Living in the Fast Food Lane Trivia Quiz

Answer: "Bridget Jones's Diary" (2001)

Renee Zellweger got into the character of Bridget Jones by gaining weight for that role. She didn't only do this one time but she had to repeat the weight gain when she appeared in the sequel "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" (2004). Renee was born April 25, 1969 in Katy, Texas, U.S.A.

Her character of Bridget Jones was that of the typically average woman who had a constant struggle with her own flaws, one of which was issues with weight. In order to take control of her life she started a diary in which she vowed to always tell it like it is.

Answer: Jake La Motta - "Raging Bull" (1980)

"Raging Bull" was directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a true story about middleweight boxer Jake La Motta. La Motta was filled up inside with a lot of anger. His many issues eventually destroyed any relationships that he had. The film is based on the memoir of Jake La Motta titled "Raging Bull: My Story" (1970).

Robert De Niro went through some mighty extreme body changes by eating plenty of hamburgers and pizza. He also drank a lot of dark beer to help pile on the calories. De Niro is a versatile actor able to play many roles such as Jack Byrnes in the comedy "Meet the Parents" (2000) to Travis Bickle in the film "Taxi Driver" (1976).

Answer: Eat Pray Love

The 2010 film "Eat Pray Love" is the story of Elizabeth Gilbert, an unhappily married woman, who decided to take her life into a new direction. After she went through a terrible divorce, Liz took a trip around the world. This was her way of making an attempt to rediscover herself. During her travels she discovered many different things, like how food could be really pleasurable when she dined in Italy. What surprised her most was when she found honest and real love in Bali.

In truth Elizabeth Gilbert gained thirty pounds while Julia Roberts felt that ten pounds of extra weight on her own frame would make her role more authentic.

"Mystic Pizza" (1988), "Step Mom" (1998) and "Notting Hill" (1999) are all films starring Julia Roberts.

Julia Fiona Roberts was born in 1967 in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. She has won numerous awards such as the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in "Steel Magnolias" (1989), the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in "Pretty Woman" (1990) and the Academy Award for Best Actress for "Erin Brockovich" (2000).

Answer: Matt Damon

Matt Damon played the role of Mark Whitacre in "The Informant". His character worked for a company called ADM (Archer Daniels Midland), a Fortune 500 company, and Whitacre oversaw the production of lysine. Lysine was the additive that this company used in its commercial livestock industry. A competitor came to the plant and made implications that the lysine had a virus which was infected into it, by a mole within ADM. This prompted the company to hire the FBI to investigate. Whitacre reluctantly became an informant and revealed to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) that ADM was actually price-fixing within the company. Whitacre exposed the price-fixing but cleverly managed to cover up the extortion that he was involved in.

Matt Damon gained the thirty pounds for this true story. He put on the extra flab in order to be believable as Whitacre, a pathological liar.

Matt Damon was born Matthew Paige Damon on October 8, 1970. He is a very talented actor, screenwriter, producer and philanthropist. He and Ben Affleck wrote the screenplay for "Good Will Hunting" (1997) which launched Damon's screenwriting career. For that film, Damon won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

Answer: Monster

"Monster" (2003) was a true crime drama about Aileen Wuornos, serial killer of six men. When Wuornos was raped by Vincent Corey she killed him in her own self-defense, which led to her becoming a prostitute living in Florida, USA. Her intention was to rob the victims but she killed each of them more brutally than the one before. Wuornos used the money from her robberies for herself and for her girlfriend Selby (played by Christina Ricci). Aileen was eventually arrested, charged and sentenced to death. Aileen Wuornos was executed in 2002 for her crimes.

Charlize Theron not only gained the weight but she also wore very little make-up. Charlize actually shaved off her eyebrows for the role of Wuornos in order to be more authentic looking. Strange as it may seem, Theron received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Wuornos on the actual same date as the birthdate of Aileen Wuornos. Charlize Theron was born on August 7, 1975 in Benoni, Transvaal Province, South Africa. Her career includes acting, producing, directing and fashion modeling. Some of Theron's films include "Mighty Joe Young" (1998), "Sweet November" (2001) and "Prometheus" (2012).

Answer: Million Dollar Baby (2004)

For the role of Maggie Fitzgerald, Hilary Swank had to train hard. During her months of weight training and eating accordingly, she put on nineteen pounds of solid muscle. She trained hard for 4 ½ hours each and every day, six days a week. Swank also had to eat a lot of protein during her training to maintain the health of her body. She had to get up and drink a protein shake during each nine hours of sleep a night.

Hilary Swank was born on July 30, 1974. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in "Million Dollar Baby".

Hilary's character, Maggie Fitzgerald, convinced Frankie Dunn (played by Clint Eastwood) to be her manager and trainer. Determined to prove Frankie wrong about his fear of not producing winning boxers, Maggie set out on a personal quest to train hard. After several boxing matches she emerged undefeated and felt that she was truly ready to fight for a world title championship. Her opponent played dirty and caused Maggie to break her neck in a fall in the ring. Maggie ended up bedridden and suicidal due to severe depression. She attempted to take her own life by biting her own tongue so she would bleed to death. This was foiled so she asked Frankie to end her life for her. Although he refused, eventually he decided that removing her breathing tube and letting her go was the best thing he could do for Maggie.

Answer: Jared Leto

Jared Leto took on the role of Mark David Chapman in the 2007 movie "Chapter 27". Leto had to shed his good looks image and gain a whopping sixty-seven pounds in order to portray the overweight killer of John Lennon. The film was written and directed by Jarrett Schaefer, based on the book "Let Me Take You Down" (1992) by Jack Jones. The story revolved more around what made Chapman tick rather than the murder itself. He murdered John Lennon on December 8, 1980. Over time Chapman had become obsessed with the idea of killing Lennon.

Jared Joseph Leto was born December 26, 1971 in Bossier City, Louisiana, USA. He has been acting since 1992. He is also the lead vocalist of the band 30 Seconds to Mars. He has appeared in such films as "Panic Room" (2002), "Mr. Nobody" (2009) and "Girl, Interrupted" (1999). Leto said that the weight gain was responsible for a change in how he walked, talked and even how he laughed.

Answer: Russell Crowe

Crowe revealed that gaining all of that excess weight had raised his cholesterol to some seriously dangerous levels. Although he claimed that he enjoyed eating and drinking whatever he wanted to he found it particularly annoying to have to rock himself out of his car rather than just stepping out of the car like he used to do. Russell Crowe was born Russel Ira Crowe on April 7, 1964 in Wellington, New Zealand. Crowe starred in such films as "Les Miserables" (2012), "American Gangster" (2007) and "The Insider" (1999).

His character, Ed Hoffman, in "Body of Lies" was the chief of (Central Intelligence Agency) CIA's Near East Division. Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) was an operative in the Middle East while Hoffman was Ferris's boss at Langley. The story delivered all of the things that revolved around terrorism, informants and the question of eventual surrender.

Answer: Chopper (2000)

Large quantities of beer, saturated fats and unforgiving doughnuts were what Eric Bana gorged himself on to play the character of Mark "Chopper" Read in "Chopper". Read was a criminal who later became known for his autobiography "From the Inside" (1991) which was what the film was based on. Read was convicted of several different crimes, like armed robbery and assault for example. "Chopper" starred Eric Bana as Chopper, who had an obsession of becoming a crime legend. He had his problems with jealousy and paranoia. The true story of Mark "Chopper" Read tells how his personal life of crime eventually steered him toward his career as writer.

Eric Bana was born Eric Banadinovich on August 9, 1968 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. To play the role of "Chopper", Bana shaved his head, gained nearly thirty pounds of extra weight and also spent a couple of days with Read in order to be able to act more like Read. Bana won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor for the role of Read in "Chopper".

Answer: Yes

Both Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling gained fifteen pounds each for their roles of Dean and Cindy, the doomed lovers in "Blue Valentine". The story followed the lives of Dean and Cindy Pereira. It told how their relationship and eventual marriage started and ended. Some scenes, such as a walk through New York streets, were unscripted so Williams and Gosling had to improvise their dialogue. Gaining weight helped to portray the results of unhappiness and depression. Michelle, unbelievably, ate a pint of ice cream for breakfast and again for her dinner. Ryan enjoyed being pudgy because for him the extra body fat felt like a costume sometimes. He said that it helped to make him feel less nude, less vulnerable in some scenes.

Michelle Williams was born Michelle Ingrid Williams in 1980. She has appeared in such films as "My Week with Marilyn" (2011) and "Oz: The Great and Powerful" (2013).

Ryan Gosling was born Ryan Thomas Gosling in 1980. Some of the films he has appeared in are "Gangster Squad" (2013), "Drive" (2011) and "Crazy, Stupid, Love". (2011).