Exclusive

Matthew McConaughey Almost Unrecognizable in Gold, Gained Close to 50 Pounds for the Movie

Actor is also bald in the upcoming drama

By Marc Malkin Sep 13, 2016 3:17 PMTags
Watch: Matthew McConaughey Put on How Much Weight for "Gold"!?

Matthew McConaughey is giving Christian Bale a run for his money in the body transformation department.

McConaughey won an Oscar after dropping to 135 pounds to play a man with AIDS in Dallas Buyers Club. He put on major muscle to play a ripped and buff (and very tan) stripper in Magic Mike.

And now comes Gold.

McConaughey is shockingly bald and fat for in the upcoming drama thriller, packing on almost 50 pounds to play a man who has a run-in with the FBI and the Indonesian military after finding gold in the jungles of Borneo.

Watch
Scarlett Johansson on "Punk Rock" Porcupine Role for "Sing"
Watch: How Matthew McConaughey's Kids Reacted to Him in "Sing"

"I got up to 217," he told me at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Sing. "So I was at 135 for Dallas. It wasn't like I went 135 to 217 but I went from 170 to 217."

Yup, 47 pounds!

"Cheeseburgers and beer," McConaughey said. "It was outstanding."

He added with a big smile, "It was a soft 217."

You can see that softness in all its fleshy glory in the first trailer for the movie—McConaughey is shown on a bed in a pair of underwear with his robe wide open.

Gold, which opens Dec. 25, co-stars Edgar Ramírez, Bryce Dallas Howard and Corey Stoll.

Universal Pictures

In Sing, McConaughey plays a koala bear named Buster Moon, a theater owner who puts together an American Idol-like singing competition to try to save his musical playhouse from going under.

Yes, he even does a little singing of "Call Me Maybe" in the flick, in theaters on Dec. 21. (E! News and Universal Pictures are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)