Paul Rudd is back as Ant-Man—and the superhero life actually fits him pretty well. For the March 2023 cover story, Men’s Health discovered that Rudd’s real superpower is far more than just being funny. The everyday hero opens up about how he stays strong and happy, and how he feels about his shirtless scene being cut from Ant-Man. Plus, in his Men’s Health Eat Like video, Rudd shares how he eats to get fit, whether he’s preparing for his superhero role or living a healthy, “normal life.”
The March 2023 issue of Men’s Health featuring Paul Rudd hits newsstands nationwide on February 7.
On deciding to become an actor, at the age of 16:
“I never wavered from it. And I never had a backup. I said, I’m going to school and study this.”
On signing up to do a play in New York after wrapping up his work on Clueless, his first big-studio movie:
“My agent said, What are you doing? My career was just starting. But I had a real clear vision then of what I wanted and how I wanted to do it. I didn’t want to be considered a joke among actors who I really admire. I really wanted to learn how to do this right. I had a real focus. Certainly some of the movies were not as good as I’d imagined, but they were beneficial, each in their own way.”
On landing Ant-Man and joining a superhero franchise:
“My agent set up a meeting with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Marvel was pretty new. They weren’t even part of Disney. It would’ve been like somebody saying, How would you feel about doing Dancing with the Stars? A superhero franchise was never on my radar. I never really thought I was the type of actor that they would offer any of those parts to. But when this idea came around, I was excited about doing something that was so out of left field, and I knew that if it was announced that I was going to be joining a superhero franchise, most people would say, What the f*ck?And I got to wear a superhero suit.”
On his most important tip for a superhero body, eternal youth, and happiness:
“Sleep. Then diet. Then weights. Then cardio. People ask me, ‘Can you send me your meal plan? How many times a week do you work out? Do you drink? Do you eat carbs? Do you have a cheat day?’ The most important part of training is sleep. People will set their alarm and then sleep for four hours and they’ll get up so that they can train. They’re doing themselves a disservice. If you can somehow get eight hours of sleep . . .”
On his morning routine:
“I get up and I have a cup of coffee, and then I do cardio before I eat anything. I never would’ve done that before [Ant-Man]. I lift weights, hopefully at least three times a week. And I’ve learned so much about how my body reacts to foods, how it reacts to exercise, and where I’m happiest and how much it affects me mentally…. If I’m in this suit, running around playing a character who’s supposed to be a superhero, I just feel better. And I feel less like an impostor.”
On why regimen has become essential for him:
“I find routine comforting. There isn’t an office that we have to go to every day where we see the same people and do the same kind of job. Routine is a human need. It’s grounding in a really positive and healthy way.”
On getting back into shape for Quantumania:
“I worked really hard to get back into shape for Quantumania, and I realized, Oh my God, this is so much harder than it was [for the last Ant-Man project]. I had fallen off more than I had in the past. All of a sudden my clothes fit tight. And I thought, God, this sucks. I can’t even wear these pants. So I’d say to myself, Well, I might as well just eat some of these cookies. I was irritable and self-conscious. I just wasn’t in a good mood. I really beat myself up.”
On how having a goal helps him stay focused:
“I can be a hyper-focused person if I have a goal. If I’m doing one of these movies and I know that in four months I have to do a shirtless scene, I’m pretty dialed in. I also try and find the happy medium. I could work out hard and eat perfectly and I’ll still look worse than most of the other Avengers.”
On being a Men’s Health cover star:
“My first reaction to being in Men’s Health was: I can’t. There’s no way. But [my rep] said, ‘No, you don’t understand. You’re doing the magazine.’ So I thought, It’s gonna motivate me. It’s gonna force me into it. And it did. But the fitness that I do now has less to do with the fact that I might have to do another Marvel movie or a magazine shoot and more because I finally understand if you make fitness a part of your lifestyle, you’ll just feel good.”
On whether he sees what others see—that he does not seem to have aged as quickly as other men in their 50s:
“I see some things that people are politely not acknowledging. I’m certainly happy that people don’t say the opposite. Like, God, he looks a hundred years old! It’s flattering, but at the same time, I never know what the response is supposed to be.”
On his shirtless scene being cut from Ant-Man:
“On one hand, I was annoyed because I put in a year’s worth of hard work. On the other, if I had to look at myself shirtless in a Marvel movie, I would just want to make fun of it in every single way. Ultimately the movie was running long, and the scene wasn’t essential.”
In his Men’s Health “Eat Like” video, on how his diet has changed over the years:
“The basic overview of what I eat changed about10 years ago when I first got all the ant stuff. It was the first time in my life that I really had to change my approach to nutrition, training…I had always worked out – here and there – when I did [Ant-Man], it was like a shift. All of a sudden, fitness and nutrition became the centerpiece of the day and everything else fit in around it.”
https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a42532547/paul-rudd-marvel-ant-man-interview/