*Courtesy of Tea Shop Productions and Amazing Owl.*

Sean Ellis’ latest film ‘The Cut’ premiered at TIFF 2024 on September 5, and it was evident that lead actor Orlando Bloom went through a grueling transformation to play the part.

Simply known as ‘The Boxer,’ the character comes out of retirement to seek a championship title, undergoing a disturbing weight-loss regimen on the brink of a meltdown.

Bloom lost a jarring 52 pounds in three months in preparation for the role.

“I basically tiered down the food over a three-month period until just before filming, I was at my lightest. I dropped 52 pounds, and I was about 185 when I started,” said Bloom. “So I dropped quite a lot of weight, and I was very mentally challenged as well. You feed somebody tuna and cucumber long enough…”

Ellis shot ‘The Cut’ in reverse chronological order, meaning Bloom bulked up during production before slimming down.

“Your brain is starved of calories, basically,” Ellis said to Bloom. “It was going to be impossible for him to work while dieting. So, he came to us at his lightest, and then he starts to eat. So that meant that we had to shoot the film [with] the ending first and the beginning of the movie at the end. … Over the 25 days that we were shooting, he was putting on the calories. And then it’s edited in reverse.”

Bloom continued: “I was more surprised about the mental aspect, like the sleep deprivation, and not the depleted calories. There’s a lot going on in your brain … living in that headspace for a while was very challenging.”

The film also stars Caitríona Balfe and John Turturro.

Interestingly enough, ‘The Cut’ resembles a body horror more than a straight-forward boxing film. This includes the boxer draining blood and taking extreme doses of diuretics.

During the TIFF premiere, was crowd was left shocked and frightened at some of the film’s most intense scenes.

“Yeah, we had a fainter,” Ellis joked about the premiere reactions. “I think we’ve got to put that on the film poster.”

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