EXCLUSIVE: Marvel chief Kevin Feige said in a press gathering this week that Sacha Baron Cohen’s Mephisto character will be prominent as the next MCU supervillain. For his part, Baron Cohen transformed his physique as evidenced by the cover of Men’s Fitness UK. Baron Cohen has plunged himself into character creations like Borat, Ali G and Bruno, but the work he put into his body with Alfonso “The Angry Trainer” Moretti indicates playing a shredded Mephisto is more than a one-off for the actor.
Compared to Borat’s rather hairy visage in the lime green singlet, Baron Cohen’s transformed physique is buff, and well, bald. The changes he made through hard and consistent training, coupled with a diet high in fiber and protein and low in sugar, are startling. Maybe not quite as startling as when Deadline unveiled Jake Gyllenhaal’s washboard abs transformation to play the boxer in 2015’s Southpaw, but a decided change from what Baron Cohen looked like in comedies like Borat and Talladega Nights, and dramatic turns in The Trial of the Chicago 7, and the miniseries The Spy.
Deadline got a peek at the Men’s Fitness UK article that comes out later this week and details how Baron Cohen reached out to buff peer Matthew McConaughey to get the phone number of a trainer capable of getting an actor buff and shredded in a hurry. McConaughey suggested Moretti. In their first Zoom call, Moretti made Baron Cohen strip down to his underwear. The trainer described the actor’s body this way: “He looked like a ruler, straight up and down,” but he also detected in Baron Cohen “an athlete in hiding.” The actor was not a slouch as for years he has been working with a kickboxing trainer when time permitted in his busy production schedules.
Moretti took on the challenge, and Baron Cohen applied a method actor’s discipline to the task, starting with 100 pushups per day. He was disciplined and consistent in the short but intense training sessions the trainer put him through, even while he was away filming. The results came quickly, enough that Baron Cohen’s Mephisto costume had to be altered a time or two to reflect the improvements in his physique.
Mephisto originated in the Silver Surfer comics, and factored into comic book storylines including Avengers villain Thanos, and Spider-Man. Feige said the character is a devil who presents Faustian bargains to hero characters, but the Marvel chief would not elaborate on how the character will fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is undergoing a reset with two new Avengers films. Baron Cohen made a surprising debut as Mephisto in the finale of the Disney+ series Ironheart.
The actor described his own condition at the start of his workout regimen as “having the core strength of an arthritic jellyfish.” But he said that the short but intense sessions have left him feeling in the best shape of his life. He believes it is something others can emulate, tailoring their workouts to their own physique goals and time limitations.
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