Netflix
Lest you think that Henry Cavill talks constantly about how hard he works (“Actor Does Job Shock!”), know that he is far from solipsistic. “I’m so proud of my team, because I expect a high standard of myself and they matched that,” he says. In conversation, Cavill constantly gives props to his colleagues, from the “incredible stunt performers” to his hairdresser, Jackie (“We all worked long hours on that job, but he took the wig home with her”).
The scars on his ripped abs that he posted on Instagram (caption: “When you take work home with you”) were thankfully just make-up. But doing his own stunts did bring occupational hazards. “Because I was training hard in the gym throughout the whole process, it became difficult for any injuries to heal.
You stress the muscles so much when you’re super-dehydrated and tired at the end of the day that little things can happen, like muscle pulls, which never quite go away.”
Indeed, his trainer’s job was made “quite a challenge” by Cavill’s filming schedule and persistent lack of sleep. “He had to find a way of leaning me up while putting on muscle mass without completely crushing me every day,” says Cavill. “But, of course, it does crush you. After eight months of shooting, I was in quite a dire state. But we did it. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy at all. But Dave Rienzi knows his stuff. He’s an excellent trainer.”
