50 Cent is known for many things – rapping, Vitamin Water (remember that?) and his portrayal as Kanan in TV series Power.
Yet, you probably didn’t know that the performer, real name Curtis Jackson, once lost a whopping 24kg for a 2010 movie that no one ended up seeing.
All Things Fall Apart followed promising college football player Deon, played by Jackson, struggling with cancer in his senior year and was loosely based on the rapper’s childhood pal. You can watch the trailer below:
The star lost an astounding amount of weight on a liquid diet in just nine weeks and shared several shots of his gaunt frame on social media at the time, much to the concern of fans.
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Speaking to the Associated Press back then, he said: “This time it was a lot tougher for me. I had to discipline myself not … to actually have myself be in the physical state to convey the energy I felt.
“It’s a passion project for me.”
The now-47-year-old explained that when his extreme diet got tough, he would Google other actors that had lost weight for a role for inspiration.
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The hitmaker added: “I actually got on the computer. When it started getting difficult, I was looking to see what their experience was like and I got a chance to see all of the interviews they had at different time periods when they were doing promotion for the projects.”
And if you’re a male actor in Hollywood, it seems that if you lose an extreme amount of weight for a role there’s a strong chance you’ll win an Oscar – yeah, we’re talking to you Matthew McConaughey and Joaquin Phoenix.
However, 50 Cent’s performance in the drama, which also starred the late Ray Liotta, didn’t have quite the impact on moviegoers that he had probably hoped.
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Critics in fact panned his performance, with one critic, Brian Orndorf, writing: “Straining to be meaningful until its blue in the face, All Things Fall Apart is a hackneyed, stilted production, held back in great part by Jackson's decision to insert himself in the lead role.”
At the time, it received a 58 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes – and went straight to DVD after premiering at the Miami International Film Festival in 2011.
Although his first movie endeavour slightly missed the mark, 50 Cent has enjoyed much success with his series Power, which he starred in and executive produced, as well as it's spin-off Power II: Ghost and ABC show For Life.
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Topics: 50 Cent, Film and TV
Lisa McLoughlin