It turns out that the only thing keeping you from getting a little too buff is getting cast in a Marvel project. Like Chris Pratt and Kumail Nanjiani before him, Sacha Baron Cohen got shockingly ripped for his role as Mephisto in Ironheart, a Marvel show on Disney+. Clearly proud of his new physique, Baron Cohen appeared on the cover of Men’s Fitness UK to show off his new bod.
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Baron Cohen also seems to have gotten rid of his chest hair. Is that also for the role, or just a new personal preference? The article doesn’t get into that, but it does reveal how he got really swole, really fast. Baron Cohen told the magazine that he only had three weeks to get in shape, so he reached out to Matthew McConaughey for a trainer recommendation. The actor put him in contact with Alfonso “the Angry Trainer” Moretti, who started Baron Cohen out with 100 push-ups a day.
“To be fair to Sacha, he wasn’t out of shape. But visually, he didn’t have that ‘in-shape’ look,” Moretti said. “He looked more like a ruler — straight up and down. The studio was even thinking about fitting him with prosthetic muscles.”
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Turns out that wasn’t necessary. In the comments on Baron Cohen’s Instagram post, Chelsea Handler wondered, understandably, “Is this AI?” Perhaps inspired by the comment, Baron Cohen proudly posted his cover to his Instagram Story with the caption, “This is AI … NOT!” There’s that classic wit.
Based on all of this training, Mephisto must be shirtless for all of his Ironheart episodes, right? Or maybe he’s in a skintight suit? Actually, Baron Cohen only appears in one episode of the show, and he’s wearing normal clothes the whole time. Why he had to get jacked to play a guy who wears a T-shirt under a blazer is beyond me. Maybe in the next Avengers movie he’ll take the blazer off.
What we’d all really love right now is some insight to Isla Fisher’s group chat. She and Baron Cohen announced their divorce last year with a joint tennis-themed announcement, and despite his claims that it was “for work,” his new physique does have the air of a rich guy’s post-divorce journey. I bet Fisher’s friends are having a blast.
