Mark Ruffalo's Hulk Bod: "I'm Used to Starving Myself"

Actor reveals how he'll get into superhero shape for upcoming Avengers flick

Mark Ruffalo may be playing the Hulk in The Avengers movie, but that doesn't mean director Joss Whedon has him bulking up into a big brickhouse musclehead.

In fact, Ruffalo says…

"They want me mean and lean, but they don't want me big and buff," he told me at last night's GQ Men of the Year party.

He'll likely get into superhero shape with tai kwon do, Pilates and even some gymnastics. He won't, however, be counting calories. "Forget that," Ruffalo said. "I gotta keep building and building and building. You have to eat to build muscle."

He said he already knows what he needs to do to get lean for filming. "I was a wrestler," he said. "I'm used to starving myself. It's easy for me. The last two weeks you just walk around spitting into a cup."

As for awards season buzz for his performance in The Kids Are All Right (out on DVD this week), a modest Ruffalo said, "I'm just enjoying it while I have it."

Sidenote: Ruffalo was digging my Billy Reid bowtie. Once you learn how to tie them, he said, "it's almost as good as sex."

I couldn't agree more.