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Kit Harington Transforms Into a Gladiator For ‘Pompeii’

Kit Harington is trading in his cloak for a kilt with his starring role in the upcoming disaster-adventure film Pompeii! However, the transition from the HBO hit series Game of Thrones to the big s...
Kit Harington Transforms Into a Gladiator For ‘Pompeii’
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  • Kit Harington is trading in his cloak for a kilt with his starring role in the upcoming disaster-adventure film Pompeii! However, the transition from the HBO hit series Game of Thrones to the big screen required a little more than just a wardrobe change.

    According to Access Hollywood, Harington, who has been promoting the new film in Los Angeles, explained how he toned his well-defined abs in preparation for the big screen leading role. He also shared why he felt the physical transformation was so important for the depiction of his character, Milo.

    “On a practical level, I’m playing a gladiator and they were very, very fit men and they were fighters and they had to look a certain way and be a certain way and I thought I’d be doing the story an injustice if I didn’t go to the gym quite a bit,” Kit explained.

    “And then it becomes obsessional. Once you go along that path, it’s hard to slow down,” he said of the exercise routine he incorporated to achieve his toned look. The 27-year-old Brit also accredited his fitness success to the nutritional changes he made.

    (image)

    “It’s a whole process. You have a [nutritionist]. It’s 70 percent diet and 30 percent working out and you get into a regime and you just keep going,” he told Access. “It’s tough to start with. … You then have to maintain it throughout the film. … It’s not eating bad things, which is the hardest [part].”

    While Harington’s abs are now extremely cut, there was one more physical change he needed to incorporate. Harington had to give the impression of a gladiator, who’d spent the majority of his life battling under the sun in smoldering heat. So, the actor also implemented tanning methods to further embellish the look.(image)

    “I tried spray tanning, it was horrific,” he said. “I didn’t do spray tanning because you have to get [a] spray tan and then stay there, like very still, for like eight hours and it rubs off on everything and your nails are yellow and I just couldn’t stand it. So, then we tried real tanning on sunbeds and that’s apparently very dangerous for you, so I stopped that. And we reverted to me just having two women come oil me up with tanning lotion.”

    Pompeii is scheduled to hit theaters nationwide on February 21.

    Image via Game of Thrones, Facebook
    Image via Pompeii, Facebook
    Image via Pompeii, Facebook

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