Bill Skarsgård took his commitment to the role in The Crow reboot to extraordinary lengths.
According to director Rupert Sanders, the Swedish actor underwent extreme preparation, adhering to a strict diet and intense workout routine that left both the crew and observers in awe.
In an interview published on Saturday, August 24, Sanders detailed the extent of Skarsgård’s dedication to embodying the iconic character.
“I’d take Bill out to dinner, and I’d always just order for him because I knew what he was eating,” Sanders revealed. “It was basically steak tartare and raw eggs.”
This rigorous diet was essential for Skarsgård’s physical transformation into the resurrected antihero, a role famously portrayed by Brandon Lee in the 1994 classic.
But the demanding diet was only part of Skarsgård’s commitment. Sanders also noted that the 33-year-old actor spent countless hours working out.
“He was in the gym a lot,” Sanders said. “He ate very healthily and put us all to shame when we were eating burgers and hot dogs, working late at night in the Czech summer.”
Skarsgård himself shared insights into his training routine explaining, “I’d already been training for quite a while.”
“My trainer and I kept adding a little bit of weight to what I’d already been doing, but I didn’t want to get too big,” he said.
“It was a challenge because they wanted the Crow to be ripped, but the character Eric shouldn’t be.
I didn’t think the character should be thin, but we couldn’t afford to stretch the process over six months like in Raging Bull. So, we did a lot of weight training and focused on protein intake.”
This isn’t the first time Skarsgård has transformed his body for a role. In 2018, while preparing for Castle Rock, he told how he drastically lost weight to play a character who had been in solitary confinement for years.
“I basically did the Keto diet,” he said at the time. “You enter ketosis by eating a lot of fat and no carbs. I lose weight quickly.
Before scenes, I would go 24 hours without drinking water or eating. It has a significant effect; it changes your face.”
After months of intense dedication, Skarsgård knew exactly how he wanted to celebrate once filming wrapped.
“I wanted a beer and a burger,” he confessed. “I hadn’t had a drink for three months, so I went to a shady dive bar, and it was great.”
