Bill Skarsgård took dedication to a whole new level for his role in The Crow reboot.
According to director Rupert Sanders, the Swedish actor’s extreme preparation included a strict diet and intense exercise regimen that left everyone on set — as well as Us — in awe.
In an interview with Variety published on Saturday, August 24, Sanders revealed the lengths Skarsgård went to in order to embody the iconic character. “I’d take Bill out to dinner, and I’d always just order for him because I knew what he was eating,” Sanders shared. “It’s basically steak tartare and raw eggs.”
This disciplined diet fueled Skarsgård’s transformation into the resurrected antihero, a role previously immortalized by Brandon Lee in the 1994 classic.
But the grueling diet was only part of Skarsgård’s commitment. Sanders noted that the 33-year-old actor additionally spent countless hours working out. “He was in the gym a lot,” Sanders said. “He ate very healthily and put us all to shame when we were eating burgers and hot dogs, working late at night in the Czech summer.”
Skarsgård also opened up about his gym regime to Variety, explaining, “I’d already been training for quite a while.”
“Me and my trainer kept adding a little bit of weight onto what I’d already been doing, but I didn’t want to be too big either,” he related. “It was tricky because they wanted the Crow to be ripped, but the character Eric shouldn’t be. I didn’t feel like the character should be thin, but you can’t afford to split it into six months, the ‘Raging Bull’ kind of way. So we did a lot of weight training and ate a lot of protein.”
This isn’t the first time Skarsgård has undergone a physical transformation for a role. Back in 2018, while preparing for Castle Rock, the actor shared with Us Weekly how he drastically lost weight to portray a character found after years in solitary confinement.
“I basically did the Keto diet,” he said at the time. “You get into ketogenesis and you just eat a lot of fat and no carbs. I lose weight quickly. Before scenes, I would not drink water or eat for 24 hours. It does a lot. It changes your face.”
After months of dedication and sacrifice, Skarsgård knew exactly how he wanted to celebrate once filming wrapped.
“I wanted a beer and burger,” he admitted. “I didn’t drink for three months, either, so I went to a shady dive bar and it was great.”
