Nicholas Galitzine felt like a "complete fraud" the first time he tried on his He-Man costume.
The 31-year-old actor portrays Prince Adam and his super hero alter ego in new movie Masters of the Universe, and ahead of his dramatic body transformation for the role, he admitted he felt "undeserving" because it felt like an impossible undertaking.
He told Extra: “To be candid, when I first tried on the costume, you know, when I hadn’t fully made my transformation, I felt like a complete fraud. You know, I felt undeserving. I felt like, ‘How am I gonna get to this point?’”
Nicholas didn't feel he had enough time to get in the shape he needed to be in.
He said: “I come from a sporting background… I’ve been in gyms, but I think to transform my body from a state which was definitely not ready to play He-Man to adorn this mini skirt and chest plate is obviously incredibly trepidatious… It was five months… not enough time really to do it in a comfortable way.
“We even had to start shooting while I was cutting, which was a challenge in and of itself, you know, because you’re acting in a scene and the first AD goes, ‘Oh, we got 10 minutes. We’re going to change the setup.’ And you run outside to the assault bike and you’re just pedaling away."
But he ultimately realised his hard work had paid off.
He said: “It wasn’t really until that first day as He-Man on set when I put the costume on, I had the tan, I had the hair, and I went to set. You know, you're trying to like catch people's eyes to see their reaction to you, and so the feeling was very good, and Travis and Jason and Todd, our producers, you know, they saw me.
"And, you know, for our producers, they've been with this IP for 18 years, and so, it was really in seeing their reaction to me, that I was like, 'Okay, you can calm down now. The last five months haven't been in vain.' "
One aspect of the role that Nicholas didn't spend too much time preparing for was saying He-Man's iconic line, “By the power of Grayskull... I have the power!"
He explained: “For me, it’s not only important because it’s how he transforms, but it’s important because he’s telling himself that he is worthy, that he has worth, he has meaning, he has power. And for me, it was just, it was a very emotional line, scene, day, you know, and it’s pretty scary trying to do that line in front of about a crew of 400 people for the first time.
"I didn't want it to be so rehearsed that I lost the feeling of what it would be like to say it for the first time.
"And really, you know, if you see the movie, He-Man transforms a couple times, and there's a different delivery on the different times, when he's transforming for the first time and when he transforms again.
"And I just, that first time — when he does it in the movie for the first time, was the first time I'd done it — and I just wanted it to really come from my core, like I was finding it for the first time.
"And also out of respect for my neighbours, I tried not to do too much empowering at home."
