50 Cent drops 50 pounds for movie role

Image Credit: thisis50.comWhoa! 50 Cent (real name: Curtis Jackson) made a hell of a sacrifice for his upcoming movie.

Usually the MC looks like an NFL linebacker.

But for his starring role in the Mario Van Peebles-directed Things Fall Apart, a movie he wrote, 50 dropped 54 pounds to play a college football player battling cancer. On a liquid diet and three-hour-a-day treadmill stints, he went from 214 pounds to a sickly 160 pounds, reports US Weekly

It’s not unusual for actors to lose extreme weight for movie parts. Matt Damon got bony for Courage Under Fire. Will Smith shrunk for Seven Pounds, and Christian Bale got frail for The Machinist. But those were all for major releases. There’s no word yet on if this movie will hit theaters or not.

Maybe this will be 50’s breakout role. But there’s a good chance it won’t. As an actor, 50 Cent has only starred in a handful of major releases and straight-to-DVD castoffs. His film debut came in 2005 with the semi-autobiographical Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and in 2008 he acted alongside Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in the commercial flop Righteous Kill. All of his showings suggest that he should stick to his day job, though it seems he’s bent on Hollywood stardom.

50’s currently out on his national Invitation tour and back in fighting shape. On his website, a recent picture shows a healthier 50 rapping with his G-Unit mates Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. Check out another picture of the slim 50 after the jump.

Image Credit: thisis50.com

Does 50’s effort make you want to see Things Fall Apart? Do you think he’ll ever become the major actor he aspires to be? Let us know.

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