Los Angeles, Sep 8 (IANS) Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom, who plays a boxer in the Sean Ellis film 'The Cut', underwent a stunning physical transformation for the film.

In the film, Orlando's character is on the brink of a total breakdown as he races against the clock to drop weight before a fight, reports 'Variety'.

He is guided by a shady coach, played by John Turturro, in his journey.

Orlando's character will do anything to shed pounds, even as it threatens his life.

As per 'Variety', Orlando himself lost a whopping 23 kg in three months in preparation for the movie, which also stars Caitriona Balfe. He discussed his eye-popping physical transformation at the Toronto Film Festival.

He told 'Variety', "I basically tiered down the food over a three-month period until just before filming, (when) I was at my lightest. I dropped 52 pounds, and I was about 185 when I started. So I dropped quite a lot of weight, and I was very mentally challenged as well. You feed somebody tuna and cucumber long enough."

Since the film follows the boxer on an often disturbing journey to making a lower weight class, Ellis shot 'The Cut' in reverse chronological order, meaning Orlando was actually bulking up during production.

"Your brain is starved of calories, basically," Ellis said to Orlando.

"It was going to be impossible for him to work while dieting. So, he came to us at his lightest, and then he started to eat. So that meant that we had to shoot the film (with) the ending first and the beginning of the movie at the end... Over the 25 days that we were shooting, he was putting on the calories. And then it's edited in reverse."

Orlando added the physical transformation was more "exciting" than "daunting".