Charles Melton pulled out all the stops when it came to gaining weight for May December.
The movie, which started streaming on Netflix in December 2023, follows an actress named Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) who travels to meet and study the life of Gracie (Julianne Moore), who she is set to play in a project. Gracie’s controversial romance with Joe (Melton), who is 23 years her junior, is the subject of the fictional film.
Two months before the movie was released, director Todd Haynes praised Melton for accurately telling a story about a man who is emotionally stunted by his trauma.
“I’m so grateful Charles Melton came into our consciousness. I didn’t know him from Riverdale. His looks were almost a deterrent,” Haynes admitted to Vulture in September 2023. “I felt that Joe would be a good-looking man, but Charles has that sort of hunkiness and pin-up quality that wasn’t necessarily how I pictured him.”
Melton’s decision to gain weight for the role ultimately scored him the part.
“[He did it] to change his chiseled self into something more familiar. A suburban man in this place. There’s such remarkable physicality in the choices he made as an actor,” Haynes added at the time. “A friend of mine saw a cut of it and he said, ‘Charles moves like a child and an old man, a combination of the two’ — which makes so much sense given his predicament.”
The project, which took heavy inspiration from Mary Kay Letourneau’s infamous relationship with her student Vili Fualaau, helped elevate Melton’s career. He has already been honored at the Gotham Awards, New York Film Critics Circle and Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Melton also received a Golden Globe nomination and was considered a potential contender for the Oscars.
Keep scrolling for Melton’s candid quotes about gaining 40 pounds for the movie:
Committing to the Role
Ahead of the movie’s release, Melton explained why he gained weight to play Joe.
“It was more of a collective discussion with Todd and I. We talked about what Joe would feel like, not so much as look like,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “Looking at the facts of him being this suburban father with three kids and being a loving husband. He doesn’t really have too much time to spend on himself.”
Melton’s grocery list while filming included “a bunch of Five Guys and pizza and ice cream and Capri Suns.”
Breaking Down His Approach
While preparing for the 23-day shoot in Savannah, Georgia, Melton recalled getting to drink a lot of Fanta.
“That work [for May December] just translated into me making the informed decisions to eat whatever I wanted,” he shared with Today in September 2023. “I watched a lot of movies and ate a lot of food.”
Staying in Character
“I ate a lot of favorite childhood snacks like Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups, ice cream, pizza with popcorn on it,” Melton told W magazine in January 2024 about opting for snacks usually found in a lunch box. “It was great.”
Melton used his May December character as inspiration for his diet, adding, “Joe has this softness to him. The director, Todd Haynes, and I talked about what Joe would feel like, and it gave me an open opportunity to eat whatever I wanted.”
