Austin Abrams went full method whilst filming new horror thriller Whalefall, so much so that he walked around his neighbourhood in scuba gear to get used to the weight, and even had security called on him at one point.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Abrams was asked about walking around in scuba gear, asking if he got any funny looks while doing so. “I can’t remember if there were any funny looks or not,” said Abrams, “But there’s a point where Jay gets visibly more distressed and blown-up looking. I remember walking around the lot during that time and having security called on me just because I looked so fucked up.”
Scuba suits aside, Abrams had to undergo physical changes to get into the role of diver Jay Gardiner. The star has had to fluctuate his weight dramatically. While waiting for Zach Cregger’s 2025 horror movie Weapons to start filming, Abrams had to keep to a very low weight to play drug addict James.
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In fact, Abrams maintained that weight for a long while whilst Cregger had to recast Weapons due to delays. Abrams was the only actor to stick with the project, though, and actively passed up other opportunities at that time. Then the actor had to get into sporty shape to play diver Jay in Whalefall, before putting on weight to play Bryan in Cregger’s Resident Evil movie.
“I wanted Bryan to be a dude you look at and think he won’t be able to get out of this,” said Abrams. “I didn’t want him to look like someone who runs laps in his free time or something like that. So it was a close period of time, but there wasn’t really any science to it. You just do whatever you can to get where you need to go.”
Much like Resident Evil, Whalefall puts Abrams’ protagonist in a life-threatening situation. But rather than fighting off zombies like Bryan, Jay is swallowed whole by a massive whale.
Whalefall is out in cinemas now. For more, keep up with upcoming movies and movie release dates.