Sean Astin Says He Put on 30 Lbs. of Muscle for50 First DatesAfter LosingLord of the RingsWeight

Mar. 15, 2025

Sean Astin in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ (left) in 2001; Sean Astin in ‘50 First Dates’ (right) in 2004.Photo:Everett(2)

Everett(2)

Sean Astin put in a lot of effort to star in50 First Dates.

On the Nov. 25 episodes ofThe Drew Barrymore Show, the 53-year-old actor opened up to Barrymore — who starred in the film alongsideAdam Sandler— about the physical transformation he endured for the comedy.

“I had to gain like a million pounds to be inThe Lord of the Ringsbecause I played a ‘stupid fat hobbit,’ ” he said, noting that’s what Gollum calls his character, Samwise Gamgee, in the three-film series. He appeared in 2001’sThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2002’sThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towersand 2003’sThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

After the movies, he said, “I lost like 30 pounds.” He went on to appear in season 2 of the Showtime seriesJeremiah, which he called “so much fun.”

“And then Adam said, ‘We’d love you to do this. Can you put on 30 pounds?’ ” he said of50 First Dates. “I was like, oh my God, of course, of course, I’ll put on 30 pounds.”

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From left: Sean Astin, Dan Aykroyd and Adam Sandler in ‘50 First Dates’ in 2004.Everett

Everett

Astin also revealed that originally he didn’t want to do50 First Dates. “My whole career is about me not wanting to do stuff and people tell me, ‘You gotta do this’ and then I do it and I was like, oh, that’s good.”

When 50 First Datescame around, he was tired fromLord of the Ringsand excited about his acting and directing work onJeremiah. “My wifewas like, ‘Do that audition.’ She doesn’t generally say stuff like that to me, you know, and when your wife says something to you, you gotta like, listen to it.” he said. “And I was like, ‘I’m tired. I don’t wanna, I read the script. It’s like a great script, but I don’t know what I’m doing in it' and she goes ‘Do the audition.’”

Astin’s many iconic roles also include an appearance inThe Goonieswhen he was a child actor. He told Barrymore that one of his favorite memories from the set was seeing the large pirate ship that factors into a pivotal plot point. “They really wanted to catch our authentic reaction [to the boat],” he told Barrymore. “The crew was threatened, ‘If you let any of these kids see this ship before we shoot it, you’re fired.’ ”

But, he said, “I snuck and saw it.”

Sean Astin in ‘The Goonies.’ in 1985.Everett

Astin is currentlymaking his Broadway debut inElf The Musicalas Santa. He follows in the footsteps ofhis mom,Patty Duke, who appeared on Broadway three times. He’ll also appear as Santa inSabrina Carpenter’s upcoming Netflix Christmas special.

source: people.com