6,000 Calories, Coconut Milk Ice Cream, Dozens of Doughnuts: How Hollywood Gains Weight

Feb. 7, 2011 — -- The treadmill, the elliptical, yoga, weights, lettuce, lettuce, grilled chicken, and more lettuce: It's the pre-filming routine of most stars.

But once in a very great while, all that gets swapped out for ice cream, doughnuts, and fried chicken. The couch gets a workout; the treadmill gathers dust.

Last week, Hugh Jackman revealed that he's consuming a whopping 6,000 calories a day to bulk up for his upcoming "Wolverine" movie on the advice of director Darren Aronofsky. Jackman usually tips the scale at 190 pounds; currently, he's 210, and looking to expand.

"[Aronofsky] said that Wolverine, in the comics, is powerful, stocky, you know, he's short and thick," Jackman told the Los Angeles Times. "So he said, 'I want you to go there, get bigger.'"

"Get bigger." In a culture obsessed with losing weight, it's a dream-like directive. Below, check out four more stars who have put on weight in the name of acting.

Michelle Williams

Before filming "Blue Valentine," Williams indulged in ice cream, and avocado sandwiches to pack more than 15 pounds onto her 5'4 frame. While Williams took her role as a woman in the midst of a crumbling marriage seriously, she and her co-star, Ryan Gosling, turned their mandatory munch-fest into a game.

"She ended up winning. She gained about 15, 16 pounds. He gained 14," "Blue Valentine" director Derek Cianfrance told People magazine in December. "Michelle was eating a pint of ice cream for breakfast and dinner, and avocado sandwiches all day. She wanted to do it. She talked about her character having a certain self-hatred."

Williams' ice cream of choice, according to Cianfrance: "stuff made with coconut milk," which can be more fattening than the milk and cream varieties. The extra calories seem to have paid off: Williams is up for a best actress Oscar for "Blue Valentine."