By now you must have seen the alarmingly freakish photos of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson who radically transformed his body by losing 54 lbs for a role in the upcoming film, “Things Fall Apart,” a picture he actually co-wrote with Brian A. Miller about a football player with cancer. Mario Van Peebles is directing and co-starring along with Ray Liotta.
Emaciated and looking like an extra from “The Road,” or a sleep-deprived Christian Bale from “The Machinist,” Cent apparently lost the weight by simply starving himself, subsisting off a liquid diet, and employing three-hour-a-day treadmill walks for nine weeks. The images have pretty much pervaded all forms of media from Us Weekly to The Washington Post.
So is 50 going for an Oscar? Or more importantly is the weight loss already all for naught? Jackson’s last couple of vanity project films have pretty much gone straight to DVD and/or have had small off-the-radar releases that only his core audience has viewed (other than co-starring efforts in poor films like “Righteous Kill”) and frankly, this sounds only marginally more high-profile then his straight-to-video directorial effort, “Before I Self Destruct.”
So while the weight loss will get him noticed for now, don’t be surprised if the picture comes and goes and you see it at the bottom of a B-movie Blockbuster shelf a year from now (if that brick and mortar still exists by then).
Jackson’s career did start out auspiciously; Jim Sheridan made the puzzling decision to essentially redo, “8 Mile,” only with 50 instead of Emimen. The picture, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” was one of his least regarded pictures ever (and it made $46 million worldwide, but the budget was $40 without counting P&A costs). Jackson then appeared alongside Jessica Biel in the post-Iraq War film, “Home Of The Brave,” which grossed a paltry $4,874 domestically.
All that said, we’re kind of impressed that a guy with that much money — a lot of it from being a commercial shill for Glacéau, a Vitamin Water he co-founded and then was bought by Coca Cola — would go this far for a movie no one is likely to ever see, because really, when was the last time you saw a Mario Van Peebles film open wide, let alone, open at all.
As much as I hate 50 Cent's music and persona, the extent he's going to lose weight for this movie is really alarming. I almost want to see the movie out of pity.
Badassssssssss by van peebles was a pretty good movie though. I would'nt count him out, but i'm not holding my breath.
It's even more convincing since 50 Cent was a really buff dude in good shape. I know I wouldn't want to destroy my body for a project no matter how special it might be. I mean The Machinist is a perfect example. It is only known because of Bale's weight loss for it….as a film, it doesn't stand on its own.
Yeah, ppl freaked when we called the Machinist mediocre recently, but it really is. Bale is good in it as is the cast, but as a film and whole, it just doesn't work.
A lot of ppl simply think its amazing cause Bale lost so much weight, which is silly.
LOL @ playlist. i love it when you guys get all omniscient and know exactly why it is people like or dislike stuff. i actually think the machinist is a good film and bale's dedication is only part of why i think so. it isn't a great film, but it certainly isn't mediocre, either.
i do applaud you guys for being renegades, though! *pinches cheeks*
no one(Damon,Fassbender or Bale) win nod or Oscar for a lost of weight!
but i like 50 cent's dedication!
he looks like DMX or faithless here
The Machinist is a good movie. Yeah it's script has some issues but Bale is fantastic.
I admire 50's dedication, but his acting career is worthless.
It would be nice if some of the money from this movie (if it makes a profit) went to a student to study the epigenetic effects of weight loss and weight gain…which is often cancer. So, I hope that Mr. Jackson's coaches alerted him to that fact…his drastic weight loss/gain could actually affect the life of an unborn child if he decides to have another. Let's hope not…Nonetheless, best wishes to him and his crew & I hope the movie does well!!