Edward Norton For American History X
To portray a muscular skinhead in American History X, the usually slender Edward Norton knew it wouldn’t be enough to shave his head and grow a ferocious goatee, so he packed on 35 pounds of lean muscle.
Over the course of 2 and a half months, Norton greatly upped his protein intake and began intensely working out in order to pack on the extra mass. He ate 6 to 7 meals a day and supplemented that by constantly snacking on chicken, turkey, and fish. His workouts focused on his chest and his shoulders in order to appear even bigger than he was.
In a 2000 interview with Total Film, Norton explained why he felt the change was necessary.
“I think he’s a character who’s armoured himself against the pain he’s experienced in his life with his rage. I wanted him to have physically manifested that sort of armouring as well. When you talk to those kids, that’s what those tattoos and muscles are all about. In a lot of ways, it’s about creating a shield or a psychic empowerment device to deal with the feeling of being marginal and insecure.”
The muscles kept Norton looking far from insecure, as the actor looked more intense and intimidating than he ever had before. There is no way the memorable curb stomp scene, or really any shots of Norton in the film, would have been as iconic with the smaller Norton audiences are used to. Definitely worth the extra weight he put on.