As Henry Cavill’s body-shaming revelations show, being a male lead in
Hollywood requires incredible levels of self-punishment
“Would you look at me?” says Dwayne Johnson, gazing in awe at his reflection in Jumanji: The Next Level. The joke is that this is actually Danny DeVito, in the body of Johnson, inside a video game. There was a similar moment in the previous Jumanji, when weedy Alex Wolff found himself the occupant of the strapping Johnson physique, and prodded his gigantic biceps in disbelief. The body-swap fantasies of Jumanji are a great device (where else in the movies can a teenage girl contend with the prospect of having Jack Black’s bod?), but beneath them lies the realisation that Dwayne Johnson really does have the body of Dwayne Johnson.
Being unfeasibly ripped is basically what’s expected of male actors these days. Once they could get away with a few extra pounds, or never taking their shirts off; now they must pass the fitness test. Or fail it. Last month, Henry “Superman” Cavill, a man so hulking he has to turn sideways to go through doorways, divulged he was judged too “chubby” to play
James Bond when he screen-tested for the role. Daniel Craig, by contrast, has reportedly been doing 12-hour workouts to get in shape for the latest Bond; all to play a character who, by any real-world measure, is a high-functioning alcoholic.