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Netflix's Stranger Things Season 4 has earned rave reviews for its cast members, including Sadie Sink, Jamie Campbell Bower, and Millie Bobby Brown, but David Harbour's portrayal of Jim Hopper has also garnered significant praise. Hopper's fate was left on a cliffhanger in the previous season and hence received a lot of focus in the latest one.
James "Jim" Hopper has always been portrayed as a bulky figure. However, in Season 4, the Indiana police chief flips the script with his physique and showcases a relatively toned figure.
During a recent interview with BBC Breakfast, actor David Harbour discussed his journey to losing so much weight ahead of the production of Stranger Things Season 4. He disclosed that his weight loss program was a "hard process."
What did David Harbour say about losing weight for Stranger Things Season 4?
This latest season showcased Hopper in a Russian labor camp, which meant that the character had to undergo a drastic weight loss as a result of him being in captivity. As per his recent statement to British GQ, David Harbour revealed:
"I lost about 80 lbs. from season three — I was about 270 [then], and when we shot [season four] I was around 190."
The actor further expressed his frustration over the difficult process of losing weight for the role. He stated:
"I don't think I'll ever do that again."
In the interview, David Harbour (47) also disclosed that he did pilates and intermittent fasting in order to drop the weight within a span of eight months prior to shooting his portions of Hopper in the Russian prison.
However, it is possible that the New York native did not lose weight for Stranger Things alone. In 2019, Harbour portrayed Hellboy in the titular reboot, which required him to pack some muscles and lose some of his belly fat.
Meanwhile, Stranger Things Season 4 reportedly began shooting in January 2020. Thus, within such a short period of time between Hellboy and Netflix's Stranger Things Season 4, it is possible that the actor was not in that bad of a shape, to begin with.
For Hellboy, Harbour was trained by celebrity fitness trainer Don Saladino, who told Men's Health that the actor lost so much weight before filming that the 2019 film's production company was unhappy. They expressed their disappointment over the actor's weight loss as the titular character's body suit would have to be redone if Harbour could not fit into it. At the time, Saladino told Men's Health:
"Those abs, those shoulders, those arms, that was not him, that was the prosthetic suit."
However, to Harbour's credit, he had to pack some muscle and lose fat in order to do the physically challenging movements as Hellboy in the prosthetic suit. The actor reportedly only had nine weeks to complete the training program.
In a recent interview with BBC Breakfast, David Harbour revealed everything about his diet and fasting, which was crucial in shedding such a drastic amount of weight. He further elaborated on how he reduced his body fat percentage. Harbour stated:
"It's not easy, it's a lot of not eating when you lose that much weight, and being hungry."
He further added:
"That's the secret, if you're curious about the diet secret, it's just not eating food."
This hints that the actor focused a lot on dieting and fasting to lose weight. However, he told GQ that he has gained back almost all of the weight for his upcoming take on a "Santa Claus movie (Violent Night) coming out for Universal in December."
