Blade Runner 2049 star Sylvia Hoeks: ‘I tortured myself to put on seven kilos of muscle for role’

The actress employed three personal trainers to get into shape
Hard work: Sylvia Hoek struggled to bulk up
Stephanie Pistel for Schön!
Alistair Foster28 September 2017
The Weekender

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Sylvia Hoeks says she needed three personal trainers and a “torture device” to gain seven kilograms of muscle for her role in Blade Runner 2049.

The actress, 34, was scouted by a modelling agency at 14 but is not well known outside her native Netherlands.

She is set to become a worldwide name when the sci-fi sequel, which also stars Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling, is released next month.

Her routine of cardio and martial arts training and a special diet also involved an adapted rowing machine to which she strapped her hands, which she described as a “torture device”.

She told Schön! magazine: “It was hard work, I tell you, but great work.

“The transformation of my body serves an important purpose... It helps me to become my character.”

Details of the film’s plot and characters have been a closely guarded secret. It is set 30 years after the original 1982 film.

Hoeks, who was named as one of Europe’s 10 most promising actors by Variety magazine, said: “I’m kind of shy. But being in the camera’s eye is like stepping into a dream world, one that is often more interesting than real life.”

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