How did Ralph Fiennes get shredded at 60 for his role as Odysseus in The Return? Details explored

While fans wait for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, they can enjoy The Return, but that'll be different. It sits on Rotten Tomatoes, having a 79% approval rating so that tells us it's worth a watch. And then Ralph Fiennes' shredded body at his age as Odysseus is just unmissable. Though J.K. Simmons' shredded Santa at 70 in Red One (69 at the release) still stands on top of the muscle league.

Fans began calling him 'Voldemort' for his transformation in the film. Other than Voldemort from Harry Potter movies, fans are used to seeing him as one fine head at MI6, directing Bond, and more famously as the brutal Amon Göth in Schindler's List.

He co-stars alongside Juliette Binoche, who plays Odysseus' wife Penelope, who used to get shocked seeing Ralph Fiennes training for the character. Other members of the cast in the film include Charlie Plummer, Angela Molina, Marwan Kenzari, and more.

So how this shredded body come into being in The Return?

He doesn't use the term 'old' for the body, and he shouldn't be. But he did want to appear old but not like one old man. It needed to be something that didn't have much fat. In one interview with Bleeker Films, he said,

"I’m 60, so it’s not a young body. I use the word “ropey” and said I wanted it to look ropey like a piece of old rope."

As it has been for any actor, be it Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden, Chris Evans as Captain Steve Rogers, Christian Bale as Batman, and more, the diet has been the core of it (and a trainer), which The Return actor explains,

"I had a great trainer and he put me on a very tough diet."

He goes on to explain that there were a lot of proteins involved but carbohydrates were there too. Other than that, he kept sweets and alcohol at bay to transform himself into the Odysseus we saw in The Return.

And it wasn't just weight training but cardio too for The Return, which Juliette says stunned her. She says,

"Sometimes I would pass with my car and I would see, I would see Ralph running uphills, like this (hand gesture), under the sun and all I said, 'oh wow.'"

He trains hard and works harder

This is Ralph Fiennes' body at its finest as of now. The Return will keep returning to his fans' screens over the years for the transformation and acting he has done in the film. But he was always like this, going by a motto not many see that screams, 'train hard and work harder.

One of his trainers, Ross Styles, whom he worked with during Coriolanus, where he plays the Roman general Caius Martius, expands upon this. He didn't want Ralph to burn out as he was doing other deeds alongside training, from funding to editing.

Professional stuntman Nick McKinless, who also worked alongside Ralph on the set of Coriolanus, said the actor was his favorite when it comes to training.

"He is off the chart with his intelligence, humble, kind and always outworked every program and challenge I set him. The man is a machine. Not mega strong but based on his genetics and age, he is phenomenal."

Fiennes is set to appear in 28 Years Later as one survivor who has found an interesting way to live in the post-apocalyptic world.