that the actor doesn’t love to see his body on the big screen.
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“I just want to say this, too, because knowing you forever, on one of these Avengers movies, you take off your shirt, and you were in really good shape,” the Iron Man actor, 58, recalled. “And the director was like, ‘We got it.’ You’re like, ‘Oh, can I please stop dieting and working out now?’ There is no one I’ve ever come across who is more anxious to not be vain past the point where it is necessary to achieve an end for their work.”
When Ruffalo asked, “Was that a compliment?” Downey assured him it was, adding, “But I’ve got to say, you look pretty bangable to me, in case you were wondering.”
Poor Things will hit theaters on Friday, December 8.
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