Though Bleed for This — the biopic of Vinny Pazienza, a boxing champion that made a comeback after breaking his neck in a car accident — hasn’t performed well in theaters, one of the most praised aspects of the film is Aaron Eckhart‘s performance as Kevin Rooney, Paz’s trainer.
Two important aspects of the role that Eckhart felt compelled to do justice to was Rooney’s physical and vocal attributes — which included gaining weight, shaving his head to look as if he were balding, and even stuffing tissues in his nose to help sound like Rooney. He reveals, “Anything I improvised it came from Kevin’s language verbatim. I listened to so much tape of him talking that anything I said in the movie that wasn’t scripted was actually what Kevin would say. That really helped me out. To this day, I could just start talking [like Kevin] and do entire interviews that I listened to of him. I always had him in my ear, in my phone. I was always watching, always talking in his voice.”
Paying that much attention to Rooney’s voice was essential to Eckhart’s respect for the character — especially since it is based on a real person. He explains, “You have respect and reverence for your characters and the fact that you’re going to epitomize that person for the rest of their lives. They’re going to be judged based on your performance by millions of people. You have a certain responsibility. I tried to match what Kevin looked like at that time, which was overweight. It wasn’t something I did because I wanted to show off. It wasn’t about ego; it was about how do I look like this guy? I’m a relatively skinny, in shape or whatever. I quit working out and started eating cheese pizzas and just gained the weight.”
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