Jesse Plemons. Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for The Walt Disney Company Limited
Jesse Plemons is opening up about gaining weight for his role in 2015’s Black Mass — and why, he probably wouldn’t do it again.
Speaking with The Independent in an interview published on Saturday, February 22, Plemons, 36, spoke about putting on weight for role as former mobster Kevin Weeks in Black Mass, saying it “did mess [him] up a bit” afterward.
“I never imagined getting to play a part like that,” he told the outlet, explaining that gaining weight “was a decision I made at that age, given that opportunity for that director — and I was playing a real person. I don’t regret it.” He continued, “But it was very easy to put the weight on, and much more difficult taking it off.”
Plemons added, “I don’t know if it’s something I would do again — because it did mess me up a bit.” He also shared that his choice to gain weight for the role wound up having a prolonged effect on his acting career.
Jesse Plemons knows a thing or two about making big changes — and his body is no exception. The Fargo alum, who kicked off his career on Friday Night Lights and Breaking Bad before becoming a bonafide movie star, spoke candidly about gaining weight in order to portray mobster Kevin Weeks in 2015’s Black Mass. […]
“I felt like that decision I made sort of dictated the types of parts I was being asked to play, and then started to seep into my own identity,” he said. “Which wasn’t necessarily who I was before that.”
Plemons has also lost weight for his acting roles. He revealed that his role in Civil War in 2024 encouraged him to make certain lifestyle changes, including intermittent fasting, which contributed to him losing weight, saying his casting in the film “snapped me out of it.”
“As well as having young kids,” Plemons said. “And I just got a handle on it again. Having lost the weight, aside from feeling better, it does feel like I’ve opened another door to potential parts I can play.” (Plemons shares sons Ennis, 6, and James, 3, with wife Kirsten Dunst.)
Jesse Plemons. Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Plemons has previously opened up about losing weight, telling Entertainment Tonight in June last year that he shed 50 pounds “over the course of a year and a half or so.”
He added, “I have much more energy 1740457904 and, like I’ve said, I’ve got young kids, so I got to keep up with them.”
Plemons had a brief cameo in Civil War as an ultranationalist militant. Last year, he told The Los Angeles Times that part of his decision to lose weight was both due to “getting older” but also for an upcoming film role.
He told the outlet in June 2024, “I hate even getting specific because then it turns into a whole thing, but there was a part that I did that in my mind I could not imagine him as the size that I was.”
Plemons also clapped back at assumptions that he was using Ozempic, a type 2 diabetes medication that has become popular for its efficacy in weight loss, to help him lose weight.
“It’s really unfortunate that I decided to get healthy when everyone decided to take Ozempic,” he said. “It doesn’t matter, everyone’s going to think I took Ozempic anyways.”
