I had heard that Tom [Cruise] was the same way, that he is incredibly dedicated. I was very excited to meet him and I was, honest to God, weirdly surprised that the guy makes me look lazy. I think he does think I'm a hard worker, but he makes me look like I'm doing nothing. The guy is at the gym before anybody in the morning.
Patrick HeusingerI change myself a lot. Some roles you don't want to be big, bulky, muscle-y guy and some roles you want to be a lean, marathon-runner physical type. And some roles you just don't want to be in shape.
Patrick HeusingerI only had a three-week break from the beginning of Bent, so I went from one thing to the next. I got back [from shooting Jack Reacher] and there was a sense of, "Oh my God, what do I do now?" I don't have personal trainers around me all the time, I'm not on a meal plan, which I had been on for almost a year straight. There was a lot of sleeping.
Patrick HeusingerThe role I played [in theatre] was originated by Ian McKellen in 1979 and he came. I didn't know he was there and I walked out at the end of the play, which is a very intense play - my character is required to do some really horrible things - and the director was waiting backstage and he goes, "Obviously I didn't want to tell you guys, but Ian was here today" and we, of course, freaked out.Ian McKellen said some really beautiful, kind things, one of which was, "It's so much harder to watch than it is to do."
Patrick HeusingerWhen I did Casual, I just let myself put on weight because he's a schoolteacher. He's not meant to be muscle-y.
Patrick HeusingerI was eating with the help of a nutritionist so I was definitely putting in the appropriate calories and vitamins and minerals into my body; however, it was still so little that if I had the tiniest piece of sugar, my brain would go crazy. If I had some alcohol during the run of that play, my brain would go crazy.
Patrick Heusinger