Actress Han Hyo Joo Reveals Her “Brutal” Workout And Diet Regime For A Role

Across entertainment industries, actors going to extreme ends to step into a role is not unheard of. But sometimes, the reality of these “extremes” can leave an average person at a loss for words. Actress Han Hyo Joo‘s recent revelation about a project might do the same.

The actress’s global popularity has taken flight with her latest K-Drama, Moving. After finishing that show, Han Hyo Joo actually filmed another project, a movie called Believer 2. On October 5, during the 28th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), she joined an Open Talk session, discussing her character in the film.

Han plays the role of Big Knife in Believer 2. This is her first antagonist role, and ever since fans saw her in the teaser, they have been eagerly waiting to witness her “villain era” as soon as possible.

One of the talking points of her character is her chiseled body. And it turns out Han Hyo Joo had to go through intense levels of workout and dieting to achieve that build.

During her BIFF talk, the actress candidly talked about how hard it was to build a muscular physique while maintaining a skinny frame for the character. But she pushed through because the director insisted on it.

It wasn’t really easy to build the body. I wasn’t given that much time. Immediately after ‘Moving’ ended, I joined “Believer 2″. It’s harder to be slim with a lot of lean muscles. The director’s vision was brutal. He wanted slender but ripped. So I had to work out all-day.

— Han Hyo Joo

She then explained her workout routine, which heavily focused on cardio and weight training every day, with small meals to interject.

In the morning, I did weight training to build muscles and ate just eggs and bananas at lunch. In the afternoon, I focused on losing fat. So, I did cardio all day.

— Han Hyo Joo

But one specific scene turned out to be the hardest for Han, physique-wise. She referred to the final action scene where she rips off her shirt, and her toned muscles are displayed in full glory, revealing that she had stopped drinking water for three days to make her body appear the way it did.

In the last action scene, I tear up all my clothes, and at that time, my body (that was built so far) needs to be exposed, so I tried the dehydration method for the first time in my life. I didn’t drink even a sip of water for three days and took out all the hydration from my body.

— Han Hyo Joo

At the end of her explanation, director Baek Jong Yul chimed in, “officially apologizing” to the actress for pushing her to such extremes.