Orlando Bloom on His Brutal Boxing Transformation for New Role | This Morning

Is that not true for everybody? Yeah. You're all up here, isn't it? It's always. Well, it was for you. The one and only Orlando Bloom joins us on the sofa now. Orlando, I watched it last night. I mean, the cut is out in the cinemas next week. And my goodness, it is so intense. You have really opened the floodgates on the brutal world of boxing here. Yeah. Was it tough to film? It was as intense to film as it looks on camera, yeah. Because I was kind of living the role of the boxer in the movie. And, you know, I love the boxing genre. And actually, I always thought, oh, how do I come into this world? How do we do something unique and different? And this movie really focuses, the fight is the cut, the cutting of weight. Boxers cut weight to get into the ring. I mean, you know, famously, Chris Eubanks Jr. just didn't make the weight, right? Which was brutal for him. And that's, so this is, the cutting weight is what we focus on. And that's really the fight. And it's really a kind of commentary on the internal mind, the stress that the body goes through, the mind goes through. And it was very, very real, I can tell you that. Yeah, but mate, I mean, there's method acting, and then there's you. Yeah. Because, I mean, your physical transformation, we'll talk about that first, was absolutely insane, what you had to do. How did you manage to do that? Well, I wouldn't recommend doing it at home, by the way. No way. It was definitely not something to take lightly. I had a great nutritionist who, I was recommended by one of my agents at WME, who worked with Christian Bale on some stuff as well. So he was checking my bloods and stuff. He basically teared me down from a three meals a day, to two, to one, at this amazing, I was just, oh, the one thing that giving up was my form protein powder. I love this protein. It's like, suddenly all these foods were being taken away from me, and my protein powder was the last one. I was like, no. Please don't take it. Don't take that one. And then basically I came down to just, it was like tuna and cucumber for like the last three weeks. No. And in the last couple of days before we shot the opening, we shot the film in reverse chronological order. Because of the weight. Because of the weight, because I had no energy or brain power. So it was basically tuna and cucumber until this piece at the end, where I'm trying to make the weight. And I was just exhausted, just mentally, physically, and I was hangry. I was a horrible person to be around. But the mental toll that that must take on you, let alone the physical. It's weird. It's like the paranoia, the intrusive thoughts. We're supposed to eat and sleep and take care of ourselves. And when, it's really like a commentary on what people, the lengths this person will go to, to have that second shot. And I think that's so relatable. I mean, last time I was sort of in this studio, we were talking about this guy who was running the country for charity. And it's like, people swim the channel. They do crazy things. But athletes do this on the regular. And we take it to the extreme, obviously, for the purposes of the movie. When I was watching it, I couldn't help but think about Chris Eubanks Sr. And when he was trying to make the weight to fight Conor Benn. And his dad would not have it. He said, my son should not be at this weight. He should not be in a ring fighting at this weight. And he was trying to make this weight, trying to make his weight. And he got to a point where he didn't even, he wasn't even wanting to go to the fight in the end, because he thought it was so dangerous. So what are your thoughts on a fight like that? And now you've gone through the grueling experience that you've gone through. That was one of the original ideas when we came up with it. With Mark Lane, the producer, and I, we sort of threw back and forth this idea for a while until we got a script, a great script. But it was because it's such a dangerous process. And there are stories of fighters losing their lives, because they're so dehydrated. And the brain is, it needs fluid and all that sort of stuff. So there is a story behind this that's based in the reality of what it is like for these fighters. And people don't talk about it, obviously. And it's, which is understandable. I mean, we take it to the extreme, but in the movie, because that's part of making a movie, right? But yeah, it's definitely a real thing. So tell us a little bit more about your character, because I mean, he's never named. Yeah, which is- I don't really know him. You know, in a way, he loses his identity, which is partly why Boxer's called Boxer. And because it's something that, he's sort of transferable to anyone in some ways. And actually in the movie, you know, John Turturro, who comes in and just delivers this remarkable performance. Katrina Balfe, who was so wonderful, brought this, you know, this history of the character, you know, because, you know, it shows the reality of this relationship. She's my life partner, training partner. Oh, it's so sweet, the relationship between you two. Yeah, didn't she? She was amazing. And then John Turturro comes in a bit like this sort of, he was originally written a bit more like a sort of drill sergeant, but John came in with just this remarkable take, and he sort of seduces me away from my wife. Well, you can just tell and conceive him. So, and so Boxer is really almost like, there's aspects of him in all of the characters in the movie. He's sort of, he's sort of transferable. You see him as the puppy, you know, in the movie. But actually he's a bit of a puppet master. He's a bit of, he's sort of like being sort of, you know, taken and sort of molded by all these other characters. So he's sort of a bit like all of the other characters that he sees as a bit of a reflection of who he is. Have you got any Irish in the family? Because that's- I do, my grandfather, my grandfather's Irish, but I had a great, my dialect coach, Jerry, my dialect coach, Jerry, who I've worked with many years. I worked with him on Ned Kelly with Heath Ledger years ago. He was Heath's guy for many years. So, but his son was actually like almost going to turn pro, lived in Dublin. And he was there when I was working with like, just chatting about how, what we were going to do with the dialect. And I said, well, does Louis want to come and stay with me? So he basically came and lived with me while we were filming, moved into my house. We trained, we did the dialect and we found all these subtle nuances to the accent because of him as well, which made it just, I think- It's the slang as well, isn't it? There's bits of it, you know, it's like when he gets off the plane, he's like, that's flash, what? That's like a real sort of like, only a real Dubliner from that particular, and it's a bit like London where you go an hour one direction and it's at one sound and, you know, North, South, East, the way it's all totally different. So we sort of landed, I landed on a Louis sound. I just wanted, but yeah. Thank God for Louis. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank God for Louis indeed. As you said earlier, you filmed the film in reverse because of the cut that you were physically having to undertake as part of the film. So I was like lying down between takes on set. I just, and then I'd get up, do my press-ups, look a little bit bulkier and then just like, and honestly, all of that, you know, actually making the physical transformation lent into, which I sort of suspected. In a way, I've always wanted to sort of burn the barn down, take the brakes off, go for something. And this was a role that gave me that opportunity and it really leans, it really sort of lends itself to the performance because you are feeling all the things that you're seeing on camera. You know, it's not like- You were living it. Yeah, sort of. And it was definitely really intense. Yeah, I can imagine mentally that was really tough. Yeah, the paranoia, the like, and the intrusion, like you're hungry, you're hungry and you want to just eat something and you're seeing everyone around on set like having a bite of a cup of tea and a biscuit. Yeah, you're like, you wanted to eat them with a boxing glove. You're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Got my cucumber in one hand. We can't have you here without talking about Lord of the Rings. Oh, yeah. Are you coming back? I don't know. Oh, don't say these games with us, please. I promise you, I promise you. You must stick. Who have we got to have a row with? Listen, if Legolas is a part of that, whatever chapter they're doing, then I would hope that I'd get the call because I'd hate to see anyone else do it. But I really don't know what the story is. I know it's a Gollum story, so it's possible. But, and obviously, like, Pia is amazing. Peter and Fran, who, you know, they just, they say jump, I say how high. But you would jump, wouldn't you? Yeah, of course. I mean, like- You can't not. I wouldn't want anyone else to do it, if so. Yeah, absolutely, I'll make you right. What about Pirates of the Caribbean, then? Because I know they're having a remake of that. I definitely don't know anything about that. Right, he's a liar. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. I promise you, like, all I ever said once was, I mean, that'd be great, wouldn't it, if they brought the whole band back together? But I have no idea, so don't ask me. But yeah, I mean, those two giant franchises, I had no idea, you know, I'm a kid when that was. I know, but with them, it feels like another lifetime, you know? But even with them, you had to train, obviously, and get your body in the way. I mean, now, it'd just be like that, wouldn't you? Yeah, I wish. How long ago was Pirates of the Caribbean, now, then? I don't know, is it like 15, 20, I don't know. It's been a long time. Are you aging me, what are you doing? Are you only 26? Yeah. I don't know, it's been a long time. 2003, I've just added my year. There you go, there you go. Wow. And that weren't even the earpiece, that was the voices, just. Oh, was it? Well, they either can't do anything, they can probably, yeah, exactly. Mate, honestly, it's such a pleasure to sit down and talk to you. Good luck with the film. The cut is out in cinemas. September 5th? Yeah. Check it out. It's great to see on a big screen. And then we'll see you in Pirates and Lord of the Rings, will you say? We hope so, we hope so. That's what we're gonna go with. Yeah. Thank you, mate. Thank you, Orlando. Thank you. Thank you for visiting our This Morning YouTube channel. Now, we upload new content every day, so go ahead and hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out, and we'll see you in the morning.