Matthew Lewis leaves little to the imagination!
The actor, best known for playing Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films, lifts his shirt to reveal his six-pack abs for the June 2015 cover of Attitude, the U.K.'s best-selling and award-winning gay magazine. The Internet has been swooning over Lewis' transformation for years, and for his role in the movie Me Before You, out in 2016, he somehow managed to get into even better shape.
"My character, Patrick, is a triathlete and personal trainer, so he's totally focused on the race that he's going to be running. I spoke to the director [Thea Sharrock] and I said it'd be nice to get into the mindset of someone like that, because he's not drinking alcohol, he's just eating salads all the time, and I was very interested to know where you go to in your mind to have that level of commitment," the actor, 25, says. "So I sort of gave up alcohol—I say sort of. I have given up alcohol."
Any lapses? "Not yet!" says Lewis, who also poses in his underwear. "It's tough."
"I do the pub quiz every week, and sitting there every Wednesday with a Diet Coke...I'm off sugar and I can't really eat carbs. I really wanted to see if I could stick to such a strict regimen, and to really understand what it's like to have a goal like that and really 110% go for it. I mean, I've always been a bit of a sports enthusiast anyway, I love the gym and all that stuff, but I can't wait for a pint of lager, I tell you that! The pizza and beer will definitely be making a comeback over the summer."
In addition to revamping his diet and hitting the gym, Lewis will also do some manscaping. "Apparently triathletes shave their legs for added aerodynamics, to buy you that extra couple of milliseconds. And my character, that is what he would do, so I think I'll be losing the leg hair!I haven't waxed before. I was quite keen just to shave every day but it was [Emilia Clarke]'s idea. She was like, 'No, just wax it! Then you'll only have to do it once!' I was like, 'Argh!'"
Says Lewis, "I haven't done it yet, but we'll see!"
Despite the attention on his appearance, Lewis sees himself as "just average."
"Whenever I go back to Leeds or see people I went to school with they always talk about my veneers. I'm like, 'I haven't got veneers! These are my actual teeth!' If I can't f--king convince people I went to school with how am I going to convince anyone else! I had these braces—which were f--king painful by the way—for six months, and then it was kind of a weird thing," the Bluestone 42 actor tells Attitude.
"I was excited, I guess, to go on the red carpet on the release of the last film and be me, and not to have to have the fat suit under my T-shirt. It was quite an exciting buzz. I was 21," he says. "I was like, 'Yeah, this'll be cool!' It was never meant to be a 'Hey everyone, look at me!' But it was nice to be able to go and be myself. And then obviously a lot of attention focused on it, which I didn't expect at all."
He adds, "I've never considered myself to be good-looking at all."
Attitude's June 2015 issue is on newsstands Wednesday.