The dedication required to obtain Taron Egerton’s chiseled appearance in Apex isn’t as glamorous as it may appear.
“It’s worth being wary of that, I think, because that version of me in Apex, the guy who’s whatever silly body fat I was, and all kind of strong, every day I punish myself for not looking like that. But the truth of the matter is that I starved myself,” Egerton, 36, told Dax Shepard on the Monday, August 10, episode of his “Armchair Expert” podcast while discussing how male actors are often portrayed in films.
“I was running myself absolutely ragged to get there,” the Welsh actor continued.
Egerton added that a friend once told him that his job was to “smash” the “idealized version” of himself, not to “aspire” to it.
“It’s been a tremendous help to me. It’s one of the things that is a challenge nobody wants to hear about, but fluctuating relationship with your own images,” he noted.
Egerton said he was often “filled with self-loathing” during his “shirtless days” filming Apex and his 2014 film Kingsman: The Secret Service.
“I couldn’t enjoy it at the time because I’d completely lost any distorted sense of perspective,” he explained. “Also, it ain’t that deep. You bounce back, you carry on. It’s fine. It’s just what it is, you know?”
Apex, released on Netflix in April, stars Charlize Theron as a grieving woman who finds herself being hunted in the wilds of Australia by a serial killer (Egerton).
“The extremity of the role really appealed to me,” Egerton told Tudum ahead of the movie’s premiere. “Ben is just about the most fucked‑up character I’ve ever played. There was something delicious and irresistible about it.”
He continued, “I kind of think that’s what I was being paid for, so that’s a good thing. Ben is supposed to be arresting, supposed to be scary. But I think with good villains, there’s always a part of you that empathizes, or at least recognizes their humanity or how broken they are. I would never excuse the monster that he’s been, but I think there are enough clues in the storytelling to know he’s a pretty broken individual, someone beyond rescuing.”
In addition to Apex and Kingsman, Egerton is known for his role in Netflix’s 2024 holiday thriller Carry-On, in which he played a TSA agent forced to help a mysterious passenger successfully transport a dangerous package onto a plane.
“The actors I most admire often change lanes a lot,” he told Tudum. “Carry-On was a wonderful experience and a great success, but I always felt that character was quite straight — quite blue-collar, with a procedural element. I had a strong desire to rough up whatever image that character created, especially since it’s the thing I’ve done recently that reached the widest audience.”
